Coming Attraction: Frida Kahlo in Brooklyn

Frida Kahlo didn't clean out her closets, and that's a good thing. Traveling from London's V&A, Frida Kahlo: Appearances Can Be Deceiving will be on view at the Brooklyn Museum of Art beginning February 8, 2019 to May 12, 2019.

Frida, the painting

Frida, the person

This will be the first U.S. exhibit of Frida's clothing and personal possessions, locked away since her death in 1954 and only discovered in 2004.  I was fortune to see them some years ago on display at Casa Azul in Mexico City, the beautiful family compound and her home since childhood.

The courtyard of Casa Azul

Frida Kahlo's work was intensely personal. She was a prolific painter and confronted every triumph, tragedy, fear and longing in her art. Frida was a dramatic personality and lived life to the fullest while in almost constant pain. Injuries from a bus accident when a young woman never healed, and multiple surgeries never helped. She had a tumultuous marriage to the also charismatic Diego Rivera. Then there was that affair with Leon Trotsky...

A rather odd couple...

Some of Frida's iconic looks

Frida often chose garments that represented her culture and country, yet she was a very modern woman. She smoked. She wore cat's eye sunglasses and used Revlon cosmetics. Coincidentally Revlon is a sponsor of the Brooklyn show.

 
Frida's art, her life, and her style are sources of endless fascination and scholarly analysis. She continues to be celebrated and homaged This show at the Brooklyn Museum of Art should be all that—and a feast to behold.