A new exhibit inspired by legendary Mexican artist Frida Kahlo debuted at the San Antonio Botanical Garden Saturday (May 8) and will run through November 2.
“Frida Kahlo Oasis” features a replica of Kahlo’s home, Casa Azul (The Blue House), in Mexico City. It also includes landscaping with hundreds of new tropical plants that will transport visitors to the place where Kahlo spent most of her life. Executives at the Garden say extensive research went into creating the landscape. This included trips to Mexico City and working with Kahlo’s family to capture the perfect environment.
“The love of gardening [and] the love of nature [and] plants, that’s really what connected us to Frida Kahlo to celebrate her life [and] artwork,” Andrew Labay, director of Horticulture at the San Antonio Botanical Garden, told KSAT, the ABC affiliate in San Antonio. “She absolutely loved gardening. She painted a lot of plants in her portraits.”
The exhibit also includes a pyramid where Kahlo’s husband, muralist Diego Rivera, displayed his pre-Colombian artifacts collection, a frog fountain and a replica of the desk and easel that she worked from in Casa Azul.
The San Antonio Express-News also describes other elements of the exhibition like black and white photographs from the 1930s and 1940s of Kahlo and Rivera spending time together in the garden, and colorful sculptures of the animals Kahlo painted in her artwork, including a hummingbird, deer, monkey, butterfly, parrot and Xoloitzcuintli (Mexican hairless dog).
“(The exhibit was made possible through) the very dear and deep relationships between San Antonio and [Mexico City],” Sabina Carr, CEO of the San Antonio Botanical Garden, told KSAT. “It just felt like the right thing at the right time (to honor) such a world-renowned artist.”