Treasured Artist Frida Kahlo Coming to Florida’s Dali Museum
Frida Kahlo at The Dalí – an exhibit of Paintings, Drawings & Photographs – Debuts December 17, 2016
ST. PETERSBURG, FLA (August 15, 2015) – An exhibition of Frida Kahlo’s paintings and drawings, together with her personal photograph collection, will open to the public at The Dalí Museum in St. Petersburg, FL on December 17, 2016 and continue through April 17, 2017. Kahlo’s works have achieved monumental importance in art and popular culture. Her dreamlike work suggests that love and suffering create a new sense of beauty. Kahlo’s art and storied life stir immense public interest.
Frida Kahlo at The Dalí will be Florida’s first solo exhibition showcasing the extraordinary career and life of the acclaimed 20th century artist. The exhibit will feature a collection of more than 60 Kahlo pieces including 15 paintings, seven drawings and numerous personal photographs from the celebrated female artist and influential icon. The exhibition will extend outdoors where a special collection of flowers and plants representative of those in Kahlo’s own garden at Casa Azul, her home in Mexico, will grace the grounds of the Museum’s Avant Garden.
Co-organized by The Dalí and the Museo Dolores Olmedo in Mexico City and featuring the Vicente Wolf photographic collection, the exhibition is an intriguing exploration of the life of Kahlo, her striking artwork and her fascinating psyche. Together with the exclusive photographs of family, friends and lovers, the exhibition gives a complete view of Kahlo’s world along with the joys, passions and obsessions of this remarkable artist.
“With her dreamlike images, Kahlo has stirred huge public interest beyond the traditional art audience. In a way, Kahlo created a persona that serves as a contemporary feminine ideal – both tender and fierce,” said Dalí Museum Executive Director, Dr. Hank Hine. “Much like Dali, she constructed an eccentric identity through the iconography in her paintings and then dressed and carried herself as the personality she created in her art. Painting by painting, she becomes a heroic figure of struggle and perseverance.”
Kahlo and Dalí each created artistic autobiographies and their personalities loom behind their paintings, generating a presence that both shapes and overshadows their works of art. While Kahlo largely rejected the term ‘Surrealism’ and felt that her works were as real as her life, Andre Breton, known as the founder of Surrealism, took great interest in her work and described her painting as ‘a bomb wrapped in a ribbon.’ “It’s a natural fit for The Dalí to present an exhibition of Frida Kahlo.” said Kathy Greif, Chief Marketing Officer of The Dalí. “We’ve been broadening the scope of our exhibitions, presenting works from famed artists and icons like Warhol, Picasso and Walt Disney – all whom have a connection to Dali– but this is the first renowned female artist to grace our halls in some time, we are honored to share Kahlo’s incredible art and complex life story with the world.”
In conjunction with this empowering exhibition, The Dalí will host a series of programs that engage visitors in journaling, Mexican cooking, and gardening – some of Kahlo’s favorite pastimes. And, this year, the Museum’s annual student exhibit will carry a corresponding theme of ‘Surreal Identity,’ based on the symbolic and autobiographical approach utilized by Kahlo and Dali. Additional programming such as films will accompany the Kahlo exhibition and a large variety of Kahlo-inspired merchandise – including jewelry, home decor, apparel and more – will be available in The Dalí Museum Store.
Frida Kahlo at The Dalí has been co-organized by The Salvador Dalí Museum, St. Petersburg, FL and the Museo Dolores Olmedo, Mexico City. The exhibit also features works from the Vicente Wolf photographic collection. Frida Kahlo at The Dalí is curated for The Dalí by Dr. Hank Hine and Dr. William Jeffett.
Permission to reproduce these images is granted solely for use in conjunction with media reportage and review of Frida Kahlo at The Dalí All reproductions must be accompanied by each image credit as noted below. Permission to reproduce these images is contingent upon the press’ acknowledgement and acceptance of these terms.
Frida Kahlo, Autorretrato con changuito (Self Portrait with Small Monkey), 1945 Oil on Composite Board. Collection Museo Dolores Olmedo, Mexico City © 2016 Banco de Mexico Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo Museums Trust, Mexico, D.F./Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Frida Kahlo, Retrato de Alicia Galant (Portrait of Alicia Galant), 1927 Oil on Canvas. Collection Museo Dolores Olmedo, Mexico City © 2016 Banco de Mexico Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo Museums Trust, Mexico,D.F./Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Frida Kahlo, 1945 [seated next to a lithographic stone of Diego Rivera’s 1930 self-portrait, Casa Azul]. Photograph by Lola Álvarez Bravo, ©1995 Center for Creative Photography, University of Arizona Foundation. Vicente Wolf Photography Collection.
About The Dalí Museum
The Dalí Museum, located in the heart of beautiful downtown St. Petersburg, Florida, is home to an unparalleled collection of Salvador Dalí art, featuring more than 2,000 works comprising nearly 100 oil paintings; over 100 watercolors and drawings; and 1,300 prints, photographs, sculptures and objets d’art. The building is itself a work of art, featuring 1,062 triangular-shaped glass panels—the only structure of its kind in North America. Nicknamed The Enigma, it provides an unprecedented view of St. Petersburg’s picturesque waterfront. The Museum has attracted the world’s attention, and among the other distinguished awards it has received, it was listed by AOL Travel News as “one of the top buildings to see in your lifetime.” The Dalí Museum is located at One Dalí Boulevard, St. Petersburg, Florida 33701. For additional information contact 727.823.3767 or visit TheDali.org.
MEDIA CONTACT Lorin Konchak Augeri, LAugeri@paradiseadv.com, 954.815.2156