Activists Sue to Stop Frida Kahlo Works From Leaving Mexico

An advocacy group, Defendamos la Colección Gelman (“Let’s Defend the Gelman Collection”), filed three lawsuits on June 29 and July 1 against Mexico’s National Institute of Fine Arts and Literature (INBAL) seeking to stop works by Frida Kahlo and other artists from leaving Mexico for a European tour. The suits challenge the legal basis for export permits tied to the Gelman Santander Collection, a private trove of 161 works assembled in Mexico City in the 1940s by Jacques Gelman and Natasha Zahalka and featuring artists including Kahlo, Diego Rivera, José Clemente Orozco, David Alfaro Siqueiros, and María Izquierdo. In January, Santander Bank Foundation was announced as the collection’s manager under a five-year agreement that also disclosed partial ownership by the Zambrano family since 2023, with the collection set to begin a two-year tour in northern Spain as part of Faro Santander’s inaugural program when the venue opens on September 8. About 30 works are designated “artistic monuments,” which can only leave Mexico temporarily with INBAL permission, typically under one-year permits (extendable to two), while critics argue an earlier agreement appears to authorize international circulation through 2030; the dispute has focused particularly on Kahlo works such as “Self-Portrait with Monkeys” (1943) and “Diego in My Mind” (1943).

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