What to visit in Lisbon

The Latin American House in Lisbon presents until January 29 in the Pavilhao Preto City Museum of the Portuguese capital an equally seductive and disturbing show about the private photos of one of the great American artists of the XX century entitled Frida Kahlo her  pictures (http://www.museudacidade.pt/Esposicoes/Temporarias/Paginas/FRIDA-KHALO—AS-SUAS-FOTOGRAFIAS.aspx).

This is a huge selection of 257 photographs selected by the curator of the exhibition (the prestigious Mexican photographer and historian of photography Pablo Ortiz Monasterio, who wanted to show the enormous importance that photography had on Kahlo’s life) of among the nearly seven thousand photos that are stored in the Blue House / Frida Kahlo Museum of Mexico City and is the first time they are shown in the European continent. Most of them, in fact, are highly unknown and constitute a firsthand document of the private life of a painter whose life has sufficient force and power of attraction to rival her unforgettable work.

The exhibition is divided into six different cores (The Country, William and Matilda, The Blue House, The Injured  body , The Loves of Frida, photography and political struggle) fleeing from the attempt to trace a chronological journey through the life and work of the artist opting instead for a fragmented and multifaceted approach that illuminates various facets of both the public and intimate biography as well as that of a country during an absolutely fascinating time, without sacrificing in the process the discovery of new faces of one of the most iconic, mysterious, complex, fruitful and inspiring artists of all the twentieth-century culture.

Extremely photogenic, Frida Kahlo lived not only surrounded by photographs and tools, following a tradition that began with the very birth of this artistic medium which in the case of Kahlo was particularly useful given her mobility problems since the aggravating polio problem she contracted as a child and that tragic streetcar accident that caused a handrail bar to pierce her belly from side to side causing very serious spinal neck and pelvis injuries and leaving her temporarily bound to bed where through sheer boredom, she ended up painting. Photography also served as mementos of an almost religious value often connected deeply and intimately with death which acted as a fetish to stave off loneliness.

Her own father, the Hungarian Jewish immigrant Wilhelm Kahlo, was a photographer by profession. He was not, however, the only photographer in her life for she was often close to some of the most creative and interesting artists of the time, from Tina Modotti to Edward Weston through Man Ray and Brassaï, whose work is represented in the exposure.

Paul Oilzum

They say that next year will be marked by the Mayan prophecy. If you rent apartments in Lisbon start it by establishing a bridge with your home country and visit this hypnotic and fascinating exhibition.

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Translated by: Marc
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