The Enduring Allure of Frida Kahlo – and the Passionate and Political Art of Mexican Modernism – Is the Subject of an Exclusive Exhibition Coming to the Art Gallery of SA

Frida Kahlo is one of the most recognisable and influential artists of all time. Famous for her unflinching self-portraits and radical exploration of identity, her legacy is being highlighted alongside that of her husband, painter and muralist of revolutionary Mexico, Diego Rivera – as well as a raft of their contemporaries – in a new exhibition opening at the Art Gallery of South Australia in June 2023.

An Australian exclusive, Frida & Diego: Love & Revolution is the most comprehensive exhibition of Mexican modernism ever seen Down Under, with more than 150 works including paintings, photographs, video and personal artefacts. It will immerse visitors in Mexico’s art world of the early to mid-20th century, spanning both the Mexican revolution and Kahlo and Rivera’s turbulent love affair. Alongside the duo’s passionate and political art will be works by their contemporaries Manuel and Lola Álvarez Bravo, Miguel Covarrubias, María Izquierdo, Carlos Mérida, David Alfaro Siqueiros and more.

In a statement, AGSA director Rhana Devenport describes Kahlo as a 21st-century muse, “today revered as a feminist and as a singular political and creative force”.

“Each generation brings a new lens through which to view the phenomenon that is Frida Kahlo … Frida & Diego: Love & Revolution speaks to the influence and ingenuity of art practice in Mexico and aims to recontextualise the foremost presence of Kahlo within our society today.”

“While her physical body may have limited her, Kahlo’s resilience and creativity soared, resulting in bold and commanding statements which retain their social, cultural and feminist potency and continue to resonate with people today,” adds Tansy Curtin, AGSA’s curator of international art pre-1980.

A design by South Australian architects Grieve Gillett Andersen, inspired by the artists’ home and studio La Casa Azul, will transport visitors into the world of Kahlo and Rivera. According to Curtin, the exhibition will also feature works from the “unrivaled” collection of Jacques and Natasha Gelman, Kahlo and Rivera’s close friends and pioneering collectors of Mexican Modernism.

Also coming to the gallery is the first-ever survey exhibition of renowned Western Aranda painter Vincent Namatjira, which will headline the Tarnanthi Festival, AGSA’s annual celebration of contemporary Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art. Vincent Namatjira: Australia in Colour will feature works that offer a wry look at history, power and leadership from a contemporary Aboriginal perspective. The Tarnanthi Art Fair will return as a physical event in 2023, this time held at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre, offering audiences an opportunity to meet First Nations artists from across the country and providing an ethical marketplace for Indigenous art.

Other highlights include AGSA exclusive Andy Warhol & Photography: A Social Media, which will open as part of Adelaide Festival in March. It brings together more than 250 photographs, experimental films, screen-prints and paintings from international collections both public and private to explore a candid and little-seen side of the celebrated pop artist.

“The Art Gallery of South Australia promises a year of vivid experiences, potent conversations and original exhibitions that can only be experienced at AGSA in 2023,” says Devenport. “Visitors will have the opportunity to encounter the art of some of the most celebrated artists of our century.”

The $100,000 Ramsay Art Prize is also back in 2023, offering Australian artists under the age of 40 a career-defining opportunity. Finalists will be included in a major exhibition at AGSA in May.

For the full program, visit agsa.sa.gov.au.

Additional reporting by Rosie Herdman