Frida Kahlo Works Return To Mexico After Nearly 20 Years

MEXICO CITY, Feb 17 (Bernama-dpa) -- Several iconic works by Mexican artist Frida Kahlo are on display in Mexico for the first time in nearly 20 years, German Press Agency (dpa) reported.

Paintings including Self-Portrait with Necklace and Diego in My Thoughts are part of an exhibition that opens on Tuesday at the Museo de Arte Moderno in Mexico City and runs until May 17, according to the Culture Ministry.

The show features 68 works from the Gelman collection, including 10 by Kahlo, which were acquired in the 20th century by collectors Jacques and Natasha Gelman. 

The collection was bought in 2023 by the Zambrano family, one of Mexico's wealthiest business families, and is set to be permanently housed in a new cultural centre in the northern Spanish city of Santander.

The exhibition also includes major works by Kahlo's husband, Diego Rivera, as well as by Rufino Tamayo and David Alfaro Siqueiros.

Kahlo is the most expensive female painter in history. Her work El sueño (La cama), which depicts her lying in bed, sold in New York three months ago for US$54.7 million, setting a record for a female artist.

Kahlo, who suffered from polio as a child and severe injuries in a traffic accident at the age of 18, underwent more than 30 operations and had to wear a steel corset for years, channeling her constant physical pain into her paintings. She is considered a cultural icon and pioneer of feminism.

-- BERNAMA-dpa

TAGS: mexico, paintings, frida kahlo, self portrait with necklace, diego in my thoughts

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