A Journey Into the Self and The Soul: A Review of “Frida Kahlo—Conexões entre mulheres surrealistas no México”

: Frida Kahlo, autorretrato con vestido rojo y dorado, 1941, óleo sobre tela, courtesy of the Gelman Collection ©2015 Banco de México Diego Rivera & Frida Kahlo Museums Trust

: Frida Kahlo, Retrato de Diego Rivera, 1937, Oil on Masonite, 46 x 32 cm, ©2015 Banco de México Diego Rivera & Frida Kahlo Museums Trust/Photo: Gerardo Suter

: Frida Kahlo, autorretrato con monos, 1943, óleo sobre tela, Courtesy the Guelman Collection ©2015 Banco de México Diego Rivera & Frida Kahlo Museums Trust

: Lucien Bloch, Frida Kahlo en el hotel Barbican Plaza_1931 Gelatin Silver Print, 29.2X19cm Courtesy the Gelman Collection

: Alice Rahon, El Juglar, From the Orion’s Ballet Series, 1946, tinta branca em cartolina_33X25.1cm, ©Alice Rahon State Courtesy of Oscar Roman Gallery

: Frida Kahlo, Diego en mi pensamiento, 1943, Oil on masonite, 76 x 61 cm, ©2015 Banco de México Diego Rivera & Frida Kahlo Museums Trust/Photo: Gerardo Suter

: Remedies Varo Roulette,1955, oil on masonite, 78X60cm Collection of The Museum of Modern Art of México, © Varo, Remédios – AUTVIS, Brasil, 2015

: Nickolas Muray, Frida Kahlo en una banca #5, Carbro print, 45.5X36cm Courtesy the Gelman Collection, © Nickolas Muray Photo Archives

: Frida Kahlo, Frida y el aborto, 1932, Litografía, 31,7 x 23,5 cm, ©2015 Banco de México Diego Rivera & Frida Kahlo Museums Trust/Photo: Gerardo Suter

: Alice Rahon, Balada por Frida Kahlo,1956-66, óleo sobre tela, 120X178cm, ©Alice Rahon State, Collection Museo de Arte Moderno, México

: Marjorie Cameron, Sem título (Mystial Landscape with Spirits) 8.3X20.3cm Cameron Parsons Foudation, Santa Monica, CA/ Courtesy Nicole Klagsburn Gallery New York NY

: Leonora Carrington, Three Women with Crows, 1951, óleo sober tela_52X3 0Private Collection © Carrigton, Leonora , AUTVIS, Brasil, 2015

: Frida Kahlo, El abrazo de amor del Universo, la Tierra, México, Diego, yo y el señor Xólotl, 1949, Óleo sobre Masonite, ©2015 Banco de México Diego Rivera & Frida Kahlo Museums Trust.

: Nikolas Muray, Frida Kahlo en vested azul, 1939, Carbro print, Ed. 2de30_Courtesy the Gelman Collection, © Nickolas Muray Photo Archives

Why the exhibition “Frida Kahlo—Conexões entre mulheres surrealistas no México” (Frida Kahlo—Connections among surrealist women in Mexico) touched me so deeply is hard to define. One thing is for sure: it goes beyond the ravishing artistic quality of the paintings, sculptures and photographs assembled by the show’s curator, Teresa Arcq.

Maybe it has to do with surrealism and its vigorous invitation to pull us to the core of our unconsciousness, into a scary and fascinating territory. Or maybe it has to do with the force of the feminine, which exhales its bittersweet perfume, taking over our senses, wrapping us up in mystical and dreamlike stories and in surreal, yet so real, history. The intensity with which some paintings struck me made it difficult to stay behind the safety line. What is a safe distance for a piece of art that has the power of moving us, anyway?

Yes, this show compels us to contemplate our inner selves through the revelation of the private yet universal world of Frida and these other fifteen artists. It was a gratifying surprise to discover the courage, audacity and resilience in the work of these women, especially Leonora Carrington and Remedios Varo.

The exhibition doesn’t collude with the conventional myth of Frida Kahlo but unties her from the commonplace of a psycho-biographical artist and places her into a greater context, where she plays a larger role connecting Mexico, United States and Europe. In this way, Frida is like the sun, radiating her own beautiful being, influencing interesting and fertile women through aesthetics and ideological affinities, enlightening the Mexican culture and its traditions, as well as the whole, disturbing and beautiful world we live in—the inner and the outer, the real and the surreal.

Frida Kahlo – Conexões entre mulheres surrealistas no México

In São Paulo, through January 10, 2016.
Instituto Tomie Ohtake

In Rio, from February 2 to March 27
Caixa Cultural do Rio de Janeiro

In Brasília, from April 12 to June 12
Caixa Cultural de Brasília