Frida Kahlo, a truly extraordinary woman who captured the public's imagination with her iconic look, troubled life and exotic air, is first and foremost a great painter. This exhibition and accompanying catalogue aim to free her work from the haze of myth and the frustrating limits of private life in order to grant her the position she deserves within the history of art. Oil paintings, drawings, watercolours, letters and photographs explore the complex historical and cultural context of Kahlo's work, examining its explicit realism as well as its disturbing ambiguity, its dramatic content as well as its irony, and not least, the exuberant sensuality of her still lifes. Organised by theme in several large chapters, the catalogue analyses the art of Frida Kahlo, revealing its uncompromising political nature, audacious use of the body, macabre, violent aesthetic, and symbolic and symbiotic interaction with the natural environment of Mexico in the early 1900s. The catalogue represents the most up-todate text available on the work of one of the most celebrated and beloved artists of all time.
