Masterpieces of Frida Kahlo for the first time in Hungary

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FRIDA KAHLO EXHIBITION IN THE HUNGARIAN NATIONAL GALLERY.

Budapest, Hungary, July 5th, 2018. – In the Hungarian National Gallery, the Frida Kahlo Exhibition was inaugurated, which will be open to the public from July 6th –anniversary of the birthday of the famous Mexican painter - until November 5th, 2018. Bringing Frida Kahlo's works was possible due to the joint effort of the National Gallery of Budapest and the Dolores Olmedo Museum in Mexico City, in an inter-institutional dialogue linking Hungary and Mexico, as well as owing to the support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Hungary, the Agency for International Development Cooperation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Mexico - through the Embassy of Mexico in Hungary - as well as the private sponsors of Gránit Bank, Group MVM, AirFrance and Sofitel. At the opening ceremony, we counted on the participation of José Luis Martínez, General Director of Educational and Cultural Cooperation of the Mexican Agency for International Development Cooperation (AMEXCID); David Nájera Rivas, Ambassador of Mexico to Hungary; Dr. László Baán, Director of the Museum of Fine Arts – Hungarian National Gallery; Mr. Carlos Phillips, Director of the Dolores Olmedo Museum, Dr. Adriana Lantos, curator of the exhibition; and the Mexican artist, Cristina Kahlo.

The exhibition has a high artistic and cultural value that gives it relevance not only in Europe but all over the world. It is important to mention that the works and the museum design are the result of the fine curatorial work of Dr. Adriana Lantos. As a whole - the relevance of the content of the exhibition, the National Gallery of Budapest; and the most important private collection of Frida Kahlo- give Budapest a special distinction in the artistic world at a global level that will encourage people from different countries to visit this capital. On the other hand, Frida Kahlo and her art are typical intrinsic elements of Mexico and the world itself. The symbolism in its composition today is part of the artistic heritage of the twentieth century and without a doubt, its influence transcends contemporary artists from different countries, especially it has been the inspiration of young creators who have taken it as an emblem.

The Embassy of Mexico in Hungary, of the promotion of Mexican culture and art, will organize a series of events related to this exhibition, which are complementary and reflect the inter-institutional dialogue between Hungary and Mexico. The first one will be the conference "Frida Kahlo - Life, Time and Work", given by Ambassador José Luis Martínez that will take place in Budapest Projekt Gallery (Kossuth Lajos utca 14-16), organized jointly with the Gallery and the City Hall of Budapest. Additionally, the Embassy prepares a series of parallel activities that will promote the exhibition linking various aspects of Mexican culture, an intrinsic theme in the work of Frida Kahlo, with Budapest, Hungary: gastronomic events, artistic programs, the participation of Mexico as a guest country in the Bártok Béla Urban Festival of Budapest, the celebration of the Day of the Dead, among other initiatives that will be announced in a timely manner.

The presence of Frida Kahlo in the National Gallery of Budapest is another example of the cultural and institutional dialogue between Mexico and Hungary, a fundamental pillar in the relations between both countries. The enthusiasm displayed by the people involved in bringing this exhibition to Hungary is a source of pride for Mexicans.

To see the photographs of the press conference of the exhibition of Frida Kahlo in the Hungarian National Gallery please click here.

To see the photographs of the official inauguration ceremony of the exhibition of Frida Kahlo in the Hungarian National Gallery please click here.

To see the photographs of the Reception of our Ambassador held in his Residence in honour of the Frida Kahlo exhibition please click here.

To see the photographs of the conference of José Luis Martínez entitled "Frida Kahlo, time and work" please click here.

About Frida Kahlo.

Frida Kahlo (July 6, 1907 - July 13, 1954), whose full name is Magdalena Carmen Frida Kahlo and Calderón, was a Mexican artist who expressed herself through her art and personality after having suffered an accident that left her bedridden for long periods of time when she was only 18 years old. Since then, he focused on painting self-portraits using a mirror inserted in the canopy of his bed that she eventually changed to an easel, each time practically perfecting his stroke with the influence of her personal experiences but also of the historical moments she was living in.

In 1928, Frida Kahlo joined the League of Young Communist, the year in which Diego Rivera painted her on the walls of the Ministry of Public Education; in 1929, she married the painter, who in November of that year was expelled from the Communist Party and later, both marched to the United States. In 1934 they returned to Mexico and three years later they hosted Leon Trotsky, when he arrived in Mexico as an asylum seeker. His relations with the old Bolshevik were profound. They had an active participation in Trotskyism and in the movement of solidarity with the Spanish Republic. In 1938 she became friends with André Breton who encouraged her to exhibit in Paris. She previously presented a sample of her work in Paris, and she had previously presented her work in New York.

In 1940, Diego and Frida got divorced and after a few months, they got married again. In 1942 she was counted among the founding members of the Seminar of Mexican Culture. Far from Trotskyism, in 1943 she entered as a teacher the Academy of La Esmeralda where some of her students were known as Los Fridos, to whom she directed the decoration of the La Rosita hairdressing and some public laundry facilities in Coyoacán. She received a government award for Moisés (1946); however, as part of her disruptive personality and unlike her contemporaries, Frida Kahlo did not venture into Mexican Muralism. In 1948 she was readmitted into the Mexican Communist Party, which she belonged to until her death, shortly before which she attended, in a wheelchair, a demonstration against the coup d'état that overthrew the president of Guatemala, Jacobo Arbenz. In 1953, an individual exhibition of her work was opened at the Contemporary Art Gallery in Mexico City, the only one that was presented in Mexico during her lifetime.

About that Mexico in which Frida Kahlo lived and developed her artwork.

Mexico flourished in the 1920s and 1930s as a liberal destination, which attracted foreign artists, writers, photographers and filmmakers, a time that came to be known as the Mexican Renaissance. The exhibition on Frida Kahlo, shows an artistic and cultural expression emanated from a post-revolutionary Mexico. After concluding a period of continuous internal struggles between 1910 and 1920, the priority of the governments following the Mexican Revolution were the need to generate a nation project as well as a national identity on the roots of institutions that remained in spite of the conflict. One of them was the National Preparatory School in Mexico City, perhaps the most important because it is the place where young Mexicans were educated under the scientific bases inherited from Positivism: lawyers, doctors, teachers and artists share the instructions of that institution; Frida Kahlo was one of those students.