«Viva Frida» in Buenos Aires: the Largest Frida Kahlo Exhibition Ever Opens Today at MALBA

The Museum of Latin American Art of Buenos Aires (MALBA) opens today, September 20, 2026, the exhibition «Viva Frida», dedicated to the life and work of Frida Kahlo — the most important exhibition ever organized for the Mexican artist, presented for the first time in South America. The exhibition will remain open through March 14, 2027.

Organized by Semana de la Alta Costura Argentina (SAC) and the Frida Kahlo Museum of Mexico, under the direction of Elina Costantini, the exhibition arrives as part of the celebrations for MALBA’s 25th anniversary. The curator is Dr. Circe Henestrosa, in collaboration with Gannit Ankori, and it places clothing and self-representation at the center as pillars of Kahlo’s artistic and life practice.

At the heart of the exhibition are the artist’s personal objects — discovered in 2004 at Casa Azul, her home in Coyoacán: Tehuana clothing, jewelry, orthopedic corsets and cosmetics — placed in dialogue with the emblematic paintings of the Malba–Costantini collection: «Self-Portrait with Monkey and Parrot» (1942), «Diego y yo» (1949) — the last self-portrait before her death, which in 2021 broke the auction record for Latin American art — and the lithograph «Untitled (Abortion)» (1932).

The exhibition shows that Kahlo’s clothing choices were not merely aesthetic, but deeply intentional: the Tehuana dress, rooted in the matriarchal culture of Oaxaca, served simultaneously as a political statement and a tool for identity-building — but also as «armor» for negotiating, and at times concealing, the physical consequences of her illnesses.

The documentary collection that belonged to art critic and friend of Kahlo, Raquel Tibol — photographs, letters and personal objects — completes the intimate portrait of the artist: born in Mexico in 1907, she began painting in 1925 while recovering from the serious accident that left her with permanent physical consequences, and today she is internationally recognized as one of the most important figures of modern art.

Source: MALBA