Lost or little-known works by Frida Kahlo

Paintings known and unknown, hundreds of personal photographs, letters and diaries, famous outfits – an online exhibition dedicated to the famous Mexican artist Frida Kahlo began its work on the free service Google Arts & Culture.

During the creation of this enormous online exhibition, Google collaborated with 33 museums from seven countries. Modern technology makes it possible to expand expositions to an unprecedented scale: the Faces of Frida project introduces viewers to more than 800 works of art and documentary exhibits.

The author of the project, Francis Borzello, believes that the exhibition Faces of Frida will make it possible to become better acquainted with the artist and the sources of her inspiration, to better understand the relationship between Frida and her own tormented body, which she portrayed in her paintings. The artist, as they say, lived and created with her heart and blood: she concealed neither her personal dramas nor her political views.

Many of the paintings presented in the project have been specially digitized in high resolution and can be viewed in the smallest detail. An additional option for those who are interested in painting techniques or like to consider every detail of a painting to the smallest detail.

Frida Kahlo’s work is very personal and very symbolic. Suffering for many years from the consequences of a car accident, the artist expressed her thoughts, beliefs, feelings not only in her own paintings, but also in jewelry and clothing. Her many self-portraits have become the focal point of personal drama, whether it is the Self-Portrait with Cropped Hair after a breakup with the man she loved, or her identification with Mexico, a homeland that has suffered from political strife.

As a reminder, London’s Victoria and Albert Museum is presenting the exhibition “Frida Kahlo. Creating Yourself.” The exhibition includes a collection of personal artifacts and items of clothing that belonged to the iconic Mexican artist. All of the items in the exhibition were locked away for 50 years after Frida Kahlo’s death. Presented in Mexico after that time \they had never left the country before.

Frida Kahlo did not receive a classical art education. Brushes and paints – a gift from a mother to her bedridden, suffering daughter – and a mirror! – were the starting point for the transformation of a young woman’s personal experience, striving to escape her illness to a happy, eventful life. By making her art personal to the extreme, Frida Kahlo was nevertheless able to bring a deep poetry and historical allusions to it. Her own countenances have become more than just portraits, giving the viewer an infinite wealth of images.

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The documentary section is represented by a large number of rare photographs, including those of children. Frida Kahlo was very frank and was not afraid to show her nude – neither in pictures nor in photographs.

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Especially for the Google Arts & Culture project, the young artist Alexa Mead created a “living painting” by incorporating the Mexican singer Illy Guerra into the painted interior. Below you can watch a video detailing this creative experiment, created under the guidance of photographer Cristina Kahlo, grandniece of the famous Frida.

A separate section of the virtual exhibition is devoted to the details of the paintings that Frida Kahlo painted with great care. The drawings and sketches that Frida often made on the back of her paintings are another unknown pages of the artist’s work, which the creators of Faces of Frida generously share with the viewer. Those wishing to visit iconic places associated with the artist’s work can use Google Street View to visit one of five virtual tours. The virtual exhibition dedicated to Frida Kahlo can be visited on Google Arts & Culture, as well as download the app for Android or iOS.