2018 Frida Kahlo
Frida Kahlo , Making Herself Up - by Joyce
V and A until 4th November 2018
“This exhibition presents an extraordinary collection of personal artefacts and clothing belonging to the iconic Mexican artist Frida Kahlo. Locked away for 50 years after her death, this collection has never before been exhibited outside Mexico”
Jane and I enjoyed this exhibition very much. It starts with photos of Frida’s family, her father was German and her mother Mexican, and she was proud of her mixed heritage. She was one of four sisters and when she was 6 years old she contracted polio which left her with a weak right leg.
When she was 18 she was injured in an accident between the bus she was travelling in and a tram. This left her with a fractured pelvis and spine. While she was confined to bed and in traction an easel was specially designed for her so she could paint while lying down. And so her talent for art was discovered.
She met and married the artist Diego Rivera and they lived together in the “casa azul”.
The exhibition has many of her paintings and drawings and a very moving display of the plaster corsets she had to wear to support her spine which she decorated with drawings of tigers, monkeys and birds.
Frida loved the traditional dress and made it her own style, proudly showing off her identity as a strong Mexican woman. The final room has a large display of her beautiful clothes with embroidery on the huipiles (blouses)and skirts. She spent a long time braiding her hair and decorating it with coloured fabric and flowers.
The shop at the end has lots of lovely things to tempt and we both bought beaded bracelets, well we needed a reminder of a lovely day spent together!