Adieu Amenhotep by Leonora Carrington, 1955.

Carrington’s later paintings focused on subjects derived from magic and alchemy. In this piece four priestess perform a surgery on a levitating Amenhotep whose wound is in the shape of a lotus flower. Men wearing priests’ hats sit in the gallery to watch the performance. The compasses along the box signify a magic transformation. The dish in the foreground, which is presumably used to collect an extracted organ, contains a small lizard.

Amenhotep was the first monotheistic pharaoh. Carrington believed that monotheism was the root of a patriarchal society, thus the priestesses are extracting that root through a magical surgery. Later in her life Carrington wrote, “a woman shouldn’t have to demand Rights. The Rights were there from the beginning, they must be Taken Back Again, including the Mysteries which were ours and which were violated, stolen or destroyed.”

This is not the original painting, but a film slide. The original is (supposed to be) in the Galeria de Arte Mexicano, in Mexico City. Unfortunately, their website has no content. Boy, would I like to see a photograph of this piece, or better yet, take a photograph of it myself. Literally dozens of Carrington’s paintings are property of that gallery and even the best academic sources do not have color photographs. It’s a shame.