The richly illustrated story of a brief yet pivotal encounter in Paris between Frida Kahlo and
Mary Reynolds two luminaries of the Surrealist movement In February 1939 while visiting
Paris at the invitation of writer André Breton Mexican artist Frida Kahlo (1907–1954) became
sick and convalesced at the home of American expatriate Mary Reynolds (1891–1950) an
avant-garde bookbinder collector of Surrealist artist books and partner of Marcel Duchamp.
This book traces the story of Kahlo and Reynolds’s connection and its influence on their work
even after the friendship had elapsed. Kahlo and Reynolds’s intense encounter unfolds in
this volume through the artworks they each made their shared exploration of Reynolds’s
expansive Surrealist library and letters from Kahlo to her lover American photographer
Nickolas Muray in which she recounted her time in Paris. Included in this focused study are
paintings and drawings by Kahlo selections of books by Reynolds photographs by Muray of Kahlo
depictions of Reynolds by artists in Paris and a selection of letters between Kahlo and
Reynolds describing their defining experience together. Distributed for the Art Institute
of Chicago Exhibition Schedule: Art Institute of Chicago (March 29–July 13 2025)
