Keep Dreaming

Call it a full-circle moment for Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera. The two artists who conquered the world’s galleries and museums in the 20th century have made it to the opera stage in the 21st, and now—thanks to a remarkable collaboration between the Metropolitan Opera and the Museum of Modern Art—back again to the realm of visual arts, inspired by the new Met production.

While Gabriela Lena Frank and Nilo Cruz’s El Último Sueño de Frida y Diego has its premiere on the Met stage, MoMA presents Frida and Diego: The Last Dream, an exquisite installation of the museum’s Kahlo and Rivera holdings, as well as some loans, co-curated by the Met production’s set and co-costume designer, Jon Bausor.

“It has been such an honor to work with MoMA,” says Bausor, who worked closely with MoMA’s Estrellita Brodsky Curator of Latin American Art, Beverly Adams, to conceive and execute the installation. “It was fascinating to go into the bowels of the museum and look at this work, and to assemble it in a way that relates to what we’re doing on the stage at the Met.”

Together, Bausor and Adams sought to essentially bring the physical world of director Deborah Colker’s staging to MoMA’s gallery space. The gnarly red tree that takes center stage at the Met? Check. The blue curtains that drape the stage and Frida’s mirror-ceiling bed? Those are there too. MoMA’s visitors will be able to walk through a reimagined version of the Met stage set. Spectacular artworks including six iconic paintings by Kahlo and more than a dozen artworks by Rivera populate the theatrical installation. The installation also includes photographic portraits of the artists by such luminaries as Lola Álvarez Bravo and Leo Matiz.

“Frida and Diego: The Last Dream represents a momentous coming-together of two storied New York institutions,” Adams says. “We are so excited to reconnect the visual and performing arts in this one-of-a-kind experience at MoMA.” —Matt Dobkin 

Frida and Diego: The Last Dream runs at MoMA through September 12.

Matt Dobkin is the Met’s Creative Content Director.