The Big Review: Frida, The Making of an Icon ★★★½

Tate Modern’s exhibition “Frida: The Making of an Icon” examines how Frida Kahlo’s image and mythology were constructed and later reused, rather than presenting a large-scale survey of her paintings. The show includes about 30 Kahlo works—far fewer than Tate Modern’s 2005 Kahlo exhibition, which displayed more than 80 paintings—alongside photographs, clothing, and works by contemporaries and later artists who reference her. It highlights, among other material, four intimate photographs taken by New York dealer Julien Levy around the time of Kahlo’s November 1938 solo show at his gallery. The exhibition is organized into seven thematic sections, beginning with “Construction/Self-Construction,” and includes early self-portraits such as “Self-Portrait (in a Velvet Dress)” (1926), painted the year after her bus accident in Mexico City.

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