About the exhibition
Tate Modern presents the first major exhibition to explore how Frida Kahlo (1907-1954) became a global icon and a key influence on a generation of artists.
Through the lens of the artists she impacted and her own extraordinary work, this exhibition traces Kahlo’s extraordinary rise from a relatively unknown painter to a worldwide cultural phenomenon. This show examines how Kahlo’s art and life have inspired generations of artists across diverse media, movements and communities around the world.
Get the audio guide
Dive deeper into 'Fridamania' with this self-guided audio tour of the exhibition on your own smartphone.
After purchase, you’ll receive an exclusive link to your audio guide via email. Open the link at the exhibition entrance and listen using your own headphones or your smartphone speaker. No headphones or physical audio devices are provided at the gallery.
Add the £5 guide when booking your ticket. Already a Member? Purchase your guide
Five Fridas not to miss
Frida Kahlo Self-Portrait (With Velvet Dress) 1926 Private collection, Mexico City
Frida Kahlo (Mexican, 1907–1954), Untitled [Self-portrait with thorn necklace and hummingbird], 1940. Oil on canvas mounted to board. Nickolas Muray Collection of Mexican Art, 66.6. Harry Ransom Center.
Frida Kahlo My Dress Hangs There 1933 FEMSA, Mexico
Frida Kahlo Self Portrait with Loose Hair 1938 Private Collection
Frida Kahlo Self-portrait with Dr. Farill 1951 Private Collection
Five Artists inspired by Frida
Rupert García
Rupert García September 1975 Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco
This iconic screenprint, produced for a 1975 poster-calendar, was the first time that a recreated image of Kahlo appeared in the US. García was a prominent activist in the Chicano Movement, which campaigned for the rights of Mexican Americans. Kahlo became an icon of strength and inspiration for the movement, twenty years after her death.
Julio Galán
During the late 1980s and 1990s, a new generation of Mexican artists, loosely grouped under the name 'neo-mexicanism', responded to Kahlo's breaking up of her identity into many different selves. Los cómplices by Julio Galán uses self-portraiture and parody in a way that reminds us of Kahlo's work. It's a tragicomedy about being gay in a macho society.
Julio Galán The Accomplices 1987 Kurimanzutto, Mexico
Las Yeguas del Apocalipsis
Las Yeguas del Apocalipsis The Two Fridas 1989 Private Collection
This photograph is a reenactment of Kahlo's painting Las Dos Fridas 1939 by the queer duo Las Yeguas del Apocalipsis. They staged the work in Chile in 1989, when the country's repressive dictatorship was coming to an end. The work references the discrimination faced by queer people during the HIV/AIDS pandemic, as well as the links of affection that bound their community together.
Martine Gutierrez
An artist of Guatemalan, North American and Indigenous Mayan descent, Gutierrez mirrors Kahlo's own exploration of multi-layered identities in her work. In this photograph, the artist recreates the Aztec goddess of lust, sin and purification.
A parody of fashion magazine spreads, she reinvents herself beyond Indigenous stereotypes often documented and seen through western eyes.
Martine Gutierrez Demons, Tlazoteotl ‘Eather of Filth’ 2018 Courtesy Ryan Lee Gallery, New York
Nalini Malani
Nalini Malani Old Arguments on Indigenism 1989 Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, Massachusetts
This painting portrays Kahlo and the Indian artist Amrita Sher-Gil, often compared to Frida. Malani contrasts the two artists' different approaches to Indigenous activism, while celebrating Kahlo as a revolutionary, feminist icon. Malani says of this work, "My fingers touch Frida Kahlo's, gesturing towards the impact she had on my practice in the years to come."