This Valentine’s Day, forgo the chocolates and flowers for a bit of passionate culture instead. Atlanta’s High Museum of Art explores the tumultuous love story of Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera. From February 14 through May 12, “Frida & Diego: Passion, Politics, and Painting” will showcase the work of two of the most famous artists in Mexican Modernism.
The exhibit, organized as a collaborative effort between the High Museum of Art and the Art Gallery of Ontario and displaying more than 75 combined works from the artists, is the first of its kind in the Southeast. Key pieces by Kahlo are “The Bus,”“Self-Portrait with Cropped Hair,” “Autorretrato con Monos (Self-Portrait with Monkeys),” “Diego on my Mind” and “My Dress Hangs There.” Noted pieces by Kahlo’s husband, painter and muralist Rivera, include “Flower Day,” “Portrait of Natasha Gelman,” “La Canoa Enflorada (The Flowered Canoe)” and “El Joven de la Estilografica (Portrait of Best Maugard).”
Displayed in chronological order and also arranged in themes, “Frida & Diego” touches upon deep subjects like maternity, heritage and revolution. Kahlo’s often-haunting paintings portray a sense of loneliness with Rivera capturing the political landscape of the time with every brushstroke. In conjunction with the exhibit, the High is also screening the films ¡Qué viva México! and Frida each Saturday through May 11. It’s a way for you to add even more culture to your Valentine’s Day outing.
Photos Courtesy of (clockwise): Diego Rivera, Vendedora de Alcatraces (Calla Lily Vendor), 1943; Frida Kahlo, Autorretrato con Monos (Self-Portrait with Monkeys), 1943; Frida Kahlo, Retrato de Diego Rivera (Portrait of Diego Rivera), 1937; High Museum of Art
