April 4th, 2005
Q&A: Frida Kahlo at Tate Modern
UPDATED: 10 October 2005
Tate Modern tell me that about 340,000 people visited Frida Kahlo, making this one of its most successful shows.
Why is this exhibition so important?
The life and work of Frida Kahlo gives us a unique introduction to Mexico.
This is the first major UK exhibition of Kahlo’s work in over 20 years – since 23 of her works were exhibited at the Whitechapel Gallery in London’s East End in 1982 where they were displayed alongside the work of her friend, the photographer Tina Modotti.
Frida Kahlo at Tate Modern
Today, a whole new audience is hungry to be exposed to her work.
Frida Kahlo is also the first solo exhibition by any Latin American artist to be held at Tate Modern.
Kahlo was rediscovered by art collectors in the 1980s. Since then there has been a steady revival of her work, which has gained new respect among the artistic community.
Kahlo is now recognised as one of the great artists of the 20th century.
Frida is now the world’s most coveted woman artist, consistently smashing international auction records. Her paintings now sell for millions of dollars – more than any other artist from Latin America.
A Taste For Mexican Art – The Telegraph
A report on the resurgence of interest in art from Mexico.
Her face is everywhere. In 2001, the US Postal Service even issued a Frida Kahlo 34-cent commemorative stamp – the first time an Hispanic woman has been honoured in this way.
Is Madonna lending any works from her collection?
Yes, pop icon Madonna has lent two of of her favourite paintings from her own art collection to Tate Modern. Self-Portrait with Monkey (1940) and My Birth.
Madonna previously lent Self Portrait with Monkey to Tate Modern in 2001, where it was a highlight of the Surrealism: Desire Unbound exhibition. Commenting on the loan at that time, Madonna said: “Loaning my Frida to Tate is like letting go of one of my precious children.”
Can you tell me a little about Kahlo?
There is lots to tell. Kate Braverman begins her 2001 novel…
“I was born in rain and I will die in rain.”
In fact, she was born in the Casa Azul located in the (then) Mexico City suburb of Coyoacan.
She died there on 13 July 1954, a week after her 47th birthday – a example of circularity Frida would likely have appreciated. See Chronology.
Frida Kahlo / Tate Modern - Film and Talks programme
Where did she learn her art?
Kahlo was self-taught – an autodidact, is how a curator would put it.
She wanted to become a doctor but turned to art in 1925 after a tram accident left her temporarily bedridden.
She killed time by painting in bed during her many convalescences, with a specially adapted easel.
Is this The Accident of which everyone speaks?
Yes. I’ve used upper case deliberately, as the accident has taken on almost mythical status among many of Frida’s new fans. She sustained multiple injuries from which she never fully recovered – and was in and out of hospital for the rest of her life.
What about the famously stormy marriage?
Frida met and fell in love with celebrated muralist Diego Rivera in 1927, but, the couple always had a complex and stormy relationship. They married in 1929, divorced in 1939, only to remarry the following year.
Frida lived in the shadow of her more famous painter husband during her lifetime. Together, they were a memorably incongruous couple – an “elephant” matched with a “dove”. But if Diego dwarfed Frida in stature, he no longer does in fame.
Isn’t her work difficult to look at?
Much of Frida’s work is violent, painful, passionate, expressive and dangerous. To the average observer, her paintings will often appear to be very dark. But an understanding of her life gives her imagery a wider dimension, reflecting the psychological and physical pain she endured through her tortured relationship with Rivera and countless failed surgeries.
Frida herself said that her painting “carries with it the message of pain.”
Patron Saint of Lipstick and Lavender Feminism - I’m not a huge fan of Germaine Greer, but I’ve read so many articles about Frida Kahlo recently that go over the same ground; at last, a refreshing and well-written essay on the woman and her art.
What works will be on display at Tate Modern?
A little over half Kahlo’s surviving life’s work feature in the Tate show.
She produced around 140 oil paintings in her lifetime, 60 of which are on display at the Tate. A further 20 works on paper are also on show.
Completely memorable works such as The Broken Column (1944), which depicts Kahlo’s broken body strapped and pinned with nails, are on display for the first time in the UK.
My Birth (1932), the second painting on loan from Madonna, depicts a woman giving birth to Frida.
One of the most important pictures, the tiny still life Fruits of the Earth, is being loaned by the Banco Nacional de Mexico.
What will be the highlights?
The exhibition includes the two paintings Frida painted specially for the International Exhibition of Surrealism held in 1940 in Mexico City.
The two works are among her most well-known – The Two Fridas and The Wounded Table.
A framed poster of her Frida and Diego ‘wedding portrait’ hangs in my bedroom. I saw this displayed in San Francisco and will personally look forward to seeing it again.
The curators at the Tate hope to hang a dozen of Kahlo’s iconic self-portraits in a single room. This would be unique – and alone worth the £10 admission charge.
No fee for under-18s at Tate show
Many of Frida’s paintings are in private hands and so rarely exhibited publicly. Some negotiations have been prolonged but in the end the security and kudos the Tate offers usually wins people over. Another good reason why you should try to get to the Tate to see this exhibition.
I can’t get to London – where can see Frida’s work?
Follow this link for a comprehensive list of where to find Frida’s paintings.
Frida Kahlo was the first Latin American woman to have a painting in the Louvre. Her work caused a storm in Paris in 1939 (at an exhibition entitled Méxique), and the surrealists claimed it as supremely illustrative of their ideas.
At the time, poet André Breton described the art of the volatile Kahlo “a ribbon around a bomb”.
Where can I find out more about Frida’s life and her work?
The relationship between Kahlo and Rivera was explored in Frida, the underrated 2002 biopic of the artist which won Mexican actress Salma Hayek an Oscar nomination.
Hayden Herrera’s Frida: A Biography of Frida Kahlo remains the best book written on her life.
Filed in Exhibitions in the UK, Frida Kahlo
I met producer Jon Bonfiglio for a coffee in London recently. Jon, together with Giles Ramsay, are bringing four productions to the UK representing the finest contemporary work that Mexico has to offer, covering a wide range of the performing arts. 
Co-producer, Giles Ramsay says that “to unite Mexican artists like Certain Inhabitants Theatre Company and Luis Enrique Gutierrez Ortiz Monasterio with British director John Tiffany and high-profile playwright Mark Ravenhill at the largest international arts festival in the world is an incredibly exciting project”.
A selection of photographs by Mexico City-based Dominic Simmons will be shown for six weeks from 10 May at: