Frida Kahlo: The Life of an Icon

In Mexican tradition, the altar, otherwise known as the Ofrenda, is an integral component of Dia de los Muertos—the Day of the Dead. This festival is commonly celebrated between 31 October and 2 November, a time when the souls of loved ones, who have passed on, are reunited with living family members. These altars honour and celebrate the lives once lived by the dead.

Each altar is personal to its respective family, they all include common elements such as water, candles, flowers (specifically marigolds), fruit, sugar skulls, even a traditional type of stew as well as items associated with the earthly life of the deceased—all of these items are used to welcome the spirits of the dead back home. An image of the deceased is placed at the top of the altar, presiding over everything. Papel picado—punched paper—is used to add festive decoration to the altar, and occasionally a flower arch is present—symbolically representing the gateway between the worlds of the dead and the living.

On 17 September 1925 Frida was involved in a fatal streetcar accident that would change her life forever. From that point on Frida would often turn to art as a way of expressing her deepest emotions. During her lifetime, she completed more than one hundred paintings, yet not a single one depicts the tragic accident that altered the course of her life.

The Instant is inspired by the moment Frida Kahlo’s life was forever changed and reveals Frida’s physical and emotional fragility in that unfortunate second. The work uses ‘multilayer’, a new projection format that creates a three-dimensional installation, overlapping transparent projection layers to create a video that appears to give volume to its projected subject.

After narrowly escaping death—a result of the streetcar accident—Frida faced a long and painful road to recovery. Yet, even in her convalescence she learnt to transform her pain into art.  

Using a specially designed easel her mother had installed on her bed, Frida began painting, transforming canvases into her own visual diary. Confined within the walls of her bedroom, a mirror was hung over her bed so that she could see her own reflection. Her image became her sky, and the eventual subject for her many self-portraits.

Life and death meet in this installation as we are transported back to Frida’s bed—the place where she painted a significant number of her works. The Dream depicts birth and death, health and illness, referencing the continuous cycle of life and its many challenges.

Frida Kahlo’s works often act as portals into her personal life. Frida’s paintings not only depict her surrounding landscapes but more importantly express her complex identity and unique life experiences often through the use of symbols and motifs. These include her ancestry and heritage, her close encounters with death and pain, her struggles with her marriage, and her inability to bear children.

Frida’s Universe is a sensorial and interactive installation where visitors can interact with the most iconic symbols found in Frida’s paintings. The vibrant colours and dreamlike landscapes invite visitors to play and explore.

When Frida began work as an art teacher at the La Esmeralda School, in Mexico, Frida encouraged her students to take their art to the streets and in so doing to reconnect with the history and traditions of their country. She challenged them to turn their encounters into mural paintings and to revive traditional Mexican customs by decorating pulquerías—Mexican taverns building connections with people and communities.

Pulquería La Rosita was once such a tavern where the walls were painted by the Frida Kahlo’s students. Depicting everyday scenes and Mexican customs the space was also dotted with dozens of tiny roses—in reference to the tavern’s name. Their brightly coloured murals clearly took inspiration from their teacher’s chosen palette of colours.

Colour your own Frida portrait and take part in the decoration of the Pulquería La Rosita. This technological and creative experience combines artificial intelligence and digital art, making it interactive for the young, and young at heart!

Deep dive into the life of Frida Kahlo through this 360-degree immersive biography experience. Explore Frida’s journey through life that begins in early 20th century Mexico, where Frida spent her childhood, developed her skills as an artist and lived out her final days. See the intimate world of Frida through her eyes, discover her landscapes, accompany her on her journeys, and experience her passions, joy and sadness.

This immersive biography features: Frida’s formative years, her childhood and adolescence, much of which influenced her development as an artist. It features the passions in her life that kept her motivated and her tragic relationship with motherhood, that saw her direct her love and care towards her students, children of relatives, plants and pets. The immersive biography chronicles Frida’s journeys overseas that impacted her personal life as well as her career as an artist, of course, the artist’s aesthetic and visual choices that made her into the icon she is today.

While Frida used painting as means of self-expression, the artist’s approach to the way she dressed was more complex. She chose long skirts, embroidered blouses, decorated her hair with flowers and ribbons, and employed jewellery and traditional clothing as a means of reinforcing her Mexican heritage, but at the same time it enabled her to conceal her fragmented body. Her appearance mirrored her pride in her Mexican heritage, her unwavering self-assurance, and her zest for life.

Her style was so distinct from the commercial world at the time that she began to make appearances on magazine covers such as Vogue in 1937. Today, her image has appeared in international publications and has influenced great fashion houses such as Givenchy, Jean Paul Gaultier and Valentino.

Frida had a constant longing for love and filled her life with romantic companions and platonic friendships. Even though she never had her own children, Frida diverted all her love and care towards her nieces, nephews and the children she encountered throughout her life. Having lived in homes surrounded by an abundance of plants and animals, Frida also channeled her affection into taking care of the vegetation and caring for her animal companions including: monkeys, parrots, pigeons, dogs, cats, a deer and an eagle. Some of these animals, particularly the monkeys and parrots, would often appear in Frida’s self-portraits.

Visitors can be part of the The Garden of Love activity by contributing a love wish to the programming activity.