valentine penrose wrote surrealist poetry, although she is perhaps best known for her biography of the serial killer elizabeth báthory (1560-1614). her poetry reflects her experience of automatic writing, collage and painting techniques such as max ernst’s frottage and wolfgang paalen’s fumage. it is said that her works stem from transgression and the reconstruction of defiance. for a female artist of her time it was unconventional for a women to illustrate such erotic and violent works. the difference between ernst and penrose is that ernst's work represents an over-dramatic dream sequence with dysfunctional and bizarre relationships whereas penrose's illustrates the travels of two women and their erotic adventures.