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The Culinary Connection Today you're going to eat art, says Federico Valdez, a chef at the School of Mexican Cuisine with the word Queso (Cheese) tattooed on his forearm. Today, you're going to eat history. In a sun-filled dining room lined with Mexican flowers, books and artefacts, unfolds a three-course feast inspired by Frida Kahlo, her life, her art and her loves, including her first lesbian affair. The starter, inspired by her childhood fascination with revolution, is a lightly spiced Mexican take on pirozhki, the Russian favourite. The main dish – served with pulque, an agave-derived drink Kahlo loved – taps into her rebellious spirit. It's called Frida Against the World, a giant stuffed chilli that sits amid a nutty, beany sauce similar to the one eaten at Kahlo's wedding to Diego Rivera, then the most famous artist in the world, now much more in her shadow. When she found Rivera in bed with her sister, she said: 'I'm going to get all my furniture and leave. I hate you' "I wanted this to be hot and horny," says Valdez, explaining that halved figs were added to reference Kahlo's sexuality. "Her first love, with a female teacher, happened at a time when Mexico wasn't so open. I wanted to get in all that spicy gossip. I'm not a big fan of playing it safe." The Exhibition Preview I'm in Mexico City with a Tate delegation just as the huge jacaranda trees are blooming purple and violet across its parks and boulevards – to follow in Kahlo's footsteps ahead of Frida: The Making of an Icon, a show of more than 30 of her works at Tate Modern in London that seems destined to be a summer blockbuster, adding yet more fuel to Fridamania. One work, Self Portrait With Thorn Necklace and Hummingbird, was painted in 1940 after her painful divorce from Rivera. A spider monkey, similar to the one he gave her as a present, is pulling on her thorn necklace, drawing blood. The two soon remarried, Kahlo inscribing the clocks in their house with the years of their separation and reunion. "The exhibition is like a movie," says Tobias Ostrander, its curator. "Frida is the star but it's also about her life, her people, her impact." Charting Kahlo's rise from unknown painter to global phenomenon, the show will also examine merch (expect a Kahlo Barbie) and gauge her influence on later artists. On display, too, will be many of the artist's treasured possessions, including her brilliantly patterned tehuana dresses. Graciela Iturbide's ghostly photographs of her crutches, customised medical corsets and prosthetic leg will also feature. These were taken 50 years after Kahlo's death, when all her belongings were finally freed from the bathroom in which Rivera had ordered them to be locked away. The Casa Azul Experience This took place at Casa Azul, the house in Coyoacán (The Place of the Coyote Owners) where Kahlo was born and spent most of her 47 years. It's now a beautiful, beguiling museum with smooth exterior walls painted a gorgeous blue. These border shiny red concrete paths that thread through fountains and lush gardens bursting with palm, yucca, cactus and bougainvillaea. "We don't know exactly where the blue came from," says Perla Labarthe Álvarez, the museum director. "But in her diary, Frida expressed what the colour meant to her: purity, electricity and love. Because of her health – she had surgery all her life, more than 30 operations – she was at home a lot so it had to be a comfortable place where she could rest. Many of her still lifes were done in the garden. She called her home A Place Full of Places." It's a perfect description. For this is a breathtakingly evocative location, even leaving aside the fact that Trotsky lived here for two years with his wife, having a brief affair with Kahlo. The Artistic Legacy Tours begin in the living room, with its hefty pyramid-style fireplace designed by Rivera and, as an old photo shows, once flanked by two of his macabre Judas dolls, papier-mache devils that are stuffed with fireworks and set alight at festivals. Opposite is Kahlo's mesmerising portrait of her beloved photographer father, painted 15 years after he died, his eyes as captivating as hers. On the walls, photos and texts detail the polio Kahlo contracted at the age of six, leaving her with one shorter leg, and the trolley-bus crash at 18 that impaled her on an iron handrail and left her in pain for much of her life, as well as unable to have children. She could never paint this accident, even though what she did paint was often deeply painful and personal – and these works were largely created at Casa Azul, upstairs in her studio, where visitors can see the easel adapted to allow her to use brushes lying on her back or seated in her wheelchair.

Mexico’s art world is in uproar after an agreement with Banco Santander to export a landmark segment of the Gelman collection to Spain. The collection, hailed as one of the most significant assemblages of 20th‑century Mexican art, features masterpieces by Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera, Rufino Tamayo, José Clemente Orozco, María Izquierdo and David Alfaro Siqueiros. Approximately 400 cultural professionals have signed an open letter demanding clarity from the Mexican government about the fate of the works, especially those by Kahlo that the state has designated as an "artistic monument". Historian Francisco Berzunza warned that Kahlo is "the most important artist in the history of our country" and that her works should remain accessible in Mexico. The disputed batch comprises 160 paintings, sketches and photographs originally owned by collectors Jacques and Natasha Gelman and purchased by the Zambrano family in 2023. Under the Santander deal, the pieces—currently on public display in Mexico for the first time in two decades—are slated to travel to Spain this summer to become a centerpiece of the new Faro Santander cultural centre. Santander’s announcement promised to handle "conservation, research and exhibition" of the collection, yet it omitted the duration of the Spanish stay. The bank’s director, Daniel Vega Pérez de Arlucea, later told El País that the legislation governing the works is "flexible" and that the collection would enjoy a "permanent presence" at the centre, intensifying concerns. Mexican officials have attempted to reassure the public. President Claudia Sheinbaum stated, "Our desire is for the collection to remain in Mexico," while Culture Minister Claudia Curiel de Icaza emphasized that the export is only temporary and that the artworks are expected to return by 2028. Santander also issued a statement insisting the deal does not constitute a sale or permanent removal. Nevertheless, critics argue the contract is ambiguous. The agreement, viewed by the Guardian, allows Faro Santander to retain control of the collection at any point between June 2026 and 30 September 2030, with the possibility of extensions by mutual consent. Such language fuels fears that the pieces could become effectively permanent fixtures abroad. Legal experts note that Mexican law protects works declared national artistic monuments, mandating that they may leave the country only temporarily and that the National Institute of Fine Arts and Literature (Inbal) is responsible for their repatriation. With Inbal owning just four of Kahlo’s roughly 150 pieces, many fear the deal undermines the protective framework. Berzunza summed up the stakes: "If the works were not to return, a fundamental part of this artist’s body of work – and her history – would be lost. These pieces are essential to telling her story and to understanding our identity as Mexicans."