The Eyes Have It: Frida Kahlo Retrospective in Germany

One of the most overlooked aspects of the life of Frida Kahlo is that the artist who exemplified Mexican national identity had a father born in Germany. Thanks to exhibitions in Germany and Austria, Frida returns to her German roots for the first time. The catalogue for those exhibitions, Frida Kahlo: Retrospective, from Prestel, gathers together some of the finest paintings by Frida along with eye-opening essays that touch upon aspects of her art—her writings, the codified love story, her politics—that sometimes get lost in the cult of personality fueling Fridamania. But we always return in the end to the paintings themselves, especially the self-portraits, which return our gaze with eyes that compel us to look deeper. The eyes still have it, more than a half century after Kahlo’s death, and her story and her art still capture our imaginations. Please come over to Picture This at Big Think to read more of "The Eyes Have It."

[Many thanks to Prestel for providing me with a review copy of Frida Kahlo: Retrospective, the catalogue to exhibitions at the Martin-Gropius-Bau, Berlin, Germany, until August 9, 2010, and at the Bank Austria Kunstforum, Vienna, Austria, from September 2, through December 5, 2010.]