Frida Kahlo exhibit at the New York Botanical Gardens

I had the pleasure of visiting the current exhibit at the New York Botanical Garden: Frida Kahlo's Garden. It was a truly perfect day. The trip was sponsored by Gallery North, a not for profit art gallery in my town that I spend a lot of time volunteering at. This trip was a treat I gave to myself after a very hectic month at work. The weather was perfect, the bus was completely full and I was absolutely delighted with the gardens NYBG had curated using photos, Frida Kahlo's paintings, and visits to Mexico City to see Casa Azul and other gardens connected with Frida Kahlo. I found the gardens intriguing and peaceful, and spent more than an hour rambling around smelling fragrant flowers, admiring the abundant varieties of cacti and tropical plants. It was much more than I expected.

I confess that the only other time I have been to the NY Botanical Garden was last winter for their Christmas Train show, which was a completely different experience. So I had no idea of the scope of the grounds of the NYBG- or that they had a building called The Library. On the sixth floor was an exhibit of six of Frida's paintings (I have only seen one of Frida's paintings before this- I believe at MOMA). They also had sketches of hers on display. On the fourth floor was a display called "Two Fridas" which was a tableau of her Two Frida's painting- using her dresses with a vine work mannequin form of sorts to fill them out. It was very striking. On the first floor they had a timeline of Frida's life on the walls.

I highly recommend going to see this exhibit if you admire Frida Kahlo, and if you are a gardener- this is an amazing garden.