Twentieth-century Mexican artist Frida Kahlo continues to fascinate us with her arresting gaze, signature fashion, and trailblazing legacy. At the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, this singular artist and her extraordinary works are the focus of Frida: Beyond the Myth.
The exhibition showcases many of the artist’s most important paintings and drawings from the beginning of her career in 1926 until her death in 1954. More than 60 works of art in a variety of media, many rarely seen outside of Mexico, include self-portraits, still lifes, and compositions from her imagination. Also on view are photographs of Kahlo taken by many of those closest to her, including internationally renowned photographers Lola Álvarez Bravo, Imogen Cunningham, Julien Levy, Dora Maar, and Nickolas Muray.
Kahlo began painting during her recovery from a traumatic bus accident that she barely survived and that forever changed her life. This exhibition closely examines the inimitable style and complexity of Kahlo’s paintings. Her life was a seemingly open book but was also paradoxically enigmatic, as she depicted life-altering events with unflinching truth yet masterfully employed symbolism and continually reinvented herself in iconic self-portraits. Her jewel-like paintings are among the most beautiful, memorable, and haunting images of the 20th century.
This presentation of paintings, drawings, prints, and photographs offers a rare opportunity to explore the art of Frida Kahlo, whose strength, vulnerability, and sensuality still compel us today. Discover how she crafted her image to reflect her Mexican pride, express gender fluidity, and adorn her injured body. Learn how Kahlo painted to transcend pain and physical disability. And celebrate how she ultimately triumphed to achieve her own immortality, becoming a national treasure in her native Mexico and receiving posthumous acclaim around the world.
Frida: Beyond the Myth is co-curated by Dr. Agustín Arteaga, the Eugene McDermott Director, and Sue Canterbury, the Pauline Gill Sullivan Curator of American Art, at the Dallas Museum of Art. The exhibition is organized for the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts by exhibition curator Dr. Sarah G. Powers.
Interpretive text and audio tours in both English and Spanish and rarely seen film footage are part of the visitor experience at VMFA, the exhibition’s only East Coast venue and one of only two venues nationwide.
