In Milan, a major exhibition on Frida Kahlo reconstructs the environments where she lived

From October 10, 2020 to March 28, 2021, the Fabbrica del Vapore in Milan will host the exhibition Frida Kahlo. The Chaos Within, curated by Antonio Arèvalo, Alejandra Matiz, Milagros Ancheita and Maria Rosso. The exhibition aims to be a technological sensory journey that can immerse the visitor in the life of Frida Kahlo (Coyoacán, 1907 - 1954), exploring her artistic, human, and spiritual dimensions. The idea is to let the public enter the environments where the painter lived, to understand, through her writings and the reproduction of her works, her poetics and the fundamental relationship with Diego Rivera, to experience, through her clothes and objects, her everyday life and the elements of popular culture so dear to the artist.

The itinerary begins with a multimedia section with animated images and a chronicle told through the dates that marked the painter’s personal and artistic events, and then gets to the heart of the matter with the meticulous reproduction of the three rooms most experienced by Frida at Casa Azul, the famous Mexican mansion built in the French style by Guillermo Kahlo in 1904 and a destination for tourists and enthusiasts from all over the world: the bedroom, the studio built in 1946 on the second floor and the garden. Next comes the section The Colors of the Soul, curated by Alejandra Matiz, director of the Leo Matiz Foundation in Bogotá, with photographic portraits of Frida by renowned Colombian photographer Leonet Matiz Espinoza (Aracataca, 1917 - Bogotá, 1988). Matiz immortalizes Frida in everyday spaces: the neighborhood, the house and garden, the studio.

On the upper floor, the exhibition continues with a section devoted to Diego Rivera (Guanajuato, 1886 - Mexico City, 1957): here we find projected the most evocative letters Frida wrote to her husband, as well as a room devoted to popular culture and art in Mexico, which had such an influence on Frida’s life, treated on large graphic panels where its origins, revolutions, iconography, and elements of craftsmanship are recounted: jewelry, ceramics, toys. Displayed are examples of necklaces, earrings, rings and ornaments proper to the tradition that embellished Frida’s clothing. The next section displays traditional Mexican clothing that inspired and influenced the designs Kahlo used: wide, colorful skirts, shawls and camisoles, headdresses and necklaces.

The focus on Mexican tradition proceeds with the section devoted to some of the best-known murals created by Diego Rivera in various parts of the world: the twenty-seven mural panels that make up the Detroit Industry Mural (Detroit, 1932), the Pan American Unity Mural (San Francisco, 1940) and Sueño de una tarde dominical en la Alameda Central (Mexico City) will be shown in their entirety and in some details.

The “Frida and Her Double” section displays modlight format reproductions of fifteen of the best-known self-portraits Frida made throughout her artistic career, including Self-Portrait with Necklace (1933), Self-Portrait with Braid (1941), Self-Portrait with Monkeys (1945), The Broken Column (1944), The Wounded Deer (1946), and Diego and I (1949). Modlight is a special form of homogeneous backlighting, in which each painting, previously digitized, is reproduced on a special film while maintaining its original dimensions. Confirming the great global fame enjoyed by the Mexican painter, the exhibition continues with a collection of stamps in which Frida was effigyed, a unique collection with issues from different states. The itinerary also includes Frida’s original 1938 work Piden Aeroplanos y les dan Alas de Petate (“They ask for airplanes and give them straw wings”) and six original watercolor lithographs by Diego Rivera. The final space is reserved for the playful part of the exhibition: the 10D multimedia room combines very high resolution video, sound and special effects and is a very exciting augmented reality sensory experience, suitable for young and old.

The exhibition is produced by Navigare with the City of Milan, with the collaboration of the Consulate of Mexico in Milan, the Italian Chamber of Commerce in Mexico, the Leo Matiz Foundation, the Banco del Mexico, the Oscar Roman Mexican Gallery, the Detroit Institute of Arts, and the Museo Estudio Diego Rivera y Frida Kahlo. Information is available at the Fabbrica del Vapore website.

In Milan, a major exhibition on Frida Kahlo reconstructs the environments where she lived

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