Although Frida Kahlo’s story is well known, we know less about the forces that shaped her life and creative force that began before she was born. As part of the DMA’s newest exhibition, Frida: Beyond the Myth, join Dr. Salomon Grimberg, author of several books on Frida Kahlo’s life and work, as he discusses her developmental history to explain how the iconographic sources of her self-portraits and still lifes emerge from her identification with pre-Hispanic and Catholic religion.
About Dr. Salomon Grimberg
Dr. Salomon Grimberg is widely regarded as the leading biographer and expert source on the life and work of the famed Mexican artist. For 43 years, between 1976 and 2019, Dr. Grimberg worked as a psychiatrist focusing on early child development. He worked at UT Southwestern Medical School in Dallas, and during that time, he worked as Director of Psychiatric In-Patient Services in an open and a locked unit, and as Resident Training Director at Presbyterian Hospital of Dallas. In May 1994 he went into private practice full-time and continued to see patients and teach as Clinical Faculty at UT Southwestern for the next 19 years.
While working as a psychiatrist, he developed a parallel interest in artists’ creative processes from the psychological perspective. He wrote or edited publications—including two catalogue raisonnés, on Frida Kahlo and Remedios Varo—articles, book reviews, and essays for museum catalogues. Among others, his special interests are in Mexican, post-Revolutionary, and modern art, and in French Surrealism. He has become a specialist consultant for galleries and auction houses, including Christie’s, Sotheby’s, Phillips, Bonham, Morton, and others, in New York, Europe, and Mexico. Since 1996, Grimsberg has been active on the editorial board of the Woman’s Art Journal. Over 25 years, he curated 15 museum exhibitions in Germany, Italy, Spain, Turkey, Mexico, and the United States.
RSVP for the lecture for a chance to win a signed copy of Dr. Salomon Grimberg’s book I Will Never Forget You: Frida Kahlo and Nickolas Muray.
Signed copies of Dr. Salomon Grimberg’s I Will Never Forget You: Frida Kahlo and Nickolas Muray are available for purchase at the DMA Store.
To request accessibility accommodations such as ASL interpretation, gallery stools, or wheelchairs, please send an email to access@dma.org.
Images: Self-Portrait with Loose Hair, 1947. Frida Kahlo. Oil on Masonite. Private Collection. © 2024 Banco de México Diego Rivera Frida Kahlo Museums Trust, Mexico, D.F. / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York; Credit: Cristina Kahlo.