Frida: The Making of an Icon ★★★★ Tate Modern | Jun 25, 2026 - Jan 3, 2027


Frida: The Making of an Icon is as much about the creation of a legend as it is about the work of one of Mexico's most recognisable artists. Divided into eight thematic sections, the exhibition not only traces Frida Kahlo's artistic evolution but also interrogates the almost cult-like status she has acquired in the decades since her death. The opening galleries, "Construction/Self-Construction," establish the exhibition's central premise: Kahlo was engaged in a lifelong process of self-invention. Best known for her extraordinary self-portraits, she repeatedly recast her own image, blurring the boundaries between autobiography, performance and myth. It is precisely because of this process of self-fashioning that the exhibition's film footage of Kahlo becomes one of its highlights, offering a rare glimpse of the woman behind her carefully constructed personae. Having established Kahlo's lifelong project of self-invention, the exhibition next considers how others sought to define her, exploring her relationship with André Breton and the Surrealists in "Surrealist Affinities." Although Breton enthusiastically embraced Kahlo as a Surrealist, she famously rejected the label, insisting she painted not dreams but her own reality. Questions of identity run throughout the exhibition, yet it is often works beyond the celebrated self-portraits that prove most intriguing. The extraordinary "El Suicidio de Dorothy Hale" is one of her most haunting and emotionally complex paintings. Equally striking are her still lifes, which she preferred to call naturalezas vivas 'living natures' rather than the traditional Spanish naturalezas muertas 'dead natures', revealing yet another way she challenged convention. The exhibition broadens its scope in "On the Other Side of the Border," charting Kahlo's posthumous rise. Beginning in the 1970s, almost two decades after her death in 1954, she emerged as a symbol of Mexican national identity and cultural pride before achieving worldwide recognition. At this point, Frida: The Making of an Icon becomes less an exhibition about an artist than about an idea. The galleries "Gendered Dialogues" and "Pro-Activist Legacy" examine how Kahlo has become an emblem for an extraordinary range of causes. Whether for people with disabilities, the LGBTQ+ community, women who have experienced miscarriage, or countless others seeking representation, Kahlo's life and art have become a powerful source of identification. The exhibition ostensibly concludes with "Neo-Mexicanisms," showcasing contemporary artists drawing from Kahlo's legacy. Yet the exhibition's unintentionally ironic coda might be that inevitable exit via the gift shop. Lined with countless souvenirs bearing Kahlo's unmistakable face, it provides an even more apt conclusion to an exhibition about an artist whose lifelong project was one of self-fashioning and reinvention, and whose greatest masterpiece may be the carefully fashioned icon she became.

Rated: ★★★★

Reviewed by J.C.
Image: Frida Kahlo (Mexican, 1907–1954), Untitled [Self-portrait with thorn necklace and hummingbird], 1940. Nickolas Muray Collection of Mexican Art, 66.6. Harry Ransom Center.

When, Where, Getting there:
Map & Location: Bankside, London SE1 9TG, UK

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