MoMA ANNOUNCES A FOCUSED EXHIBITION PRESENTING CELEBRATED WORKS BY FRIDA KAHLO AND DIEGO RIVERA
Exhibition Features a Bespoke Gallery Design Inspired by the Metropolitan Opera’s New Production of El Último Sueño de Frida y Diego
The Museum of Modern Art announces Frida and Diego: The Last Dream, an exhibition of key works from MoMA’s collection by Frida Kahlo (1907–1954) and Diego Rivera (1886–1957), on view from March 21 through September 12, 2026. The exhibition is presented in conjunction with the Metropolitan Opera’s premiere of El Último Sueño de Frida y Diego (May 14–June 5, 2026). The opera, by Grammy Award– winning composer Gabriela Lena Frank and Pulitzer Prize–winning playwright Nilo Cruz, is a mythical exploration of Frida and Diego’s profound relationship with their art and each other. For the exhibition, MoMA has invited Jon Bausor, the stage set and co-costume designer of the opera, to create an innovative setting for the artworks inspired by his designs for the opera and the works of Kahlo and Rivera.
The installation will showcase five paintings and a drawing by Kahlo and over a dozen works by Rivera. Photographic portraits of the artists by luminaries such as Lola Álvarez Bravo and Leo Matiz will also be on view. Frida and Diego: The Last Dream is organized by Beverly Adams, The Estrellita Brodsky Curator of Latin American Art, in collaboration with Jon Bausor, independent Stage Designer and Creative Director, with Caitlin Chaisson, Curatorial Assistant, Department of Painting and Sculpture, and Rachel Remick, Curatorial Assistant, Department of Painting and Sculpture and Curatorial Affairs. Realized with the participation of the Metropolitan Opera, New York.
For MoMA’s presentation, Bausor’s gallery design draws visitors into the otherworldly setting of the production, offering a fresh context for Kahlo and Rivera’s celebrated works. El Último Sueño de Frida y Diego, which is directed by Deborah Colker and will premiere at the Metropolitan Opera on May 14, 2026, is set during the Day of the Dead, a Mexican holiday honoring loved ones and ancestors who have passed away. The opera follows an aging Rivera as he summons Kahlo back to life and the two revisit their creative partnership.
While Kahlo and Rivera are among the most influential artists of the 20th century, Frida and Diego: The Last Dream holds special significance for MoMA, as each artist had a unique connection to the Museum during their lifetime. Their works, such as Self-Portrait with Cropped Hair (1940) and Fulang-Chang and I (1937) by Kahlo and Flower Festival: Feast of Santa Anita (1931) and Agrarian Leader Zapata (1931) by Rivera, have long been fixtures in the Museum’s collection galleries. Building on this legacy, this exhibition takes an interdisciplinary approach, presenting their art in dialogue with the opera. Public programs, produced in collaboration with the Metropolitan Opera, will accompany the presentation.
Together, the exhibition and programming will shed new light on how Kahlo and Rivera’s groundbreaking art continues to inspire artists across disciplines to this day.
ABOUT JON BAUSOR
Jon Bausor is a British stage designer and spatial artist whose work spans opera, theatre, dance, sculptural installation, and immersive performance. Known for creating scenographic environments in which space itself becomes an active voice within the dramaturgy, he has collaborated with many of the world’s leading cultural institutions, including the Royal Opera House, Royal Ballet, the Royal National Theatre, National Theatre of Scotland, Abbey Theatre, Dublin, Théâtre de Complicité, both Finnish and Norwegian National Ballets, Nederlands Dans Theater, and major European opera houses and festivals such as Glyndebourne, the Metropolitan Opera, LA Opera. His work regularly appears on West End and Broadway stages, and he is an associate artist of the Royal Shakespeare Company. In 2012, Bausor designed the Opening Ceremony of the London Paralympic Games. He has been recognized with an Emmy Award nomination for Best Production Design and has received major UK theatre awards, including numerous Olivier Award nominations, as well as multiple Critics’ Circle Theatre Awards and UK Theatre Awards for Best Design.
SPONSORSHIP:
Leadership support for this exhibition is provided by Denise Littlefield Sobel, Steven and Lisa Tananbaum in honor of David Tananbaum, and Monique M. Schoen Warshaw.
Major funding is provided by Jerry Speyer and Katherine Farley and by the Steven A. and Lisa Tananbaum Endowment for Contemporary Art Commissions.
Additional support is provided by the Annual Exhibition Fund. Leadership contributions to the Annual Exhibition Fund, in support of the Museum’s collection and collection exhibitions, are generously provided by Sue and Edgar Wachenheim III, the Eyal and Marilyn Ofer Family Foundation, the Noel and Harriette Levine Endowment, Jerry Speyer and Katherine Farley, Alice and Tom Tisch, the Marella and Giovanni Agnelli Fund for Exhibitions, Eva and Glenn Dubin, Mimi Haas, the William Randolph Hearst Endowment Fund for Photography, The David Rockefeller Council, the Kate W. Cassidy Foundation, The Contemporary Arts Council of The Museum of Modern Art, Anne and Joel Ehrenkranz, Kenneth C. Griffin, The International Council of The Museum of Modern Art, Marie-Josée and Henry R. Kravis, and Ronald S. and Jo Carole Lauder. Major funding is provided by The Sundheim Family Foundation.
Leo Matiz. Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo, Mexico. 1946. Platinum/palladium print, 13 3/4 × 12 3/16″ (35 × 31 cm). The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Gift of Alejandra Matiz. Photo: Robert Gerhardt
Frida Kahlo. Fulang-Chang and I. 1937 (assembled after 1939). In two parts, oil on board (1937) with painted mirror frame (added after 1939); and mirror with painted mirror frame (after 1939), Framed painting, left 22 1/4 x 17 3/8 x 1 3/4″ (56.5 x 44.1 x 4.4 cm); framed mirror, right 25 1/4 x 19 x 1 3/4″ (64.1 x 48.3 x 4.4 cm). The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Mary Sklar Bequest. © 2025 Banco de México Diego Rivera Frida Kahlo Museums Trust, Mexico, D.F. / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photo: John Wronn
Frida Kahlo. Self-Portrait with Cropped Hair. 1940. Oil on canvas, 15 3/4 x 11″ (40 x 27.9 cm). The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Gift of Edgar Kaufmann, Jr. © 2025 Banco de México Diego Rivera Frida Kahlo Museums Trust, Mexico, D.F. / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photo: Peter Butler
Frida Kahlo. My Grandparents, My Parents, and I. 1936. Oil and tempera on zinc, 12 1/8 x 13 5/8″ (30.7 x 34.5 cm). The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Gift of Allan Roos, M. D., and B. Mathieu Roos. © 2025 Banco de México Diego Rivera Frida Kahlo Museums Trust, Mexico, D.F. / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photo: Jonathan Muzikar
Diego Rivera. Agrarian Leader Zapata. 1931. Fresco on reinforced cement in galvanized-steel framework, 7′ 9 3/4″ x 6′ 2″ (238.1 x 188 cm). The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Fund. © 2025 Banco de México Diego Rivera Frida Kahlo Museums Trust, Mexico, D.F. / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photo: John Wronn
Diego Rivera. Flower Festival: Feast of Santa Anita. 1931. Encaustic on canvas, 6′ 6 1/2″ x 64″ (199.3 x 162.5 cm). The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Gift of Abby Aldrich Rockefeller. © 2025 Banco de México Diego Rivera Frida Kahlo Museums Trust, Mexico, D.F. / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photo: Erik Landsberg
