News Release

 

Fiesta de Frida announced at the V&A for final weeks of exhibition

 

  • Two-week extension announced for Frida Kahlo: Making Her Self Up exhibition

  • Almost 200k visitors have attended since the exhibition opened

  • 48-hour opening announced to coincide with Day of the Dead Mexican holiday alongside a host of free events and activities

  • Mexican fashion designer Carla Fernández will host free-to-attend runway shows as part of the museum’s Fashion in Motion programme

  

vam.ac.uk/FridaKahlo | #InspiredbyFrida

  

With less than one month to go and all pre-bookable tickets now sold out, the V&A announces that it will extend Frida Kahlo: Making Her Self Up for two weeks to accommodate unprecedented demand. Attended by almost 200K people to date, the exhibition will now close on Sunday 18 November.

 

 A host of activities and events to mark the final weeks of the show will begin with a celebration of the Mexican holiday Day of the Dead (Día de Muertos) on Friday 2 November. The festival at the V&A will also coincide with a special 48-hour opening of the exhibition, allowing visitors to view the show from 10am on Friday 2 November through to 10pm on Sunday 4 November. Tickets for the 48-hour opening and the exhibition extension are now available online with a very limited amount available each day at the V&A ticket desk.

 

Almost 200k people have now visited Frida Kahlo: Making Her Self Up at the V&A with tickets selling out every day since its opening in June. Working in close collaboration with Museo Frida Kahlo, the exhibition showcases more than 200 objects from the Blue House reuniting them with key self-portraits and photographs to offer a new perspective on her compelling life story. Kahlo’s personal items including outfits, letters, jewellery, cosmetics, medicines and medical corsets were discovered in 2004, 50 years after being sealed in the Blue House by her husband Diego Rivera, the Mexican muralist, following her death in 1954.

 

On Friday 2 November, the museum will hold a free festival in celebration of Mexico’s Day of the Dead. This is an annual celebration for families and friends to remember those relatives and friends who have passed. Ofrenda (altar) are made to remember loved ones and graves are decorated. Internationally acclaimed Mexican artist Humberto Spíndola has created a spectacular and elaborate ofrenda dedicated to Frida Kahlo, which will be adorned with images of her many influential friends and acquaintances and will be displayed in the V&A’s Raphael Gallery.

 

Guests are invited to take fashion inspiration from Frida Kahlo and learn more about the fascinating traditions of Mexico’s Day of the Dead as they dance to the contemporary and classical sounds of Mexico and Latin America with a DJ set in the Dome and Mariachi el Mexicano throughout the evening.

 

Free performances, workshops and displays will be available from 5pm to 10pm.  A full programme of events is available on the V&A website www.vam.ac.uk/event/XWnaxOv0/day-of-the-dead-festival-2018.

 

Another exciting and contemporary addition to the museum’s Kahlo-inspired festivities during the final weeks of the exhibition will be a Fashion in Motion event with Mexican designer Carla Fernández on Friday 19 October, in the Raphael Gallery. Fernández works at the forefront of ethical fashion, documenting and preserving the rich textile heritage of Mexico’s indigenous communities. This will be her first solo UK show.

 

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NOTES TO EDITORS

 

Ticket Information

 

Admission £15 (concessions available). V&A Members go free. Advance booking for night tickets is essential – this can be done online at vam.ac.uk/FridaKahlo; or by calling +44 (0) 20 7942 2000 (booking fee applies). 

 

A limited number of tickets are available daily to purchase in person on a first-come-first-served basis at the museum.

 

Exhibition Information

 

  • The exhibition is sponsored by Grosvenor Britain & Ireland, with support from Aeromexico, Art Mentor Foundation Lucerne and GRoW @ Annenberg

  • The exhibition will close on Sunday 18 November 2018

  • The exhibition is accompanied by a new V&A publication

 

  • Frida Kahlo: Making Her Self Up is co-curated by the V&A’s Claire Wilcox and independent curator Circe Henestrosa, with support from V&A research assistant, Ana Baeza Ruiz.  

  • Frida Kahlo: Making Her Self Up is designed by Tom Scutt and Gibson Thornley.

  • The exhibition includes significant paintings from The Jacques and Natasha Gelman Collection of 20th Century Mexican Art and The Vergel Foundation

     

    Day of the Dead Information

  • The Day of the Dead festival on Friday 2 November is FREE to attend. Events are free and drop-in (unless otherwise stated)

  • Full programme of details available here: www.vam.ac.uk/event/XWnaxOv0/day-of-the-dead-festival-2018

  • The festival is supported by the Mexican Embassy in the UK and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Mexico through AMEXCID and The Anglo Mexican Foundation

 

 

Fashion in Motion Information

  • Admission to Fashion in Motion: Carla Fernández is FREE. Tickets are limited so advance booking is essential.

  • Tickets are available to book from Monday 8 October by visiting vam.ac.uk/articles/fashion-in-motion-carla-fernandez

  • Fashion in Motion: Carla Fernández is supported by Aeromexico, the Mexican Embassy in the UK and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Mexico through AMEXCID and The Anglo Mexican Foundation

  • The V&A’s Fashion in Motion series brings catwalk shows by leading international designers to the V&A. The aim is to show fashion as it is meant to be seen – in movement. Previous designers featured in the series include Alexander McQueen, Christian Lacroix, Christopher Raeburn, Erdem, Gareth Pugh, Giles Deacon, Grace Wales Bonner, Jean Paul Gaultier, Jenny Packham, Meadham Kirchhoff, Missoni, Molly Goddard, Roksanda Ilincic, Vivienne Westwood and Yohji Yamamoto.

     

     

 

 


 

Copyright for the works of Frida Kahlo: © 2018 Banco de México, Fiduciary of the Trust of the Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo Museums, Av. 5 de Mayo, No. 2, Col. Centro, Del. Cuauhtémoc, CP 06000, Mexico City. 

 

For further PRESS information about Frida Kahlo: Making Her Self Up, please contact Kate Morais in the V&A press office on 0044 (0) 20 7942 2503 or email Esta dirección de correo electrónico está siendo protegida contra los robots de spam. Necesita tener JavaScript habilitado para poder verlo. (not for publication).

 

A selection of press images are available to download free of charge from pressimages.vam.ac.uk