A new show featuring paintings and photography by Frida Kahlo at the Philadelphia Museum of Art has Philadelphia art buffs and Latin American art enthusiasts in a frenzy.
The exhibition, which draws on collections from places such as Mexico and Japan, contains 45 paintings and more than 100 of Kahlo's personal photographs. It opens today and runs through May 18.
Many of the paintings have never been displayed in the United States, and the exhibit is the first major presentation of Kahlo's work in the country in 15 years.
Penn Art History professor Gwendolyn Shaw said the high number of photographs make the show "important." She also said rising numbers of Latino and Hispanic immigrants have contributed to interest in Kahlo.
"Since the 1970s and the rise of the Chicano movement on the west coast of the U.S., there has been an interest in finding cultural heroes, and that has contributed to the use of Frida's images as iconic representations," she said.
Key themes of Kahlo's works are her own pain and suffering. After a brutal car accident that punctured her spinal column, she endured miscarriages and chronic, crippling pain before her death in 1954 at age 47.
Kahlo's ability to express her pain through her art has drawn many viewers.
"Ever since her death in the 1950s many people have identified with her life of pain and suffering and subsequent creativity - and that makes her a special 20th century artist," Shaw said.
But College senior Emilie Froh, a Visual Studies major, said Kahlo's depictions of pain can also push viewers away.
Kahlo's work includes pieces that depict her heart exposed and her backbone visible and wounded, with her body held together by bent carpenter's nails.
"You have to respect it either way, but people either love it or hate it," Froh said.
The exhibition is also significant, Shaw said, because few female artists, especially those from Latin America, receive single-artist exhibitions.
Kahlo's work has impressed students, many of whom said they are looking forward to the show.
College junior Emma Katzka said, "I admire her audacity because she doesn't seem to idealize herself in her paintings." Katzka added that she thought people would enjoy Kahlo's work because "a lot of people like to be drawn to bold, even violent paintings."
College senior Alix McKenna said the scale of the exhibit impressed her.
"I think people think she's really one-dimensional and think only of her self-portraits," she said.
The exhibit shows the PMA's dedication to Latin American artists, said Daniel de Jesus, executive director of Taller Puertorriqueño, a North Philadelphia community art workshop.
"To have her in the city of Philadelphia is a really big deal," he said.
The following correction for this article ran in the Feb. 22 issue:
In the article about the Friday Kahlo exhibit ("With Kahlo, a Mexican flavor comes to PMA," DP, 02/20/08), we incorrectly stated Daniel de Jesus was the executive director of Taller Puertorriqueno. He is the Special Events Coordinator.
