Local Pride: Frida & Diego in Atlanta

Hispanic Community Welcomes Bilingual Exhibit

Atlanta’s High Museum of Art is gearing up to host a groundbreaking art exhibition known as “Frida & Diego: Passion, Politics and Painting.” It boasts close to 100 unique works by Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera, Mexico’s most famous husband-and-wife artist duo, as well as photographs of the couple

In addition to its sheer scale, “Frida & Diego” is noteworthy for several other reasons. It’s the Southeast’s first art exhibition dedicated specifically to the life and works of these two artists as well as the High Museum’s first bilingual art exhibition. Accordingly, it marks a major cultural milestone for Georgia’s burgeoning Hispanic community. The show is set to run for three consecutive months between February 14 and May 12.

Two World-Famous Subjects

Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera are widely regarded as the most famous Mexican artists of the past 100 years. The couple was instrumental in furthering the goals of the Surrealist painting movement in Latin America and played a substantial role in the political tumult that rocked Mexico between 1920 and 1940.

In fact, they were the subjects of “Frida,” a critically acclaimed 2002 biopic that chronicled the life and times of Kahlo and her husband. Widely acclaimed for Salma Hayek’s performance as the title character as well as its faithful recreation of the period’s clothing and decor, “Frida” won Oscar recognition for its makeup direction and musical score.

Among other works, Frida Kahlo has been recognized for these groundbreaking paintings and murals:

“Autorretrato con Monos” Frida Kahlo (Mexican, 1907–1954), Autorretrato con Monos (Self-Portrait with Monkeys), 1943, oil on canvas, The Jacques and Natasha Gelman Collection of Mexican Art. © 2012 Banco de México Diego Rivera Frida Kahlo Museums Trust, Mexico, D. F. / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.

“La Columna Rota“ Frida Kahlo (Mexican, 1907–1954), La Columna Rota (The Broken Column), 1944, oil on canvas, Collection of Museo Dolores Olmedo, Xochimilco, Mexico. © 2012 Banco de México Diego Rivera Frida Kahlo Museums Trust, Mexico, D. F. / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.

“El Abrazo De Amor De El Universo, La Tierra (México), Diego, Yo Y El Señor Xólotl (The Love Embrace of the Universe, the Land (Mexico), Diego, Me, and Señor Xólotl)” Frida Kahlo (Mexican, 1907–1954), El Abrazo De Amor De El Universo, La Tierra (México), Diego, Yo Y El Señor Xólotl (The Love Embrace of the Universe, the Land (Mexico), Diego, Me, and Señor Xólotl), 1949, oil on masonite, The Jacques and Natasha Gelman Collection of Mexican Art. © 2012 Banco de México Diego Rivera Frida Kahlo Museums Trust, Mexico, D. F. / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.

“Autorretrato como Tehuana (Diego en mi Pensamiento) (Self-Portrait as Tehuana (Diego in My Thoughts))” Frida Kahlo (Mexican, 1907–1954), Autorretrato como Tehuana (Diego en mi Pensamiento) (Self-Portrait as Tehuana (Diego in My Thoughts)), 1943, oil on masonite, The Jacques and Natasha Gelman Collection of Mexican Art. © 2012 Banco de México Diego Rivera Frida Kahlo Museums Trust, Mexico, D. F. / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.