The Canonization of Frida Kahlo

Art Review

An exhibition dismantles any fixed idea of the artist until no single, easily recognizable figure remains.

HOUSTON — Frida Kahlo is widely recognized as a leading Mexican artist, yet the exhibition Frida: Making of an Icon at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston reinterprets her as a symbol of both metaphorical and geographical borderlands. By focusing on how Kahlo’s work has been received over the last century across different cultures and times, this exhibition deconstructs any rigid image of the artist, leaving a complex and multifaceted figure. That is precisely the intention.

Organized thematically, the exhibition includes works by Kahlo and those from artists she influenced and who were part of her artistic community. Of the 35 works presented, three sections primarily feature Kahlo’s creations, while 13 sections examine her impact through over a hundred pieces by subsequent generations of artists.

The “Early Experimentation” section features four of Kahlo’s pieces from the mid-1920s, crafted during her student years, along with two family photographs. During this period, Kahlo was discovering her artistic voice, though not all her experiments were successful, such as her brief exploration of Cubism in “Untitled (known as Pancho Villa y Adelita)” (1927). However, her interest in Mannerist Renaissance portraiture is striking, with works demonstrating shallow depths and delicate lines.

The “Surrealist Affinities” section highlights Kahlo’s connection to André Breton, who organized a 1939 Paris exhibition of her works alongside José Guadalupe Posada and Manuel Álvarez Bravo’s, titled Mexique. This section also showcases self-portraits from Kahlo’s contemporaries, like María Izquierdo, whose piece “Sueño y presentimiento” (1947) shows herself holding her decapitated head. This part of the exhibition places Kahlo as not only a Surrealist but also an active figure within broader artistic and regional circles.

The exhibition effectively contextualizes Kahlo’s significance, crediting Chicana/o artists with revitalizing her legacy to shape an art history reflective of their identity. This initiative began with the 1978 exhibition Homenaje a Frida Kahlo at Galería de la Raza in San Francisco, curated by Carmen Lomas Garza with committee input. The “On the Other Side of the Border” section illustrates how Chicana/o artists like Santa Barraza honored their Mesoamerican heritage and how others, like Joey Terrill, transformed Kahlo into a pop icon.

The expansive “Gendered Dialogues” section links Kahlo’s work to the feminist movement of the late 20th century. It includes Judy Baca’s theatrical imagery, Carrie Mae Weems’s intimate black-and-white photos, and Delilah Montoya’s symbolic stillbirth depiction. Here, Kahlo’s fearless portrayals of the body and womanhood, such as her intensely painful work about her miscarriage, “Henry Ford Hospital” (1932), resonate across time and space.

The “Neo-Mexicanisms” section gathers works from Mexican artists of the late 1980s and 1990s who embraced Kahlo’s themes of subversion and folk art. Julio Galán’s self-portraits critique the cult of personality, while Astrid Hadad’s elaborate cabaret costumes heighten Kahlo’s theatricality. In the intriguing “Embodying Frida” segment, Graciela Iturbide poses as Kahlo in her bathtub for the series El baño de Frida, Coyoacán (2005), and Mary McCartney immortalizes Tracy Emin channeling Kahlo in “Being Frida, London” (2000) as part of a self-referential ritual. Finally, “Queer Interventions and Decolonization” features artists like Rafael Amorim and Martine Gutierrez, who offer fitting tributes to the bisexual icon with a staged gay pairing in “Las dos Fridas” (1939) and a 2018 self-portrait expressing queer rage, respectively.

While the exhibition could have juxtaposed Kahlo’s works with those inspired by them, such as “Lo que el agua me dio” (1938) and “Las dos Fridas” (1939), this omission does not detract from the overall impact. Ultimately, the exhibition is about Frida as a symbol, with her influence deeply instilled in our minds and hearts.

Frida: The Making of an Icon continues at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (1001 Bissonnet Street, Houston, Texas) through May 17. The exhibition was curated by Mari Carmen Ramírez.