A small private collection but worthy of the 5 euros that cost the ticket at the exhibition in the Irish museum of modern art. To me it was the first time that i had the opportunity to see paintings & drawings from Frida and Diego. Both had different styles, both of them were very talented. Specially through Frida's paintings & drawings you could see what she was going through at that moment in her complicated love story with the famous Mexican painter : Diego Rivera. You could also see via Frida's paintings painful moments in her life such has the miscarriage she had (this can be seen in one of her surrealist drawings). Frida's peculiar appearance with her moustache , "unibrow" and colorful ethnic dresses was appealing enough but what was even more appealing was her unique way of painting, I personally liked the self-portraits she did with the assistance of a mirror from her own bed after she had a tram accident and she was immobile for 3 months. She said that she painted herself because she was the subject that she knew best. One good example of this self-portraits is "Diego en mi pensamiento" (Diego in my thoughts) or the self-portraits with monkeys from 1943 where the connection between nature and animals ,this one inspired by her monkey pet Fulang-Chang which was a gift from Rivera in way replacing the child that she could never have which will frustrate her throughout her life. Another remarkable painting of the Gelman collection is" Love Embrace the Universe, the earth, Diego,me and Sir Xolotl", This painting has been interpreted as Frida's acceptance of the numerous infidelities of Diego. Although the exhibition had Diego Rivera's paintings, i was more interested in Frida's ones that's why i haven't written much about Diego's paintings, there were 2 that come to my mind now: " Portrait of Natasha Gelman and Calla lily vendor" both of them had beautiful lily flowers in them. The exhibition had paintings on the ground floor , accompanied by Frida's and Diegos biography on the walls and on the first floor you could see Frida's unique drawings, full of symbolism and on the basement you had some photos and books. The exhibition has finished today in Dublin, you may be lucky to see some of Frida's pieces of art somewhere else in the world!
