Most Comprehensive Show of Frida Kahlo’s Work Ever Staged Opens in Berlin
April 24th, 2010 § Leave a Comment
From 30 April to 9 August 2010 Berlin’s Martin-Gropius-Bau will be devoting an extensive retrospective to the important Mexican artist Frida Kahlo.
Born in Coyoacán, Mexico City, Frida Kahlo is one of the great identification figures of Latin American art. She stands out as one of the most famous female artists of the first half of the 20th century.
Injured in a traffic accident on 17 September 1925 Frida Kahlo spent the rest of her life in pain as a consequence of her frequent operations. These profound experiences left their mark on her work and her world. Her acquaintances with prominent figures of her day as Leon Trotsky, André Breton and Nicholas Murray influenced her eventful life. In 1929 she married the famous Mexican muralist Diego Rivera, who supported her in her artistic career.
Frida Kahlo’s works refer back to the early art of Mexico, that of the Aztecs and the Mayas, reflecting the social, political, and above all private aspects of her life. In 1938 – 39 she had very successful one-person exhibitions in both New York and Paris.
The exhibition in the Martin-Gropius-Bau, curated by the art historian Helga Prignitz-Poda, will consist of about 150 works (paintings and drawings), making it the most comprehensive show of Frida Kahlo’s work ever staged. For the first time the two largest Kahlo collections will be on display together along with valuable loans from 30 Mexican and 15 North American museums and private collections.
