{"id":247067,"date":"2026-01-23T01:46:20","date_gmt":"2026-01-23T01:46:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/247067\/"},"modified":"2026-01-23T01:46:20","modified_gmt":"2026-01-23T01:46:20","slug":"frida-kahlo-fever-leaves-tate-curators-struggling-to-secure-her-paintings-for-blockbuster-exhibition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/247067\/","title":{"rendered":"Frida Kahlo fever leaves Tate curators struggling to secure her paintings for blockbuster exhibition"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Curators at the Tate Modern<\/a> have faced an uphill battle in trying to secure paintings for a new Frida Kahlo<\/a> exhibition, amid a surge in popularity<\/a> for the late Mexican<\/a> artist.<\/p>\n

A new exhibition opening in June, titled Frida: The Making of an Icon, will display 36 works by the radical painter \u2013 notably fewer than the Tate Modern<\/a>\u2019s previous Kahlo exhibition, which, in 2005, showcased over 50 of her artworks.<\/p>\n

Currently among the omissions is Kahlo\u2019s self-portrait El sue\u00f1o (La cama). Last November, the 1940 painting became the most expensive work by a female artist ever sold at auction<\/a>, collecting a price of \u00a341.8m. <\/p>\n

The Tate<\/a> is still attempting to acquire the painting for the exhibition, but curator Tobias Ostrander told The Times<\/a> that the prospect was \u201cunlikely\u201d.<\/p>\n

Pop icon Madonna<\/a> is also said to have fended off the Tate\u2019s attempts to borrow her Kahlo paintings. The \u201cLike a Virgin\u201d hitmaker reportedly owns five Kahlos, including My Birth and El venado herido, and had previously loaned out pieces for the 2005 show.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn general the [36] works were very specifically chosen to address certain themes but you know, there are ones we have tried for that people won\u2019t loan,\u201d Mr Ostrander said. \u201cMadonna is someone who did loan in 2005 but won\u2019t loan now, for example.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"FridaFrida Kahlo, pictured in 1932, has become renowned in recent years (Granger\/Shutterstock)<\/p>\n

The new exhibition will, however, situate Kahlo\u2019s work within a wider context of her influence, featuring works by more than 80 artists shaped by Kahlo. A section of the exhibition will focus on \u201cFridamania\u201d and the rampant merchandising of the artist\u2019s image. <\/p>\n

Several of Kahlo\u2019s most famous and celebrated paintings will be displayed, including Untitled (Self-Portrait with Thorn Necklace and Hummingbird) and Self-Portrait in a Velvet Dress.<\/p>\n

Kahlo, who lived from 1907 to 1954, enjoyed only moderate success during her lifetime, but has come in the decades since to be renowned as one of the most significant artists of the 20th century.<\/p>\n

A 2002 biopic starring Salma Hayek, titled Frida, helped curry further interest in Kahlo\u2019s life and work; the film focusing on Kahlo\u2019s life, art, politics and tumultuous relationship with her husband, the artist Diego Rivera.<\/p>\n

Madonna has spoken publicly about Kahlo on multiple occasions. In 1990, she told Vanity Fair: \u201cIf somebody doesn\u2019t like this painting [My Birth], then I know they can\u2019t be my friend.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":247068,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[442,498,499,500,501,156,111,139,69],"class_list":{"0":"post-247067","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-design","8":"tag-arts","9":"tag-arts-and-design","10":"tag-artsanddesign","11":"tag-artsdesign","12":"tag-design","13":"tag-entertainment","14":"tag-new-zealand","15":"tag-newzealand","16":"tag-nz"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247067","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=247067"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247067\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/247068"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=247067"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=247067"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=247067"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}