At Palazzo Pepoli, home of the Museum of the History of Bologna, the photographic exhibition “Frida Kahlo. The gaze as identity”, curated by ONO arte and produced by Ergo Expo, is open until 27 September 2026. Six months of exposure — not a flash event — for a project that chooses a different angle than usual.
70 original photographs, 10 authors from the twentieth century
The core of the exhibition is made up of 70 original photographs taken by some of the most important authors of the twentieth century: Edward Weston, Lucienne Bloch, Lola Álvarez Bravo, Julien Levy, Nickolas Muray, Gisèle Freund, Imogen Cunningham, Leo Matiz, Bernard Silberstein and Graciela Iturbide. Names that were not chosen at random: each had a precise, artistic, personal or documentary relationship with Kahlo.
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The exhibition is not presented as a biography in images, because the question it poses to the public does not concern which portrait is the most authentic, but how much the artist oriented the gazes of others, anticipating to some extent the modern mechanisms of celebrity and self-representation. A solid curatorial hypothesis, which works on the mechanism even before the subject.
Celebrated only after death
Although Kahlo never achieved full artistic success during her short life – and her art was rediscovered only in the mid-1980s – today she is the most quoted female artist in the world. The paradox is well known, and never ceases to be relevant: famous post-mortem, built in life with an almost programmatic lucidity.
The image as a tool
The extensive use of the self-portrait in her pictorial practice, which began after the accident that immobilized her in bed for over three months at the age of eighteen, testifies to a constant work on self-representation. Even the exclusive use of traditional Mexican clothing, in contrast with the fashion of the time, becomes an integral part of his identity and, later, of his myth. Kahlo even went so far as to change her birth year, making it coincide with that of the Mexican Revolution.
Six thousand prints and a photographer father
After the painter’s death, over six thousand photographic prints were found among her belongings, starting with those made by her father, the photographer Guillermo Kahlo, who was the first to portray her, introducing her to the potential of the medium as a form of expression. Photography, for her, was not just an archive of memories: it was a space in which to experiment, control, build.
ONO arte returns to Bologna
The exhibition also marks the return of ONO arte to curation in Bologna, with a project on photography. The curator Vittoria Mainoldi declared that this is the first time that this reflection on the iconisation of Kahlo has been proposed in the city, and that the exhibition does not include merchandising.
The finale: Casa Azul and Graciela Iturbide
The exhibition closes with photographs by Graciela Iturbide, the only living photographer among those on display, who immortalized the bathroom of the Casa Azul, which had remained closed for fifty years, where Kahlo had asked to keep all her personal possessions. A sober, almost private ending, which restores the person before the icon.
Useful information
When: from 28 March 2026 to 27 September 2026
Where: Palazzo Pepoli – Museum of the History of Bologna
Opening hours: every day from 10:00 to 19:00, closed on Tuesdays (last entry 18:30)
Tickets: 14 euros full price, 10 euros reduced, can be purchased on vivaticket.com
Official website: palazzopepoli.it
