“Only in Detroit could we do what we are doing here,” said Judy Garvey, a docent from the Detroit Institute of Art. She was referring to the large mural that Diego Rivera painted in the court of the DIA.

His four-walled mural could not be moved anywhere because it is a fresco mural. Frescos are not painted on the wall, but painted in the wall.

On Thursday, March 5, at the Downtown Ann Arbor District Library, Garvey spoke about the Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo Exhibit that is being shown from March 15 to July 12. The exhibit will contain about 70 works of art; some are borrowed from other museums and private collectors. Each piece has to do with the time Kahlo and Rivera spent while in Detroit, including seven works that were painted by Kahlo while she was in Detroit.

Kahlo created many pieces of art that express her feelings. There is one piece, which is graphic, that expresses a painful miscarriage Kahlo had while in Detroit. “She broke things down so she could understand them,” Garvey said. She clearly analyzes aspects of her miscarriage in a piece shown in this exhibit.

Kahlo also struggled with living in Detroit. It was different compared to living in Mexico.She struggled with making the transition from rural Mexico to industrialized Detroit. In the exhibit, she has a self-portrait of her standing the border of Mexico and the United States that shows how she feels about the United States and Detroit.

There are also many works of art created by Rivera that are in the exhibit: including a portrait of Edsel Ford, who was the man that commissioned Rivera to create the large fresco style mural. The piece shows Ford doing what he loved to do: designing cars.

The DIA is a only short 53 minute drive away from Community High School. To see this exquisite art work by Kahlo and Rivera check out the Detroit Institute of Art from March 15 to July 12.