Among the many other quotes of the legendary Mexican artist Frida Kahlo that her ardent admirers must have read, she had famously said: “Everything changes, everything moves, everything revolves, everything flies and goes away.” However, she may have gone away from this world but her works have travelled the world and the appreciation has not died down ever since her death in 1954.

On a recent visit to Rome, Kahlo’s ‘Never before seen retrospective in Europe’ posters with her iconic self-portrait could be seen around the city and our excitement knew no bounds at the opportunity it presented to see her original paintings.

Therefore, taking a break from Rome’s other celebrated and historical ‘must-see’ places, we made plans to devote an entire afternoon to her exhibition, organised at the prestigious Scuderie del Quirinale. It was opened on March 20 this year by the Italian President, Giorgio Napolitano. The exhibition will run until Aug 31, 2014. Two upper floors of large exhibition galleries are entirely occupied with the show.

As one of Kahlo’s fans, it was with wonder and awe that I stood in front of each of the 160 works that included 110 paintings and drawings by the artist, who was a symbol of Mexico’s exhilarating avant-garde art scene in the 20th century. There were also designs and personal objects including her diary and her well-known (plaster) corset that she wore for much of her life, as a serious accident in her childhood had caused her pain and suffering.

Italy surrenders to the art of Frida Kahlo in a major retrospective

The retrospective exhibition provides an insight into this exceptional artist’s life and work … who was always ahead of her time. It is a heart-rending exhibition. It is more than showing Kahlo’s paintings, as it is a tribute to all women who have the ability to bare their feelings and sufferings through their creative works. Kahlo had famously said, “I paint flowers so they will not die!” Indeed, the flowers in her paintings (many paintings, as we know, are self-portraits) bloom around her and some embellish her hair.

Self-portrait with thorn necklace and hummingbird, 1940, Photos by the writer

She wore large flowers on her head like a crown, and the flowers in her paintings are still alive. If one were to disregard the pain in her body and the anguish in her heart, her flamboyant style as seen in her black and white photos does convey a completely different picture … of a fun-loving and exuberant Frida.

Helga Prignitz-Poda, curator of the exhibition, said in a film shown in a small room adjacent to the gallery on the second floor, that she has a profound knowledge of Kahlo’s life and work and has written many important monographs about her.

Helga said that “the exhibition shows works never seen before in Europe and that the objective is to demystify the symbology that surrounds Frida, bringing together drawings, photos and personal objects as well as works by her contemporaries including, of course, her husband Diego Rivera”.

“I suffered two grave accidents in my life. One in which a streetcar knocked me down ... The other accident is Diego.”

Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera — two of Mexico’s most famous people — revolutionised the world of art. When they met, he was 20 years her senior and already enjoyed a giant reputation in the world of Mexican art for his epic murals. She was his student. The couple had a stormy love affair and a turbulent relationship. Kahlo once said, “I suffered two grave accidents in my life. One in which a streetcar knocked me down ... The other accident is Diego.” Kahlo’s paintings betray that she was gravely hurt by his philandering.

Indeed it was overwhelming to see over 80 of Kahlo’s key works from start to finish, including the self-portrait titled ‘Wearing a velvet dress’(1926), which she painted at the age of 19 for her beloved Alejandro Gòmez Arias; the fabulous ‘Self-portrait with thorn necklace and hummingbird’, painted in 1940, which shows the threat of death in the shape of the thorny vine around her neck, drawing her blood, and a dead hummingbird hanging from it, echoing Frida’s famous joined eyebrows; in ‘Self portrait 1948’ she is wearing a lace headdress that makes her look trapped inside it and it’s a disturbing piece of work, with tears rolling down from her melancholy eyes.

There are other selected images chronicling her life and time. The traditions of Mexican folklore and the symbols of Mexican popular culture, her imagination and the colours she used, all bring out her rebellious spirit not only in the paintings but is also evident in the black and white photos of her on display.

Among the photographs was one of April 1953, when the first solo show in Mexico devoted to Kahlo was held at the Galería de Arte Contemporáneo, for which she attended the opening against her doctor’s advice, in true Frida style, lying on a bed. Later, the same year, her leg was amputated below the knee because gangrene had set in.

There was another photo from a year later — the year of her death in 1954, in which she is taking part in a demonstration to protest against the United States intervention in Guatemala. She was ill with pneumonia and died on July 13, presumably of a pulmonary embolism. It is obvious from this exhibition that even though her body was crushed, her spirit was liberated.

Published in Dawn, Sunday Magazine, August 3rd, 2014