Frida and Diego: The Last Dream celebrates Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera—two of Mexico’s most beloved icons of 20th-century art—in a first-of-its-kind collaboration with the Metropolitan Opera. Organized in conjunction with the Met’s new production of El Último Sueño de Frida y Diego, the presentation at MoMA features artworks by Kahlo and Rivera in an elaborate setting designed by Jon Bausor, the set and co-costume designer of the opera. For both the opera and installation, Bausor evokes the artists’ lives and artworks in his theatrical designs.
Key participants in a movement to redefine Mexican culture and identity after the revolution of 1910–20—Rivera through monumental murals and Kahlo through intimate self-portraits—the artists were romantically involved from 1928 until Kahlo’s death in 1954. The fictional narrative of the opera El Último Sueño de Frida y Diego begins three years after Kahlo’s death and follows an aging Rivera as he summons the deceased Kahlo back to life on the Day of the Dead, a Mexican holiday honoring passed loved ones. As the opera and installation design attest, the pair continue to have an enduring influence on artists across the visual and performing arts.
Organized by Beverly Adams, The Estrellita Brodsky Curator of Latin American Art, and Jon Bausor, independent stage designer and creative director, with Caitlin Chaisson, Curatorial Assistant, Department of Painting and Sculpture, and Rachel Remick, Curatorial Assistant, Department of Painting and Sculpture and Department of Curatorial Affairs. Realized with the participation of the Metropolitan Opera, New York. The Metropolitan Opera’s production of El Último Sueño de Frida y Diego, composed by Gabriela Lena Frank with a libretto by Nilo Cruz, is directed and choreographed by Deborah Colker.
