Review of Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera, and Mexican Modernism exhibit at the Philbrook, Tulsa, OK

“Kahlo was a master of writing her own personal myth and her self-portraits were a vital part of that process,” says an exhibit note. The exhibit pays tribute to the Mexican Modernist Movement and the part Kahlo and Rivera played in it, but the overwhelming emotional impact of the exhibit is the mythic Frida, the woman whose greatest work of art was herself. We walk away, forgetting everyone else’s name and face, minor players in her triumphant possession of the present moment. We turn away from Rivera to gaze upon her miscarriage sketch, we watch him watch her create a portrait wherein she will eventually put him on her forehead, tangling vines running from her head. She even decorates her braces and casts with fanciful flowers and designs—she paints upon her body an image of her very soul. The exhibit notes are clear and useful, the flow of art, photos, and artifacts engaging. We are left with a clear vision of a forceful life explored to its limits—Frieda triumphant. Don’t miss it.