ExhibitionJune 20, 2025
Exhibition Frida Kahlo’s Month in Paris: A Friendship with Mary Reynolds
For the first time, the renowned Mexican artist Frida Kahlo is celebrated at the Art Institute of Chicago. The exhibition Frida Kahlo's Month in Paris: A Friendship with Mary Reynolds focuses on Kahlo's one and only trip to Europe and her encounter with Mary Reynolds, an avant-garde American who was at the heart of the Parisian art community.
The exhibition focuses on a little-known period of 20th century art history by investigating the legacy of Kahlo and Reynolds, artists who confidentially shared their lives with other artists, and who explored themes of Surrealism, identity, and cultural exchange. Frida Kahlo traveled to France in 1939, invited by André Breton in order to consider showing her work in Paris. However, due to health issues she had to convalesce at the home of Reynolds and her partner, Marcel Duchamp, who constantly met with artists such as Constatin Brancusi, Alexander Calder, Yves Tanguy and Jean Cocteau; a creative environment similar to that of Kahlo's Casa Azul in Mexico City.
Frida Kahlo's Month in Paris: A Friendship with Mary Reynolds follows Kahlo's trajectory from her first solo exhibition to her connection with Surrealism. Through different objects such as paintings, notebooks, books, works on paper, photographs and archives, it recounts the Mexican artist's experience in Paris. It also introduces the presence of Reynolds, a lesser known but relevant artist in art history for her innovative bookbindings. Bringing together the work of these two artists provides an opportunity to rethink the way in which the artists inspired each other.
The exhibition will be open to the public until July 23.
The exhibition focuses on a little-known period of 20th century art history by investigating the legacy of Kahlo and Reynolds, artists who confidentially shared their lives with other artists, and who explored themes of Surrealism, identity, and cultural exchange. Frida Kahlo traveled to France in 1939, invited by André Breton in order to consider showing her work in Paris. However, due to health issues she had to convalesce at the home of Reynolds and her partner, Marcel Duchamp, who constantly met with artists such as Constatin Brancusi, Alexander Calder, Yves Tanguy and Jean Cocteau; a creative environment similar to that of Kahlo's Casa Azul in Mexico City.
Frida Kahlo's Month in Paris: A Friendship with Mary Reynolds follows Kahlo's trajectory from her first solo exhibition to her connection with Surrealism. Through different objects such as paintings, notebooks, books, works on paper, photographs and archives, it recounts the Mexican artist's experience in Paris. It also introduces the presence of Reynolds, a lesser known but relevant artist in art history for her innovative bookbindings. Bringing together the work of these two artists provides an opportunity to rethink the way in which the artists inspired each other.
The exhibition will be open to the public until July 23.
