Frida Kahlo at The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX.
Self Portrait, 1926.
Vogue Magazine, 2012.
The Wortham Curator of Latin American Art, Mari Carmen Ramirez, has spent four years with the staff at the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston putting together a major assemblage of 30 paintings by Frida Kahlo and 120 other objects that celebrate her amazing contribution to the history of art from Mexico. With 11 essays from related scholars, Mari Carmen has published a 350-page catalog with Yale University Press that brings together all the data with Yale University Press on how the life and artwork of Mexican Artist Frida Kahlo has made such a massive impact on her peers and the world of women in art around the globe.
In my career studying art history, I have never seen such an intellectual effort to show how the tormented life of one woman affected so many realms of art through her paintings, drawings, photographs, and the related commercial products that emerged after her death in 1954. Raised in Mexico by a German father who was a photographer, Guillermo Kahlo, and a mother of Spanish descent, Frida survived an early attack of polio at age 6 and then nearly bled to death at age 18 when a pole from her school bus pierced her back and spine in a traffic accident. Her parents made her stay in bed and draw and color until multiple surgeries pieced her back together with nails that eventually caused her death in 1954 at age 47. The infection caused by the metal nails also resulted in having one of her legs cut off in 1951. All of this trauma is revealed in her artwork about which poet André Breton said “The art of Frida is a ribbon around a bomb.”[1]
In addition to an early biography of Frida by author Hayden Herrara in 1983, and the movie, Frida, with actress Salma Hayek in 2002, Mari Carmen noted that Frida was on the cover of Vogue magazine in 2012 and Salma Hayek on the cover of Time magazine in 2002 as evidence that this woman after her death had a meteoric rise which outraced even Vincent Van Gogh. The 1990 show at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, Mexico: Splendors of 30 Centuries, featured 20 works by Frida. NYU professor Edward Sullivan said at that time “New York has gone Frida crazy!” [2]
Wellesley College professor, James Oles, said the mythification of Frida as an icon of strength and endurance was the result of artwork in which Frida showed herself inside out surviving every challenge. In addition to her health issues, her marriage to famous Mexican muralist, Diego Rivera, in 1929, also produced many challenges for her with the miscarriage of her only child in 1932, and their divorce in 1939 due to his many infidelities. Works such as these show some of the details.
The Broken Column, 1944, oil on canvas.
The Wounded Deer, 1946, oil on canvas.
In addition to her impact on the art world, Frida also became a fashion icon as she often wore indigenous clothes with jewelry and fabrics made in the Mexican area near Oaxaca known as Tehuana (see below). Even the current President of Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum, occasionally adopts the native dress as part of her identity. The MFAH installation shows many of the costumes related to the legacy of Frida Kahlo.
Tree of Hope Remain Strong, 1946, oil on canvas.
President of Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum, 2024, in native dress.
Another fascinating phenomenon with Frida is how commercial enterprises have invaded her legacy and produced everything from sneakers to a Barbie doll. While her relatives have been upset, the copyright laws are complex in terms of protecting an artist like Frida as each product is technically a “new work“ and not a copy of her original designs.
Frida sneakers, sold on ETSY.
A recent Sotheby’s sale in November of 2025 sold an oil painting by Frida Kahlo for $ 54.7 million dollars, making her the most valuable female artist in the history of art. The work is rumored to currently be in the museum of an Argentinian collector, Eduardo Costantini, in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
El Sueno. The Dream, 1940, oil on canvas.
One of the most amazing works by Frida in the MFAH exhibition is owned by the Oshman family as their mother bought same in an early exhibition at the University of Houston. If put up for auction today, nobody can guess how much money it would sell for as it has many portraits by Frida done in 1945.
Moses, 1945, oil on canvas.
In conclusion, this show is a masterful effort at the MFAH, and it is a gift that it will travel to London to embrace an international audience. Frida was an icon worthy of devotion and admiration for her life as a model of Latin American courage and visual acuity.
The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
January 19 to May 17, 2026
Next at The Tate Modern, London
June 25, 2026 – January 3, 2027
Source consulted:
- The Making of an Icon: Frida. Museum of Fine Arts Houston , 2026: Yale University Press.
[1] The Making of An Icon. FRIDA. Museum of Fine Arts Houston, p. 14.
[2] Ibid, p. 20.
The post Sharon Lorenzo Reviews “Frida: The Making of An Icon” appeared first on Sharp Eye.
Leave a Reply