2017 has been a great year to visit museums within the country that are having exhibits featuring art and photography from Mexico. Currently the Heard Museum in Phoenix, Arizona has the exhibit "Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera from the Jacques and Natasha Gelman Collection", the Museum of Latin American Art in Long Beach, California is featuring the photography exhibit titled "Frida Kahlo: Through the Lens of Nickolas Muray", the Dallas Museum of Art in Dallas, Texas is featuring the exhibit titled "Mexico 1900 - 1950: Diego Rivera, Frida Kahlo, José Clemente Orozco and the Avant Garde", the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, Texas is featuring the exhibit "Painting the Revolution: Mexican Modernism, 1910 - 1950 and the Museum of Spanish Colonial Art in Santa Fe, New Mexico is featuing the photography exhibit titled "Mirror, Mirror" which is made up of 50 photos of Frida.

The exhibit at the Heard Museum is composed primarily of paintings created by Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera that were comissioned or purchased by Jacques and Natasha Gelman, along with 50 photos of Frida on loan from Throckmorton Fine Art in New York City and indigenous clothing on dress forms. This is the only North American stop of this exhibit which will close on September 4, 2017.

The photography exhibit at the Museum of Latin American Art features the vibrant color photographs that Nickolas Muray took of Frida during the ten years that they had an affair. This exhibit will close on September 30, 2017. Nickolas Muray's photos are some of the most beautiful of Frida to be found.

The exhibit at the Dallas Museum of Art has traveled from Paris for it's only North American stop. This exhibit is closing on July 16, 2017. It is made up of 200 pieces of art such as painting, sculpture, photography, drawings and film. Many of the paintngs come from private collections or museums in Mexico. It features paintings by Diego Rivera, Frida Kahlo, José Clemente Ororzo, María Izquiredo, David Alfaro Siqueiros, Miguel Corvarrubias and many others.

The exhibit at the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston includes work as well by Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera, José Clemente Orozco, David Alfaro Siquerios, Rufino Tamayo, Lola and Manuel Alvarez Bravo, Miguel Corvarrubias, Carlos Mérida and many others. This exhibit closes on October 1, 2017.

Finally, "Mirror, Mirror" at the Museum of Spanish Colonial Art features 50 photographs created by Nickolas Muray, Lola Alvarez Bravo, Imogen Cummingham, Leo Matiz and many others. These photos are on also on loan from Throckmorton Fine Art in New York City. This exhibit closes on October 29, 2017.

On July 6, 2017 the Dallas Museum of Art sponsored the Frida Fest to celebrate Frida's 110th birthday. They decided they wanted to break the Guinness Book of Records for the largest gathering of people dressed up as Frida. I decided to fly out for this event as I adore Frida dress up events. There were four guidelines that one had to follow: a unibrow, a pink or red shawl, at least three paper flowers on your head and a floral print dress that went below the knees and it couldn't have any slits. Some of the rules seemed to be flexible such as wearing a floral print dress as I got in wearing a matching vintage floral print huipil and falda from the Isthmus of Tehuantepec that dates from around 1938. I found this part of the requirement to be a bit odd as Frida never wore dresses.

It was the biggest gathering of Fridas that I have ever seen! There were people from all ethnic backgrounds in attendance. One could see babies, dogs, children, men and women from all age groups dressed up as Frida. The event started at 6:00 in the evening. At 7:30 everyone checked in, we were given a plastic band to wear around our wrist showing the number we were as a part of the count. I was number 69. Next we were sent outside in the humid heat while we waited for all the participants to come out of the museum and receive their number and get into their respective square on the grass that had been taped off. Each square was made up of 100 people dressed as Frida. There were 10 lines per square with 10 people in each line. It took over an hour for everyone to get into their respective square. Thankfully we were in the shade. The staff brought water for us to drink while we waited. Due to the high turnout there was room for only 1,100 people dressed up as Frida to be outside on the taped grassy area. Some people were turned away as they weren't dressed properly. Many others were unable to particpate because they ran out of room outside to accomadate the people still standing inside the museum and out the front door and around the block. There was probably an additional 4,000 people waiting to partake in the event as the line stretched all around the museum. Once the group was counted on the grass, the crowd began to chant, "Frida, Frida, Frida". Then spontaneously people broke out singing Happy Birthday to her and that was followed by the traditional Mexican birthday song called Las Mañanitas.

I hadn't had so much fun in years. Everyone was super friendly and the spirit of Frida was definitely in the air. If it happened all over again I would be there.

I am so overjoyed that the beautiful art and culture of Mexico is having a great run in our country this year!