A screening of the recently released 'Leonora in the Morning Light', preceded by a discussion with Exhibition Curator Vanessa Boni.
As part of our programme of events to celebrate our exhibition ‘Leonora Carrington: The Symptomatic Surreal‘, join us at the Freud Museum for a screening of Leonora in the Morning Light (2026), directed by Lena Vurma and Thor Klein.
The screening will be preceded by a conversation between Research Manager Tom DeRose and Vanessa Boni Exhibition Curator of ‘Leonora Carrington: The Symptomatic Surreal‘. In addition to the screening and discussion, you will also have the opportunity to see our exhibition outside of visiting hours.
About Leonora in the Morning Light:
Defiant, brilliant, and untamable, Leonora Carrington refused to live by anyone’s rules but her own. In the charged atmosphere of 1930s Paris, she falls under the spell of the Surrealist movement – and into a passionate, volatile love affair with the German artist Max Ernst. Together, they create a world where art and life blur, surrounded by icons like André Breton and Salvador Dalí, and build an otherworldly refuge in the south of France filled with sculpted creatures and strange, living dreams. But as war engulfs Europe, their fantasy shatters. Ernst is arrested as an enemy alien, and Leonora is thrust into a nightmare of loss, madness, and survival. Fleeing to Spain, she spirals into psychological torment and endures brutal institutional treatment. Emerging scarred but unbroken, Leonora finds her way to Mexico – a place of magic and rebirth – where she reclaims her art, her identity, and her freedom.
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Speakers:
Vanessa Boni is Curator of Special Projects at the Freud Museum London and a CHASE/AHRC funded doctoral researcher at the University of Essex.
Tom DeRose is Research Manager at the Freud Museum London. His research focusses on the cultural and philosophical aspects of Freudian theory. His most recent publication is ‘Freud’s Changing Views on Sadomasochism’, published in, ed. Akhtar and Crilley, ‘The Joy of Torment’ (Karnac, 2024). His has recently written chapters on Freud’s theory of Anxiety and Psychoanalysis and the detective novel, and is currently working on a chapter on Freud and Africa.
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Tickets: £10 – £20
