A CHORLEY-born artist, who is considered one of the last original surrealists, has died in Mexico at the age of 94.

Leonora Carrington, OBE, a painter, writer and sculptor, grew up in Chorley, where her father owned cotton mills and the family lived in a gothic mansion called Crookhey Hall.

She was the only girl in a family of boys and her schooling in Lancashire was problematic.

She was expelled from one Roman Catholic convent due to her ‘eccentricity, anti-social tendencies and certain supernatural proclivities’.

Her outstanding talent was art and she went on to study at Mrs Penrose’s Academy of Art in Florence.

She became known for her haunting, dream-like works that often focused on strange ritual-like scenes with birds, cats, unicorn-like creatures and other animals.

She had a relationship with Max Ernst and moved to Paris before the Second World War, where she was friendly with Picasso and Dali, who described her as “a most important woman artist”.

Carrington relocated to Mexico as part of a wave of political emigres who arrived in the 1940s and established herself in the male-dominated realm of surrealism.

In 2005, Carrington’s Juggler sold for $713,000, which set a new record for the highest price paid at auction for a living surrealist painter.

Her work is displayed at galleries worldwide with many of her most famous pieces shown in Mexico City and New York.

“Leonora was the last great living surrealist,” said long-time friend and poet Homero Aridjis. “She was a living legend.”

Friend and promoter Dr Isaac Masri said she died on Wednesday of old age, after being admitted to hospital.

“She had a great life, and a dignified death as well, without suffering,” he said.

Ms Carrington was awarded an OBE in 2000.

Her work was much more widely known in the USA and Mexico than Europe.

Ms Carrington’s body was buried in Mexico.