The Mexican artist was not only on display in the museum, but you came across a touch of Frida in many places in the city center. More subtle in some places than others. From decorations at a Mexican restaurant to the enormous bust at the Kop van de Vaart: Frida’s ghost is around in Assen. One of the highlights was the celebration of Día de Muertos, the Day of the Dead. A musical parade of dancers in skeleton costumes and skull masks passed through the center.
All those people who came to watch Viva la Frida also made some financial gains. Many of them attached a day or weekend to Assen to their museum visit. Schonewille: “After the museum, people go shopping or have a bite to eat, maybe even spend the night. We have calculated that the visitors together outside the museum in Assen spent between 5.7 and 5.9 million euros.”
Kahlo’s artworks and belongings will be broken down, packed and sent on their way to other museums this week, in France and Spain. After that, the exhibition space will be prepared for the new exhibition ‘Under the spell of the Ararat – Treasures of Ancient Armenia’. It will start on May 11.
Secretly, the exhibition director thinks it is a shame that Frida is saying goodbye. “But there has to be some kind of change, so that we can look forward to something new for visitors. I’m really looking forward to it.”