Explore: Eileen Agar

(1899 - 1991)

Eileen Agar was a leading British Surrealist. Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, she came to England with her family aged six. She studied at the Slade School of Art after travelling to Spain, where she was greatly influenced by Goya and El Greco. She lived in Paris between 1928 and 1930, where she met Picasso, Man Ray and Ezra Pound. She was the only British female artist chosen for the major International Surrealist Exhibition held in London in 1936. She exhibited regularly at The Redfern Gallery, London, throughout her lifetime. In 1999 she had a retrospective at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh which toured to Leeds City Art Gallery and in 2008 there was a major exhibition of her work at Pallant House, Chichester.