Kahlo said, “I never paint dreams or nightmares. I paint my own reality.” Reality can, however, be perceived and presented in multiple ways, as seen in the works on view here. In early twentieth-century Europe, the Surrealist movement emerged in art, film, and literature; the Surrealists celebrated improbable juxtapositions and odd, even disturbing, imagery pulled from dreams and psychological states. But, like Kahlo, some Mexican artists rejected this association. Mexican artists visually joined the ancestral to the present, the Indigenous to the colonial, and the imagined to the physical. In the 1930s the Cuban author Alejo Carpentier coined the phrase Lo real maravilloso, or the Marvelous Real, to describe the development of a fantastic vision that combined more than one reality, embracing contradictions unique to Latin America and tied to the region’s layered history.
Juan Soriano
Mexican, 1920–2006
Girl with Still Life, 1939
Oil on canvas
The Jacques and Natasha Gelman Collection of 20th-Century Mexican Art and the Vergel Foundation
Soriano’s works are often subtle and dream-like, utilizing a personal visual language that owes much to Kahlo’s own metaphorical narratives. In the late 1930s Soriano painted several images of children holding and contemplating mysterious objects, suggesting the unique ways in which children perceive the world around them, often uninhibited by established ideas of utility or beauty.
[Artwork Description: A painting featuring a young light skinned girl seated behind a table with several objects. The slight girl sits holding a large, white brain-like object and a braided, palm leaf sculpture in her hands. She tilts her head and looks towards the left. The child has large eyes and small nose and pursed lips. A braided bonnet covers her light hair and fastens under her chin. The braided palm leaf object has two appendages, one on each side with unbraided palm leaves sticking straight up in between. Her left arm rests on the table near an oversized empty drinking glass and four pieces of fruit, perhaps apples, on a light beige tablecloth. The painting uses dark earth tones in browns, tans, khaki and beige. The background is dark in patches especially around the child’s figure and is painted in patches in the same colors as the subject.]
Lola Álvarez Bravo
Mexican, 1903–1993
Paisaje de México I, about 1950
Photomontage
The Tarpon Trust
[Artwork Description: This photomontage presents an imaginary landscape that melds urban and rural landforms and ancient and modern architecture. A tall, snow-capped mountain dominates the background of the image with smaller peaks on either side. In the foreground on the left side is a portion of a colonial church with cupola and bell tower. This is juxtaposed with an ancient Tolmec structure shaped like a cone. A high, arched colonial aqueduct runs alongside the right side of the image, disappearing into the mountains. Sharp-edged plants populate the front of the frame.]
Lola Álvarez Bravo
Mexican, 1903–1993
Paisaje de México II, about 1950
Photomontage
The Tarpon Trust
[Artwork Description: This photomontage presents an imaginary landscape that melds urban and rural landforms and ancient and modern architecture. A sky with billowing clouds at the top of the frame hangs above a craggy mountain range. Cutting across the frame in front of the mountain is a high, arched colonial aqueduct. To the extreme left is a modern skyscraper with a narrow profile and spire on top. Other modernist buildings, including a flat-roofed residence on stilts, appear amidst dense patches of forest, snaking cacti, and lava fields. An ancient Mayan temple is in the far-right background, behind a colonial statue on a high column.]
Bernard Silberstein
American, 1905–1999
Frida Paints Diego on My Mind While Diego Watches, 1940
Gelatin silver print
The Jacques and Natasha Gelman Collection of 20th-Century Mexican Art and the Vergel Foundation
[Artwork Description: A black and white photograph showing seated Kahlo working on a self-portrait while Rivera stands behind her looking on. Kahlo is in the lower center of the photo, turned so she s viewed from the side and from slightly behind. She wears a traditional Mexican blouse layered over a full skirt. Her hair is swept up and back on to the top of her head. She holds a paintbrush in her right hand up to the portrait. She holds a palette in her left hand on her lap. The self portrait sits on an easel and shows Kahlo enveloped in the customary clothing of a Tehauntpec woman: a light-colored garment that frames her face with a wide ruffled frill and drapes over her shoulder and bodice. Standing behind Kahlo, Rivera is shown from the side looking over Kahlo’s head at the painting while gripping the back of Kahlo’s chair. He wears a medium hued tweed suit jacket and trousers. In the background, a large painting can be seen hanging on the walls above a row of small statuettes.]
Héctor García
Mexico, 1923–2012
Frida with Her Painting, The Love Embrace the Universe, the Earth (Mexico) Diego, Me and Señor Xolotl, 1949
Gelatin silver print
The Jacques and Natasha Gelman Collection of 20th Century Mexican Art and the Vergel Foundation
[Artwork Description: Frida is seated next to her painting “The Love Embrace the Universe, the Earth (Mexico) Diego, Me and Senor Xolotl” in this black and white photograph. The painting occupies the upper left two-thirds of the photo and Frida is squeezed in the lower right. The painting is sitting on a table that has a checkered tablecloth on it. Frida has one arm resting behind the painting. Her face is directed at the camera, but her gaze is looking down and away. Her face and the lower left of the painting are illuminated by natural light. She wears an embroidered top and her dark hair pulled back. The painting has four figures in it, each holding the smaller one in front of it. The background of the painting contains clouds and there are other elements of nature like cacti and the sun and moon. (For a complete description, see the description for The Love Embrace the Universe, the Earth (Mexico), Diego, Me and Señor’s Xolotl.)]
María Izquierdo
Mexican, 1902–1955
Living Nature, 1946
Oil on canvas
The Jacques and Natasha Gelman Collection of 20th-Century Mexican Art and the Vergel Foundation
[Artwork Description: This painting depicts a collection of organic objects is sitting on brown earth at the bottom half of the painting. The earth darkens behind the collection to meet the sky which covers the top third of the painting. White clouds take up most of the sky with dark blue patches showing near the top and grayish brown clouds at the right. A wall juts out onto the earth from the right side growing smaller as it meets the horizon line. It is a cream color mottled with shades of gray and brown. On the left, three dark brown trees with leafless branches mirror the triangular shape of the wall. The first tree is just behind the collection, the second is further back and smaller, and the last is on the edge of the horizon line and very small. The front row of the collection from left to right shows half of a teardrop shaped melon with the red and orange cut side up, a white egg, a dark red beet, a large upright brown seed pod, the other half of the melon with the dark brown seed still in it, a red strawberry, and a large shell that is white and smooth on its open inside and light brown and spikey on its outside. Soft pink shows between the two sides. The shell is near the wall. The back row shows a quarter of a watermelon with its left end cut off, a red apple, and a complete quarter of a watermelon. Both pieces of the watermelon are cut and shown lengthwise and are sitting on their rinds so that the red shades of the flesh and the black seeds are visible. Between the two pieces of watermelon is a brown pear and a red apple. Between the two rows and below the pear are a red apple and a yellowish/brown banana.]
Frida Kahlo
Mexican, 1907–1954
The Bride Who Becomes Frightened When She Sees Life Opened, 1943
Oil on canvas
The Jacques and Natasha Gelman Collection of 20th-Century Mexican Art and the Vergel Foundation
[Artwork Description: This colorful still life features an array of fruit, a small bride doll and an owl arranged on a table. The table’s top fills the bottom two thirds of the painting and holds a large watermelon that has been cut in a zig zag fashion to create two jagged halves that have sharp peaks with bright pink, seeded flesh. At far left a small, light skinned bride doll with pale hair stands behind a watermelon half. One arm rests on the melon and her long white dress is visible. To the right of the watermelon is a whole pineapple, green pointed leaves standing up. Three avocados lay scattered on the table to the right. Two lay on a scrap of white paper that reads “Frida Kahlo, pinta 1943”. Behind the watermelons, are coconut and a papaya fruit that has been sliced open revealing the dark fruit inside. Small oranges flank these two larger fruits. In front of the watermelons from far left, two oranges, a dozen bananas, another coconut and a small brown owl. The owl is facing right, its speckled feathers extending down past the table edge. The background behind the still life is a muted pink. At bottom, along the apron of the table, the paintings title is shown in script: “La novia que se espanto de ver la vida abierto”.]
Juan Soriano
Mexican, 1920–2006
Re-creation of Archangels, 1943
Tempera on paper
The Jacques and Natasha Gelman Collection of 20th-Century Mexican Art and the Vergel Foundation
Angels appear frequently in Soriano’s works in the late 1930s and 1940s. This painting developed from a photograph of Soriano posing in profile in front on a monastery wall in Oaxaca. Transforming himself into an otherworldly figure suggests crossing boundaries between the physical and the imaginary.
[Artwork Description: This painting feature three figures in the lower half in various poses. At far lower left, a pale skinned figure with their back turned to the viewer has large gold wings and is raising their left arm high in the air. They appear to be in the act of running towards another figure. The winged figure wears a pale blue, knee length, skirted garment with sandals that lace up their calves. The figure at center is set back as if at a short distance from the running figure. They wear a long grass green garments that reaches the floor. One hand pulls the hem up to reveal a white underskirt and bare feet. This figure has pale skin and long brown hair past their waist. They are turned to face left. At far right in the foreground, another figure stands on a small carved plinth wearing white fabric draped over their head and shoulder and continues to the ground. Underneath they wear a blue draped garment that exposes their muscular legs and blue shin coverings. They stand with one leg straight and the other bent, gesturing with their hands outstretched. These three figures are set against a large, towering gray wall with chipping plaster and exposed brickwork. The wall composes the top half of the painting. The gray and white mixture of brick and plaster work appears cloud-like. The ground under the figures is a mottled greenish-blue and includes bit of what may be rubble strewn at their feet.]
Frida Kahlo
Mexican, 1907–1954
The Love Embrace of the Universe, the Earth (Mexico), Myself, Diego, and Señor Xolotl, 1949
Oil on Masonite
The Jacques and Natasha Gelman Collection of 20th-Century Mexican Art and the Vergel Foundation
This work unites the universe, presented as light and dark, and the flourishing earth, personified as a woman with mossy green skin. The earth embraces Kahlo, who holds Rivera depicted as child and grown man. Her pose suggests life’s cycle of birth, growth, and death. The coexistence of multiple layers of history and culture, a theme throughout Mexican modernism and this exhibition, is on view in this work, which embraces a unified personal and national world.
[Artwork Description: In this painting, an abstract figure depicting the universe is holding different symbols of Mexican life in its arms. One of these symbols is a large pre-Columbian statue. The statue is holding Frida and Diego in her arms. Frida is holding Diego. The universe is shown as a face in the clouds at the center top with cloud-like swirls coming down each side to end in large hands at the bottom of the painting. The left side is in shades of black and brown and includes a small yellow sphere. The right side is in shades of gray and white and includes a larger orange sphere. Near the center and covering the right side of the face of the universe is a female figure carved from clay. The head is intact with long hair in rolled plaits. The neck and chest resemble cracked stone. A ravine-like crack extends down the left breast to end at the nipple from which comes a drop of milk. A small tree is growing above the breast. The statue’s arms encircle the figures of a woman and a man. The woman is sitting with her upper body in front of the statue’s right breast. The woman has an oval face, black eyebrows that meet over the nose, tan skin, and long black hair that hangs over her shoulders. Her black eyes are looking ahead. She is wearing a red dress with short sleeves and a long, full skirt with white pleats at the bottom. She is holding a man. He is on his back with his knees bent and his head resting on her right elbow. Her hands meet at his chest. The man has small breasts, a round face, and a round stomach. His skin is paler than hers. He seems to be looking up. On his forehead is the red outline of an eye with a black circle in the center. His hands meet at the top of his stomach and are holding what appear to be orange and red flames. The statue’s right wrist is under his back and its left hand is holding his right thigh. Different types of cacti and other plant life in shades of green and brown encircle the statue and the two figures. All are held in the arms of the universe whose hands meet with the right fingers over the left just below the white pleats of the skirt. The undersides of the forearms have many thin reddish/brown roots reaching downward. One thin, branching root is hanging between the thumb and first finger of the dark right hand. Just above this thumb is a small, sleeping, deer-like animal.]
Frida Kahlo
Mexican, 1907–1954
Diego on My Mind (Self-Portrait as Tehuana), 1943
Oil on Masonite
The Jacques and Natasha Gelman Collection of 20th-Century Mexican Art and the Vergel Foundation
The marvelous reality of Kahlo’s life held space for multiple possibilities. In this self-portrait the artist wears a headdress from Tehuantepec, in the state of Oaxaca. The starched lace folds that encircle her face draw attention to the portrait of Diego etched on her forehead, suggesting the complexity of Kahlo’s and Rivera’s entangled lives.
[Artwork Description: A self-portrait of Kahlo wearing a starched resplandor headdress with a small portrait of Diego Rivera on her brow against a gold background. Kahlo gazes directly at the viewer, her face framed by the resplandor, a halo-like headdress composed of lace pleated into points that encircles her head and radiates outward from her face. Sheer, floral patterned lace drapes from the headdress over her shoulders obscuring her figure. A broad pink ribbon borders the lace. The garment continues in tiny vertical pleats below the ribbon completely covering Kahlo. A portion of the voluminous garment is shown in folds in front, displacing the pink ribbon from its continuous ring around Kahlo’s body. Atop her head, some of her dark hair is visible and white and purple flowers with green leaves are clustered at the crown of her head. The leaves’ shape mimics the pointed lace pleats. Lines extend outward from the leaves’ tips over the entire painting, appearing like cracks that break off and multiply as they radiate, covering even the gold backdrop. A small portrait of Rivera is placed directly over her dark brows. Kahlo has peach colored skin, dark red lips and a shadow of facial hair on her upper lip.]