Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera's Gelman Collection on View in Padua

The exhibition 'Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera. The Gelman Collection' at Centro Culturale San Gaetano in Padua runs until June 4, 2023. It showcases a selection from the Mexican modern art collection amassed by Soviet-born film producer David Gelman and his wife Natasha, who continued their patronage until her death in 1998. The Vergel Foundation inherited their commitment to supporting and preserving Mexican art. The show offers insight into Mexican society and culture during the 'Mexican Renaissance' following the 1910 revolution. A section is dedicated to 'Photographic Modernism,' featuring portraits of Kahlo by Imogen Cunningham, Edward Weston, Martin Munkácsi, and works by Kati Horna, Graciela Iturbide, and Patti Smith depicting objects from the Casa Azul. Traditional costumes illustrate the 'mexicanidad' Kahlo championed. The exhibition powerfully highlights Kahlo's voice, with her emotional pain, physical suffering, and love for Rivera emerging from emblematic self-portraits, graphics, still lifes, and documentary images. Works include 'Diego on My Mind,' 'Self-Portrait with Monkeys,' 'Self-Portrait with Braid,' and 'The Loving Embrace of the Universe, Earth (Mexico), Diego, Me, and Señor Xolotl.'