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Largest Frida Kahlo Exhibit in 40 Years Comes to Chicago in 2020

Frida Kahlo Portrait

‘Frida on White Bench,' by Nickolas Muray; © Nickolas Muray Photo Archives. (Photo via Cleve Carney Museum of Art)

Next summer, the Cleve Carney Museum of Art and the McAninch Arts Center in partnership with College of DuPage will host the newest exhibition on acclaimed Mexican artist Frida Kahlo. This exhibit includes 26 original works by Kahlo on loan from the Museo Dolores Olmedo in Mexico City—making it the largest collection of Frida Kahlo's work to be displayed in Chicago in 40 years.

Entitled Frida Kahlo 2020, the show's selection of oil paintings and drawings by Kahlo cover the major events of the artist's career: from her traumatic accident and injury to her romance with fellow artist Diego Rivera. Together, Kahlo's autobiographical paintings reflect her lifelong pain as well as explore themes of Mexican culture, politics, love, and death. In addition to the curated collection of Kahlo's art, Frida Kahlo 2020 will feature historical exhibits to familiarize viewers with the context from which it was made. Among these displays will be reproductions of Kahlo's clothing, a multimedia timeline of her life, and a video presentation. The Ball Horticultural Company has also designed a “poetry garden” for the event.

“This unique collection of works is deeply tied to Kahlo's personal narrative. it covers an arc of her life and career,” says Justin Witte, Cleve Carney Museum of Art Director and exhibition curator. “It's a full arc tied into her person and covers her accident, which is when she started to create self-portraits.”

The Cleve Carney Museum and McAninch Arts Center have also organized celebratory Kahlo-inspired events leading up to the exhibition's grand opening. On February 16, 2020, the McAninch Arts Center will host the Ballet Folclórico de Mexico to share Mexican culture through dance. Later, on April 18 and 19, the McAninch Arts Center is scheduled to present A New Philharmonic, A Salute to Frida, which will perform the music of Kahlo's heritage.

Frida Kahlo 2020 opens at Cleve Carney Museum of Art in June 2020. Untimed entry tickets are currently on sale for $35, and you can purchase timed entry tickets for $18 in person beginning December 7, and online or by phone starting on December 10, 2019.

In 2020, the Cleve Carney Museum of Art will show the largest exhibition of Frida Kahlo's art in Chicago in 40 years.

Frida Kahlo Photograph

‘Thoughtful Frida,' by Hulton Archive/Getty Images. (Photo via Cleve Carney Museum of Art)

Frida Kahlo 2020 features 26 originals works by Kahlo as well as historical exhibits that display reproductions of her clothing, a video presentation, and a multimedia timeline of her life.

Frida Kahlo Self Portrait

‘Frida Kahlo, Self-Portrait with Small Monkey,' 1945 (Oil on masonite). Collection Museo Dolores Olmedo, Xochimilco, Mexico. © 2019 Banco de México, Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo Museums Trust, Mexico City, Mexico. (Image via Cleve Carney Museum of Art)

Visit this monumental show in June, 2020.

Cleve Carney Museum of Art: Website | Facebook | Instagram
McAninch Arts Center: Website | Facebook | Instagram

All images courtesy of Cleve Carney Museum of Art. 

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Explore “La Casa Azul”: Frida Kahlo’s Famous Blue House-Turned-Museum

8 Interesting Frida Kahlo Facts That May Surprise You

Margherita Cole

Margherita Cole is a Contributing Writer at My Modern Met and illustrator based in Southern California. She holds a BA in Art History with a minor in Studio Art from Wofford College, and an MA in Illustration: Authorial Practice from Falmouth University in the UK. She wrote and illustrated an instructional art book about how to draw cartoons titled 'Cartooning Made Easy: Circle, Triangle, Square' that was published by Walter Foster in 2022.
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