If you’ve caught even a whisper of the Frida fever currently sweeping London, you’ll know we’re in the grip of a full-blown Fridamania. Murals of her iconic unibrow are popping up on Shoreditch walls, flower crowns are back with a vengeance, and the new Tate Modern exhibition (which I had the absolute pleasure of reviewing for London Mums Magazine recently – read my show review here) has turned the capital into a pilgrimage site for devotees of Mexico’s most fearless painter. If you left that exhibition hungry for more colour, more passion, more of Frida’s soul laid bare on canvas, then I have found your perfect companion. It’s called Kahlo: The Bigger Picture by Inès Boittiaux and honestly, this book is so beautiful it makes my heart do a little Mexican folk dance every time I open it.
Published by Prestel, my all-time favourite art book publisher, and I’ve reviewed stacks of their titles, this A4-sized hardcover is an object of pure desire. Bound in tactile linen with sprayed edges taken from Kahlo’s own imagery, it’s the kind of book that gives you pleasure just holding it. The reproductions are so rich, so saturated with Frida’s signature vibrancy, that you’ll feel as if you’ve smuggled a miniature gallery into your living room.
But here’s the showstopper: inside this book, six paintings unfold into glorious, large-as-life posters. Self-Portrait with Thorn Necklace and Hummingbird, The Bride Frightened at Seeing Life Opened, Self-Portrait on the Borderline between Mexico and the United States, they’re all here, reproduced at an expanded scale that lets you get lost in every brushstroke, every tiny symbol, every drop of pain and power that Kahlo poured onto the canvas. Many of these masterpieces are currently on display at the Tate Modern, so you can literally flick through the book and recognise the very paintings you stood in front of, maybe even cried in front of (just me?). It’s the next best thing to living inside the exhibition.
Journalist Inès Boittiaux, editor in chief at Beaux Arts magazine, has written a text that weaves biography and visual analysis together beautifully, but the brilliance of this book is that it doesn’t just tell you about Kahlo. It lets you feel her. The fold-outs invite you to pause, to explore, to have a quiet, intimate moment with each image. For anyone currently obsessed with Frida’s story (and that’s everyone I know right now), this is the ultimate deep-dive.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Prestel makes books that make you remember why you love physical books. The weight, the smell, the crackle of a stiff new page: it’s sensory joy. Kahlo: The Bigger Picture is no exception. It’s the perfect post-exhibition treat, a stunning coffee table statement, or an inspired gift for the art-loving mum who deserves a dose of fierce, unapologetic creativity. Mine is already covered in sticky fingerprints from myself, and I don’t even mind, that’s how much I adore it.
So, while the Frida murals bloom across London and the queues snake around Tate Modern, grab this book. Pair it with a strong coffee (or a margarita, I won’t judge), and let Frida’s world wrap around you like a beautifully embroidered rebozo. You’ll want to linger over every page, and trust me, you’ll be back for more.
Kahlo: The Bigger Picture by Inès Boittiaux (Prestel, £32.50) is available now at all good bookshops and online. Read my full review of the Tate Modern Frida Kahlo exhibition on London Mums Magazine for even more colourful inspiration.
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Monica Costa founded London Mums in September 2006 after her son Diego’s birth together with a group of mothers who felt the need of meeting up regularly to share the challenges and joys of motherhood in metropolitan and multicultural London. London Mums is the FREE and independent peer support group for mums and mumpreneurs based in London https://www.londonmumsmagazine.com and you can connect on Twitter @londonmums
