Frida Kahlo: In Love and Pain – a Talk by Jacqueline Cockburn
The Arts Society Ealing to explore the life behind the legend
The talk coincides with the Frida Kahlo exhibition at the Tate Modern
September 16, 2026
The Arts Society Ealing will turn its attention this month to one of the most compelling figures in twentieth‑century art, as lecturer Jacqueline Cockburn presents Frida Kahlo: In Love and Pain, an illustrated talk tracing the artist’s extraordinary life, loves and legacy. The lecture takes place on Monday 28 September at St Barnabas Church Hall, Pitshanger Lane, with doors opening at 6.45pm and the talk beginning at 7.30pm.
The evening promises a vivid journey through Kahlo’s world, beginning with her childhood in Mexico City, her family’s mixed European and Indigenous heritage, and the polio that left her with lasting physical challenges. Jacqueline Cockburn will explore how Kahlo’s flamboyant personality coexisted with profound sadness, shaped by chronic pain and the devastating bus accident that left her severely injured at the age of eighteen. Confined to bed for months, Kahlo began painting seriously, developing the intimate, symbolic style that would later make her famous.
The lecture will chart her meeting with Diego Rivera, the celebrated muralist and revolutionary whose influence on Mexican art and politics was immense. Their relationship — passionate, turbulent, marked by infidelity, divorce and remarriage — became central to Kahlo’s life and work. Cockburn will examine Kahlo’s self‑portraits, which scrutinise her emotional landscape with unflinching honesty, and trace her rise to international recognition, including her encounters with figures such as Leon Trotsky.
Kahlo’s death in 1954, at the age of 47, was as public and dramatic as her life, cementing her status as an icon of resilience, creativity and political defiance. The lecture coincides with the current exhibition at Tate Modern, offering local audiences a timely opportunity to deepen their understanding of Kahlo’s art and the forces that shaped it.
Jacqueline Cockburn brings extensive expertise to the subject. A course director and lecturer at the V&A and a regular speaker at the Royal Academy, she is also Managing Director of Art and Culture Travel, leading curated art‑history tours abroad.
Visitors are welcome, with entry priced at £10 (£3 for students), payable by card on the evening.
The Arts Society Ealing belongs to the large umbrella organisation, The Arts Society, previously known as the National Association of Decorative and Fine Arts Societies (NADFAS), which was founded in 1968. The local Society has a membership of around 140.
The Arts Society Ealing holds 10 lectures a year and more information can be found by visiting its web site.
Like Reading Articles Like This? Help Us Produce More This site remains committed to providing local community news and public interest journalism. Articles such as the one above are integral to what we do. We aim to feature as much as possible on local societies, charities based in the area, fundraising efforts by residents, community-based initiatives and even helping people find missing pets. We’ve always done that and won’t be changing, in fact we’d like to do more. However, the readership that these stories generates is often below that needed to cover the cost of producing them. Our financial resources are limited and the local media environment is intensely competitive so there is a constraint on what we can do. We are therefore asking our readers to consider offering financial support to these efforts. Any money given will help support community and public interest news and the expansion of our coverage in this area. A suggested monthly payment is £8 but we would be grateful for any amount for instance if you think this site offers the equivalent value of a subscription to a daily printed newspaper you may wish to consider £20 per month. If neither of these amounts is suitable for you then contact info@neighbournet.com and we can set up an alternative. All payments are made through a secure web site. One-off donations are also appreciated. Choose The Amount You Wish To Contribute. If you do support us in this way we’d be interested to hear what kind of articles you would like to see more of on the site – send your suggestions to the editor. For businesses we offer the chance to be a corporate sponsor of community content on the site. For £30 plus VAT per month you will be the designated sponsor of at least one article a month with your logo appearing if supplied. If there is a specific community group or initiative you’d like to support we can make sure your sponsorship is featured on related content for a one off payment of £50 plus VAT. All payments are made through a secure web site. |