The life and work of Frida Kahlo were inextricably intertwined. This beautiful monograph celebrates the artist while exploring the lesser-known aspects of her story. Reproductions of Kahlo's paintings are accompanied by a series of illuminating essays that explore the artist's private writings and the intense public interest in her life, the role of physical and mental suffering in the creative process, and the coded and double meanings hidden in so much of Kahlo's work. In addition, a photographic essay compiled by her grandniece, Cristina Kahlo, features images from the family's private collection. As an icon of female strength and suffering, Frida Kahlo has become something of an art world myth. This scholarly yet profoundly moving illustrated tribute to her life and work offers a measured perspective that rises above the noise of celebrity to discover the true artist and the truth of her art. Published in association with the Martin-Gropius-Bau, Berlin, and the Bank Austria Kunstforum, Vienna.

Author Biography

Peter von Becker is a writer and head of the cultural section of the Berlin newspaper Der Tagesspiegel. Ingried Brugger is the director of the Bank Austria Kunstforum, Vienna. Salomon Grimberg is a psychiatrist for children in Dallas and co-editor of the catalogue raisonne of Frida Kahlo's work. Cristina Kahlo is a photographer in Mexico City and Frida Kahlo's grandniece. She is curator for the photography section of the exhibition in which family-owned photographs will be shown. Arnaldo Kraus is a physician in Mexico City. Helga Prignitz-Poda is an art historian and specialist in Latin American studies and lives in Istanbul and Berlin. She is a co-editor of the catalogue raisonne of Frida Kahlo's work and curator of the exhibition. Francisco Reyes Palma is a historian, critic, and curator of Mexican art in Mexico City. Florian Steininger is a curator of the Bank Austria Kunstforum, Vienna. Jeanette Zwingenberger is an art historian in Paris.