The Largest Exhibit on Mexican Art in 60 Years
The Grand Palais exhibit showcases 203 works
Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera are undoubtedly two of the 20th century’s most important artists in Mexico and Latin America. Just this year, their works set two records. Back in May, Frida’s 1939 “Two Nudes in the Forest (The Land Itself)” sold for a little more than $8 million at Christie’s sale of impressionist and modern art. This sale made Kahlo the best-selling Latin American painter of all time. A month later, he dethroned Kahlo as the best-selling Latin American artist with the $15.7 million sale of his 1928 “Dance in Tehuantepec” painting. And though the attention lavished upon Kahlo and Rivera is well deserved, a new exhibit wants to spotlight the other artists whose work shaped Mexico’s art scene during the first half of the 20th century.
Titled Mexique (1900-1950). Diego Rivera, Frida Kahlo, José Clemente Orozco et les Avant-Gardes, the Grand Palais exhibit showcases 203 works. “Since its independence won from the Spanish monarchy in 1821, Mexico has never ceased to assert its willingness for change and its spirit of modernity,” the museum states on its website. “With painting, sculpture, architecture, urbanism, music, literature, film, and the applied arts, the country has forged its identity… Offering a panorama of famous artists such as Diego Rivera, Frida Kahlo, and Rufino Tamayo, the exhibition tour is a testament to the vibrant artistic creativity of the country throughout the 20th century.”