This exhibition is based on the remarkable discovery in 2004 of Mexican artist Frida Kahlo's clothing and personal possessions in the Casa Azul (Blue House), her life-long home. Hidden away for 50 years following her death in 1954, this is the first time they have been shown outside Mexico.
A display of Frida Kahlo's intimate effects at the V&A is deeply revelatory and riveting.
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The V&A's stunning show reveals why the artist's possessions were the making of her.
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From plaster corsets to prosthetic legs, Frida Kahlo's possessions reveal the astonishing courage of an artist whose life and work were painfully intertwined.
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... an extraordinary testimony to suffering and spirit.
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What makes this a clever show, as well as a riveting one, is the connections made continuously between her possessions and her paintings. It culminates in a spectacular room full of her dresses, ringed by a gallery of self-portraits and drawings in which she wears the same items, and stares at us with that black-eyed intensity of hers.
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This is the story of human suffering; of a feminist; of a woman who had the insight to redefine her own identity decades before Instagram filters had been invented.
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Kahlo feels very present – weirdly, wonderfully so – throughout this exhibition, even more so than in her art alone. Paintings plus artefacts equals surround-sound Kahlo. She's watching us, from under that eyebrow of hers.
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