Back to the art museum

Last Friday, we went to see the new exhibition on Frida Kahlo at the art museum. As this was a special show requiring timed tickets, we were lucky to get admission for our mentors and a dozen students.

The day before, Mary held a special art club meeting devoted to Frida Kahlo. She created two project suggestions for the participants. She also brought a book of Kahlo's paintings, which students pored through that afternoon.

Friday was an early dismissal day, so school ended before noon. Pete, Mary, Steve, and I gathered the students in our room and took them on the subway, transferring at City Hall for the bus to the museum. As we waited at 15th and JFK, we absorbed the urban scene before us: varied and distinctive architecture, pedestrian-filled plazas, public artwork. We got onto an (unnumbered) bus, took a picturesque ride down the Parkway, and were dropped off right at the museum's entrance.

After we picked up our tickets, checked our coats and bags, and greeted our friend at the museum, we entered the Kahlo exhibition. Many of the students took the audiotours, and we took a minute to learn how to press the buttons to get a running commentary on the art. Even on a weekday afternoon, the galleries were filled with fellow art appreciators. Our students walked from photograph to photograph, painting to painting, carefully taking in the details.

The students had many questions about the show. "Why is he [Diego Rivera as a baby] wearing a dress? Is it lucky?" "Why did she draw herself so ugly in her art? She was beautiful in the pictures?" "Did three of her babies really die?" They were captivated by the tragedies in her life: the accident, the miscarriages, her pain. Some of them found her art a little scary. Overall, they found meaning in what they saw.

Later, the students had some free time to explore the other galleries of the museum. Afterwards, we got on a bus to return to Center City, and each went on our own ways. We encourage them all to make another visit to the museum, perhaps on one of the pay-as-you-wish Sundays. It is truly a spot that is worth returning to again and again.