Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera, and Mexican Modernism

I love that my parents have instilled in me a love for art. And that is why it is still such a treat to experience art together when they are 80 years old. Nona wanted to tour the Portland Art Museum’s Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera, and Mexican Modernism and it was awesome!

Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera, and Mexican Modernism from the Jacques and Natasha Gelman Collection is a fascinating exploration of the Avant-Garde cultural movement in Mexico in the early 20th century. Featuring over 150 works, including paintings and works on paper collected by Jacques and Natasha Gelman alongside photographs and period clothing, the exhibition presents cherished works by iconic artists Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera in the broader context of Mexican Modernism, including artwork by Manuel and Lola Álvarez Bravo, Miguel Covarrubias, Gunther Gerzso, María Izquierdo, Carlos Mérida, David Alfaro Siqueiros, Juan Soriano, Rufino Tamayo and others. The Gelmans’ close relationship with this community is underscored by the number of portraits of them made by their artist friends in the exhibition. Photographs related to Kahlo, Rivera, and their enduring legacy by a global roster of artists including Lucienne Bloch, Imogen Cunningham, Juan Guzmán, Graciela Iturbide, Nickolas Muray, Edward Weston, and Guillermo Kahlo—Frida’s father—help round out our understanding of these beloved painters.

And we loved the mural project by IDEAL PDX artists Jessica Lagunas, William Hernandez, Romina del Castillo, José Solis and Daniel Santollo. Established in 2010, IDEAL PDX is a collaborative group of Latino artists that accomplish new projects displaying individual Visual and Performing Artists in the Northwest. In creating their mural in the Museum’s Schnitzer Courtyard, the artists envision Frida Kahlo and Diego coming from the Mictlan – the Mexican-infra world, to visit the beautiful Pacific Northwest. Arriving to the Multnomah, Cathlamet, Clackamas, Chinook, Tualatin Kalapuya, Molalla, and other tribe territories, they bring with them their beloved México. Like in a dream, Frida and Diego open and enlighten their way to the PNW to explore other forms of life and see themselves within the people’s lives. This panel discussion highlights the artists’ special attention to collecting and studying details of Frida and Diego’s life together and their process of reflecting these details in their mural work.