A journalist looks at the painting "Autorretrato con Monos" ("Self portrait with monkeys")
© AFP Luis Acosta

MEXICO CITY (AFP) - The exhibit will cover eight large rooms in the Museum of the Fine Arts Palace with 354 pieces, some displayed for the first time in Mexico.

Marking the 100th birthday of the artist, the exhibit is the product of a joint effort of 69 institutions and collectors with her paintings and letters showing her artistic trajectory and episodes in her often difficult life, including the torment of 33 operations, her marriage to muralist Diego Rivera, her time in the United States and her political activism.

Kahlo (1907-1954) twice married Rivera (1886-1957) and was a close friend of Russian communist leader Leon Trotsky.

She suffered intense emotional pain inflicted by the philandering Rivera and physical pain after being stricken by polio and bus crash.

Detail of the oil "Las dos Fridas" (The Two Fridas)
© AFP Luis Acosta

Co-curator Juan Coronel Rivera described the exhibit, which runs through August 19, as a "great self-portrait of Frida Kahlo."

Coronel Rivera said that Frida Kahlo's popularity was similar to that of Pablo Picasso. "She is of the people. She is a universal icon," he said.

Apart from Kahlo's distinctive self-portraits, one room in the exhibit is devoted to her political life, with photos and original documents that detail her support for the communist party, her friendship with Trotsky and other figures from the era.

There is also an "intimate" space with images from her family life and the little known period of her youth as a teacher and photography model. And organizers said there is a special section devoted to her father, Guillermo Kahlo, considered to be a crucial creative influence that helped shape the artist.

©AFP