While relatively unknown to the mainstream during her lifetime, Frida Kahlo has over time become one of the most recognizable artists in history. In celebration of the artist and generations of artists that she continues to inspire, MFAH has debuted Frida: The Making of an Icon.
Presently on display in the Main Campus from now through May 17, 2026, Frida Kahlo: The Making of an Icon traces the trajectory of Kahlo’s career, artwork, and ultimate universal recognition. The MFAH exhibition features 30 of Kahlo’s original artworks.
Featured Kahlo works include Self-Portrait with Thorn Necklace and Hummingbird, 1940, Self-Portrait (in a Velvet Dress), 1926, and Diego and I, 1949.
Along with memorabilia, archival documents, and photographs of Kahlo, the exhibition features 120 artworks across five generations of artists inspired by her works.
“Frida: The Making of an Icon attempts to separate Frida Kahlo the artist from Frida Kahlo the phenomenon. The exhibition reveals how the different facets of Kahlo’s complex persona[lity], which she so carefully crafted and projected, were adapted again and again over her decades-long transformation into an icon. As a result, her image became subsumed within the desires, fears, and hopes of artists and activists who transformed it into innovative proposals that transcend their source of inspiration while commenting on pressing issues.”
In honor of the Frida: The Making of an Icon, MFAH lit up the Beck Building facade in blues hues as a tribute to Kahlo’s former-home-turned-museum Casa Azul in Mexico City where visitors were encouraged here to take their own Frida-style self-portrait.
Frida Kahlo: The Making of an Icon is now on display on Level 2 of the Law Building at MFAH. Due to themes of nudity, sensuality, and violence, the exhibition is rated PG-13.
Tickets for the exhibition are included in general museum admission priced at $10. MFAH is located at 1001 Bissonnet St.