Frida Kahlo, her life, her work, through her clothes, this is the exhibition-event at the Palais Galliera

During her lifetime, Frida Kahlo painted more than 150 paintings, including many self-portraits. Whether it’s on her web or in the many photos of her preserved in her story, we can recognize in her an acute sense of staging, which partly passes through the way she dresses.

It is to this elaborate apparition, which tells his work in a different way, that the Palais Galliera dedicates an exhibition, from 15 September 2022 to 5 March 2023: ” Frida Kahlo, beyond appearances “.

The exhibition “Frida Kahlo, beyond appearances” explores the links between the artist and his style

The Paris fashion museum brought together more than 200 objects, some of which come directly from the Casa Azul (the artist’s birthplace, which has since become a museum). Clothing, accessories, cosmetics, medicinesbut also excerpts from his correspondence with personalities such as the Mexican mural painter Diego Rivera (for a time her husband).

Some pieces tell a lot about his personality, his life and his work, such as the traditional Tehuana dresses to claim his Mexican, or the pre-Columbian necklaces that the artist collected. But also corsets and prostheses on which Frida Kahlo sometimes painted.

Less futile than it seems, Frida Kahlo’s wardrobe counts in her work, full of self-portraits, in which she questions herself, in particular through clothing, her culture, her gender and even her physical condition. In fact, in addition to polio at the age of 6, she suffered a serious bus accident at the age of 18 that left her paralyzed. She then underwent several surgeries that forced her to wear casts and remain bedridden. This impossible convalescence led her to paint many pictures and thus transfigure her pain, before being amputated. And you paint more.

Even if it means being in Paris, part of the exhibition explores his links with the surrealist artists of the French capital of which it was contemporary. Another part, this time temporary (from 15 September to 31 December 2022), focuses on Frida Kahlo’s influence on contemporary fashion.

It is therefore an exhibition that promises to be exciting, at the crossroads between painting and fashion, but also questions of political identity, social race, gender, sexuality and even skill.

Front page photo credit: Frida Kahlo by Toni Frissell, Vogue US 1937 © Toni Frissell, Vogue © Condé Nast / Frida Kahlo by Antonio Kahlo, 1946. © Diego Rivera and archives Frida Kahlo, Bank of México, fiduciary in Frida Kahlo and Diego Trust of the Rivera Museum. / Frida Kahlo reveals her corset painted under her huipil by Florence Arquin, around 1951. DR, private collection © Diego Rivera and archives Frida Kahlo, Bank of México, trustee in Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera Museums Trust