Who owns Frida Kahlo? Her family fights to reclaim her image (2024)

Mexican artist Frida Kahlo (1907-1954) has become an icon with her thick eyebrows, floral headwear and colorful dresses. The City of Paris Fashion Museum (also known as the Palais Galliera) has an exhibition dedicated to her unmistakable style on display until March 5. Merchandise such as T-shirts, toys and scented candles are being produced in her likeness. This global "Fridamania" has enormous financial benefits that the painter's family and a Panamanian company, which owns the brand in her name, are fighting over.

The Paris exhibit is titled "Frida Kahlo: Beyond Appearances" and features more than 200 of the artist's personal belongings. Along with her vibrant wardrobe and sumptuous pre-Columbian jewelry are orthopedic corsets and prosthetic legs, physical evidence of the tragic events of her youth: her withered right leg, the aftermath of polio contracted at the age of 6, as well as injuries sustained to her abdomen and pelvis in a bus accident the year she turned 18.

The artist dealt with these traumas in her paintings, violent and sensual at the same time, and which collectors bought at a premium. Then Kahlo became a pop cultural muse, inspiring haute couture collections like those designed by Givenchy and Jean Paul Gaultier, on display at the Palais Galliera. Her image has also been used in marketing for a host of less prestigious objects: coffee mugs, shopping bags, postcards, costume jewelry and bottles of tequila. These products are at the heart of a never-ending legal battle.

Targeting Puma

The story begins in 2004, when Isolda Pinedo Kahlo, Kahlo's niece and her sole heir, sold the rights to the artist's image and name to the Frida Kahlo Corporation (FKC) for an undisclosed sum. Her family still holds 49% of the shares of this company, which is based in Panama. But the corporation is chaired by Carlos Dorado, a Venezuelan businessman, who is the FKC's majority shareholder through Panamanian trustees.

Since Pinedo Kahlo's death in 2007, her daughter and granddaughter, Mara Romeo and Mara de Anda, have been trying to regain control of the FKC, with multiple complaints and accusations in the media. The latest episode in this legal-marketing soap opera came in July when Mara Romeo went after the sportswear brand Puma, which released a temporary collection inspired by her great-aunt. The heiress demanded that it be removed from the shelves, threatening to sue for the violation of commercial rights, sold to Puma by the FKC.

Today, these shoes, sweatpants and hoodies featuring floral patterns can no longer be seen on the sportswear brand's website but remain available elsewhere. The family's lawyers have spoken out against what they describe as illegal use by the brand. In the Latin American media, they claim that only a few specific categories of merchandise are stipulated in the contract between the family and the FKC, such as alcoholic beverages, jewelry and stationery. However, FKC spokespersons dispute this claim, recalling that the family has transferred "all the brands and rights in its possession [...] worldwide, without any limitation."

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