Frida Kahlo-Diego Rivera 1st Joint Exhibition Heads to Russia

An exhibition titled "Viva la Vida, Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera" is scheduled to run from December 21, 2018, to February 22, 2019, in Russia, to honor the revered Mexican artists.  

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"In Russia, we will talk about the couple themselves; it is the ideology that both had, their political, ideological positions, the so social work that Diego presents, his trips made to Russia. As you know, in our collection we have a series of Russian children, because he was there to receive medical treatment" Dolores Olmedo Museum Communication Director Adriana Jaramillo explained.

The showing will include 90 pieces from the world-renowned Mexican duo at the Manezh Center.

"The central theme of this exhibition is to show each artist as the artist he is, although there is a dialogue, although there is a contradiction at times, it is to show how each artist developed his art," the communication personnel stated.

Jaramillo had made an announcement, in August 2017, that the works of couple Kahlo and Rivera would be transported to Russia for the artists’ first joint exhibition.

"Frida, for her part, always wanted to go to the land of Jose Stalin and Leon Trotski, and obviously there is a bit of the gossip part, to say the least; while Rivera, in much of his work, is observed this social and ideological support to both the working and rural Russian people," the spokesperson declared.

Mexico’s Dolores Olmedo Museum houses the largest collection of Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera pieces.

"It is the first time that the works of our collection are presented here in Moscow," Jaramillo quipped. Dolores Olmedo will lend 40 works of Rivera and 26 from Kahlo in addition to other pieces to be donated by collectors.

"We are very excited that they can be shown together," the Dolores Olmedo Museum official said, acknowledging that Kahlo’s work had been staged and well-received in St. Petersburg two years earlier. The solo exhibition attracted "more than 300,000 visitors, 45% of them women under 30 years."