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Frida: Beyond the Myth

Dates April 5, 2025 — September 28, 2025
Location Altria Group Gallery, NewMarket Gallery
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EX38 Frida on White Bench New York Nickolas Muray
Frida on White Bench, New York (detail), 1939, Nickolas Muray (American, born Hungary, 1892–1965), Carbon pigment print. Private Collection ©️ Nickolas Muray Photo Archives, Licensed by Nickolas Muray Photo Archives
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About the Exhibition

Twentieth-century Mexican artist Frida Kahlo continues to fascinate us with her arresting gaze, signature fashion, and trailblazing legacy. At the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, this singular artist and her extraordinary works are the focus of Frida: Beyond the Myth. 

The exhibition showcases many of the artist’s most important paintings and drawings from the beginning of her career in 1926 until her death in 1954. More than 60 works of art in a variety of media, many rarely seen outside of Mexico, include self-portraits, still lifes, and compositions from her imagination. Also on view are photographs of Kahlo taken by many of those closest to her, including internationally renowned photographers Lola Álvarez Bravo, Imogen Cunningham, Julien Levy, Dora Maar, and Nickolas Muray.   

Kahlo began painting during her recovery from a traumatic bus accident that she barely survived and that forever changed her life. This exhibition closely examines the inimitable style and complexity of Kahlo’s paintings. Her life was a seemingly open book but was also paradoxically enigmatic, as she depicted life-altering events with unflinching truth yet masterfully employed symbolism and continually reinvented herself in iconic self-portraits. Her jewel-like paintings are among the most beautiful, memorable, and haunting images of the 20th century.  

This presentation of paintings, drawings, prints, and photographs offers a rare opportunity to explore the art of Frida Kahlo, whose strength, vulnerability, and sensuality still compel us today. Discover how she crafted her image to reflect her Mexican pride, express gender fluidity, and adorn her injured body. Learn how Kahlo painted to transcend pain and physical disability. And celebrate how she ultimately triumphed to achieve her own immortality, becoming a national treasure in her native Mexico and receiving posthumous acclaim around the world.   

Frida: Beyond the Myth is co-curated by Dr. Agustín Arteaga, the former Eugene McDermott Director, and Sue Canterbury, the Pauline Gill Sullivan Curator of American Art, at the Dallas Museum of Art. The exhibition is organized for the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts by exhibition curator Dr. Sarah G. Powers.

Interpretive text and audio tours in both English and Spanish and rarely seen film footage are part of the visitor experience at VMFA, the exhibition’s only East Coast venue and one of only two venues nationwide.

Tickets

$20 Adults
$16 Seniors 65+
$16 Groups of 10 or more
$10 Youth (age 7–17)
$10 Students with ID
Free for Children 6 and Under

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Highlights

  • EX38 Frida on White Bench New York Nickolas Muray

    Frida on White Bench

    Nickolas Muray

  • Self-Portrait with Loose Hair

    Frida Kahlo

  • Frida with Blue Satin Blouse

    Nickolas Muray

  • Self-Portrait with Monkey

    Frida Kahlo

  • Frida Kahlo

    Imogen Cunningham
  • EX49 Frida painting Naturaleza Viva Unknown Photographer

    Frida painting Naturaleza Viva

    Unknown

  • Still Life (I Belong to Samuel Fastlicht)

    Frida Kahlo

Resources

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Exhibition Catalogue

By Agustin Arteaga and Sue Canterbury Frida: Beyond the Myth offers a sensitive and informative look at Kahlo in all her complexities from both sides of the easel ,and how she was transformed into an enigmatic icon of twentieth century art.
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Frida: Más Allá del Mito

La artista mexicana del siglo XX Frida Kahlo sigue fascinándonos con su cautivadora mirada, su estilo característico y su legado de vanguardia. En el Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, esta singular artista y sus extraordinarias obras son el eje sobre el que se articula Frida: Más Allá del Mito.

La exposición presenta muchas de las pinturas y los dibujos más importantes de la artista desde el comienzo de su carrera en 1926 hasta su muerte en 1954. Este conjunto de más de 60 obras producidas con diferentes técnicas, muchas de ellas poco vistas fuera de México, incluyen autorretratos, naturalezas muertas y composiciones creadas a partir de su imaginación. También se exponen fotografías de Kahlo que tomaron muchas de las personas más cercanas a ella, por ejemplo, artistas de la fotografía de renombre internacional como Lola Álvarez Bravo, Imogen Cunningham, Julien Levy, Dora Maar y Nickolas Muray.

Kahlo empezó a pintar durante su recuperación de un traumático accidente de autobús al que apenas sobrevivió y que cambió su vida para siempre. Esta exposición analiza en profundidad el estilo inimitable y la complejidad de las pinturas de Kahlo. Su vida fue un libro en apariencia abierto, pero también paradójicamente enigmático, ya que retrató acontecimientos que fueron trascendentales para ella con una verdad inquebrantable y, a la vez, empleó con maestría el simbolismo y se reinventó de forma constante en los autorretratos icónicos que pintó. Sus pinturas, semejantes a joyas, figuran entre las imágenes más bellas, memorables e inquietantes del siglo XX.

Esta exposición de pinturas, dibujos, grabados y fotografías ofrece una oportunidad poco usual para conocer la obra de Frida Kahlo, cuya fuerza, vulnerabilidad y sensualidad nos siguen cautivando hasta el día de hoy. Descubra cómo construyó su imagen para transmitir su orgullo mexicano, expresar la fluidez de género y adornar su cuerpo herido. Descubra cómo pintaba Kahlo para superar el dolor y la discapacidad física. Y celebre cómo finalmente triunfó y alcanzó su propia inmortalidad, se convirtió en un tesoro nacional en su México natal y recibió elogios póstumos en todo el mundo.

Frida: Más Allá del Mito está cocurada por el Dr. Agustín Arteaga, exdirector Eugene McDermott, y Sue Canterbury, curadora de arte americano Pauline Gill Sullivan para el Dallas Museum of Art. La exposición fue organizada para el Virginia Museum of Fine Arts por la Dra. Sarah G. Powers, curadora de exposiciones.

Los textos interpretativos y las audioguías en inglés y español, así como el material fílmico pocas veces visto, forman parte de la experiencia del visitante en el VMFA, la única sede de la exposición en la Costa Este y una de las dos únicas en todo el país.

Organizer

This exhibition is organized by the Dallas Museum of Art.

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Sponsors

Presented by

  • Altria CMYK Converted
Community Foundation for a greater Richmond
Lettie Pate Whitehead Evans Exhibition Endowment
Fabergé Ball Endowment
Mr. and Mrs. Thomas F. Garner, Jr.
Dr. and Mrs. William V. Garner
Julia Louise Reynolds Fund
Lilli and William Beyer
Frances Massey Dulaney
Maggie Georgiadis
VMFA Council Exhibition Fund
Charlottesville Initiative for VMFA
Nancy and Wayne Chasen
Davenport Family Foundation
Birch Douglass
Virginia R. Edmunds
Anne and Gus Edwards
The Jeanann Gray Dunlap Foundation
Laura and Berno Hamilton
Bertie Heiner
Ed and Beverly Jennings
McGue Millhiser Family Trust
William and Pamela O’Connor
Richard S. Reynolds Foundation
Virginia Sargeant Reynolds Foundation
Mary and Don Shockey
YouDecide
Denise Berthiaume and Jack McKeown
Edie and Bob Cabaniss
Cynthia Cobbs and James Ludwig
The E.B. Duff Charitable Lead Annuity Trust
Steven Dunn and Tom Burkhardt
The Francena T. Harrison Foundation
Nancy and Peter Huber
James W. Klaus
Deanna M. Maneker
Alexandria Rogers McGrath
Candace H. Osdene
Michael Schewel
Priscilla Burbank
Marcia and Harry Thalhimer
Lilo and Scott Ukrop
Richard J. and Nancy Plott Williams
Two Anonymous Donors
Robin D. Baliles | Agnes Lisa Barker | Van Baskins and Marc Purintun | Michael and Maura Bisceglia | Carol Ann Bischoff and Mike Regan | Page and Sandy Bond | Wendy Brown | Suzanne T. Chitwood | Noelle J. Coates and Thomas C. Palmer | John W. Collier III and True Harrigan | Mr. and Mrs. Frank M. Conner III | Mr. and Mrs. John E. Corey | John and Susan Davenport | Christopher English and Meda Lane | The Doris Glisson Memorial Fund | Michelle Gluck and John McGurl | Terry E. Grant | Sherrie Page Guyer and Raymond A. Guyer III | Lisa Hogan and Mark Giles | Dr. Anne-Marie Irani and Dr. Lawrence Schwartz | Eucharia “Ukay” and Richard Jackson, M.D. | Glen Kettering and Claudia Del Giudice | Drs. Eileen and Edward Kitces | Arnel U. Manalo | Teri Craig Miles | Karen Moran and Wistar Morris | Joseph Papa and John-Stuart Fauquet | Celia Rafalko and Rick Sample* | Ellen Ray, Main Street Law Offices | John and Maria Reed | Reynolds Gallery | Dr. and Mrs. Stephen Richard | Dr. and Mrs. Irvin Seeman | Jennifer L. Sisk | Dr. and Mrs. R. P. Sowers III | Ellie and Rick St. John | Lewis and Tina Stoneburner | Stephen Thompson and Jon McCue | Thomas and Deborah Valentine | Britt and Mark Van Deusen | Randy and Lelia Graham Webb | George and Patti White | White-Trivas Family Foundation | Anne Marie Whittemore | Mr. and Mrs. Christopher Hale Williams | Stephen L. and Harriet Heldenfels Yake

Media Sponsor

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Community Partner

  • VAHCC Logo

Hotel Partner

  • Quirk Hotel
Marketing support is provided by the Charles G. Thalhimer Fund.
This list reflects sponsors as of April 5, 2025.

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