When it comes to major cultural events in Greece, Athens is often the first city that comes to mind. Yet Thessaloniki has been steadily carving out its own cultural narrative. This fall, the city proves once again that it can rival the capital’s cultural scene with a rare exhibition that promises to draw art lovers from across the country.
From October 3, 2025, to January 4, 2026, the MOMus – Thessaloniki Museum of Photography will host “Frida Kahlo – Her Photos”—an exhibition that, for the first time, brings the private, unseen side of the legendary Mexican artist to Greece. After touring over twenty cities worldwide, this collection arrives in Thessaloniki, inviting visitors into Kahlo’s world not through her iconic self-portraits, but through the intimate lens of photography.
For the first time in Greece, visitors will have the opportunity to explore a unique collection of 241 unpublished photographs that reveal a more intimate and lesser-known side of the legendary Mexican artist.
This exhibition is not about Kahlo’s iconic self-portraits or the myth surrounding her larger-than-life persona. Instead, it offers a quiet yet powerful narrative, told through moments captured on film—snapshots of family, friends, and personal experiences that shaped her turbulent journey. Each photograph feels like an invitation into her private world, piecing together fragments of her life and personality in a way that is rarely seen in traditional retrospectives.
The story behind these photographs is just as fascinating as their content. When Frida Kahlo passed away in 1954, her husband, the renowned muralist Diego Rivera, transformed their home—Casa Azul in Mexico City—into a museum celebrating her life and work. However, Rivera requested that a significant portion of her personal archive remain hidden. For fifty years, more than 6,000 photographs, along with drawings, letters, clothes, and even medicines, were locked away in a bathroom at Casa Azul, gaining a near-mythical aura among art historians and fans of Kahlo alike.
It wasn’t until 2003 that this archive was finally opened, revealing an entirely new perspective on one of the most enigmatic figures of Latin American art. From this vast treasure trove, a curated selection of photographs was assembled into the exhibition “Frida Kahlo – Her Photos,” which has since traveled to over twenty cities worldwide. Now, Thessaloniki joins this international list, offering Greek audiences the chance to discover the raw, unfiltered essence of Frida Kahlo, guided by the curatorial vision of Pablo Ortiz Monasterio.
