Art Madrid'25 – FRIDA KAHLO AND HER VINTAGE ESTHETIC

Prosthetics 1953. Photo: Miguel Tovar

 

 

Frida Kahlo, the feminist muse of S.XX. Her intense and unfortunate life contrasts with the energy and expressiveness of her work. The people was cataloged as a surrealist artist, but she did not even label herself. She managed to grant the great Diego Rivera the nickname of "the husband of ..." This timeless muse still gives much to speak 62 years after his death. Her personal style is a reference in popular culture and the Museum Frida Kahlo has taken advantage of this characteristic aesthetic to pay homage.

 

 

View of the room 2. Photo: Miguel Tovar

 

 

The exhibition "The appearances deceive: Frida Kahlo’s dresses" is the first exhibition exhibited in the artist's museum about her wardrobe. With this new interpretation, her curator Circe Henestrosa Conoan, has wanted to make the visitor share the full strength of Mexican style. The wardrobe, discovered in 2004 in the artist's bathroom, explore her identity and fosters the visual imagery of traditional clothing.

 

This exhibition has reopened the debate of contemporary fashion since these clothes have inspired the great designers of the most current fashion world. Some of them are Ricardo Tisci or Jean Paul Gaultier. The latter premiered a collection inspired by her in the 1998 titled "Homage to Frida Kahlo"

 

 

Dai Rees. Photo: Miguel Tovar

 

 

Frida's political and cultural convictions have always been in focus, her impulse to revolution and her involvement in the diffusion of Mexican culture are a reference. This exhibition, shows tradition and disability, places them as pillars that have laid the foundations of the new base of popular culture and extol the figure of the artist. Not only can we know the frida revolutionary, but it brings us closer to a more human frida being able to admire her personal and more characteristic objects.

 

 

Givenchy. Photo: Miguel Tovar

 

 

The search for his identity is remarked with the Tetuhana history that showed with her daily attire. Strength and momentum are the nutrients and art his word. The influence he has achieved can only be explained by these small gifts that have left us to all those who we declare ourselves fervent followers. You can enjoy the exhibition until the end of 2016 at the Museum that bears his name in Mexico, if you are in the area do not miss this opportunity.

 

 

 

From July 7 to 9, 2025, the Balsera Palace will host the First Course on Collecting and Contemporary Art, an intensive 15-hour program that will explore the complex and fundamental question of taste in contemporary art. Organized by the Nebrija Institute of Arts and Humanities at Nebrija University and the Avilés City Council, in collaboration with 9915 — Association of Private Collectors of Contemporary Art and the Institute of Contemporary Art, the course offers a unique opportunity for analysis and debate on the dynamics that shape aesthetic and symbolic value in today’s art scene.


First Course on Collecting and Contemporary Art. Avilés, Asturias


The notion of taste, intrinsically tied to aesthetic judgments and power relations, has played a decisive role in the historical prominence of artists and artworks. However, contemporary art—marked by its breaking of conventions, diversity of media and techniques, and critical stance toward traditional canons—raises fundamental questions about the continued relevance of this concept.

This course will explore how the decisions made by key players in the art system—institutions, private collections, galleries, curators, and artists—continually redefine a field of taste shaped by aesthetic, symbolic, cultural, social, and political logics.


"¿But does it exist, and what is the prevailing taste of our time—so seemingly confused, fragmented, indecipherable?" - Omar Calabrese, The Neo-Baroque Era.


The academic program, directed by José Luis Guijarro Alonso, Director of the Master’s in Art Market and Related Business Management at Nebrija University, and Pablo Álvarez de Toledo, Head of the Department of Arts at Nebrija University and the Nebrija Institute of Arts and Humanities, will bring together a distinguished group of national experts—including collectors, critics, curators, gallery owners, and artists—whose contributions will address key issues in shaping aesthetic, symbolic, and market value in today’s art world.


PROGRAM

MONDAY, JULY 7

9:30 AM Registration.

10:00 AM Course Opening Nebrija University Avilés City Council Presented by Rosario López Meras – President of the Association of Contemporary Art Collectors, 9915, and Adrián Piera – President of the ICA, Institute of Contemporary Art.

10:30 AM Course Presentation By José Luis Guijarro Alonso – Art Historian and Anthropologist, Researcher, and Director of the Master’s in Art Market and Related Business Management at Nebrija University.

11:00 AM Coffee Break.

11:30 AM Panel Discussion The Taste of Private Collecting as a Prelude to History. Speakers: Candela Álvarez Soldevilla – Entrepreneur and Collector; Javier Quilis – INELCOM Collection; José Miguel Vegas Valle – Collector. Moderator: Luis Feás – Critic and Curator.

1:00 PM Lunch Break.

3:30 PM Individual Lecture On Good Taste in Contemporary Art. Speaker: Marisol Salanova – Curator and Art Critic, Director of Arteinformado.

4:45 PM Panel Discussion The Influence of Galleries in Shaping Contemporary Taste. Speakers: Elba Benítez – Gallerist; Ricardo Pernas – Gallerist (Arniches 26); Aurora Vigil-Escalera – Gallerist. Moderator: Rafael Martín – Coleccion@casamer.

6:00 PM End of Day.

6:30 PM Activity and Cocktail Visit to the Exhibition Asturian Artists in the Pérez Simón Collection – Avilés.

TUESDAY, JULY 8

10:00 AM Individual Lecture Contemporary (Bad) Taste: Kitsch, Camp, and Tacky. Speaker: Julio Pérez Manzanares – Autonomous University of Madrid.

11:00 AM Coffee Break.

11:30 AM Panel Discussion Institutions and the Formation of Contemporary Taste. Speakers: Virginia López – Artist, Founder of PACA_Proyectos Artísticos Casa Antonino; Julieta de Haro – Artistic Director of CentroCentro; Carlos Urroz – Director of Institutional Relations, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía. Moderator: Laura Gutiérrez – Director, School of Art of Oviedo.

1:00 PM Lunch Break.

3:30 PM Panel Discussion Beyond the Eye: The Taste for Ethical, Ecological, Social, or Political Concerns in Contemporary Art. Speakers: Semíramis González – Independent Curator; Eugenio Ampudia – Artist; Claudia Rodríguez-Ponga – Independent Curator. Moderator: Bárbara Mur Borrás – PhD in Fine Arts.

5:00 PM End of Day.

5:30 PM Activity Visit to the Studiolo Exhibition – Candela Álvarez Soldevilla Collection.

WEDNESDAY, JULY 9

9:30 AM Meeting with Asturian Artists Speakers: María Castellanos – Artist; Avelino Sala – Artist; Consuelo Vallina – Artist. Moderator: Pablo Álvarez de Toledo – Nebrija University.

11:00 AM Activity Visit to the Niemeyer Center – Avilés.

Course Closing Ceremony.





This course is designed for art professionals, collectors, researchers, and students seeking an in-depth analysis of the dynamics that shape taste and collecting practices in contemporary art. Adopting a critical and multidisciplinary perspective, it provides a unique opportunity to rigorously examine the aesthetic, symbolic, and structural factors that underpin the legitimization of contemporary art.