Through May 12 at Atlanta's High Museum of Art, see (from left) Frida Kahlo's self-portrait Diego on My Mind and Diego Rivera's The Flowered Canoe.

Two for One

Where to see the paintings of two Mexican masters in one show

BY JULIA KLEIN

Need a good reason to put Atlanta on your must-visit list? This year, through May 12, the Southern hot spot is the only U.S. city hosting an exhibition featuring two giants of Mexican modernism whose art rarely gets shown side by side. The city's High Museum of Art has collaborated with the Art Gallery of Ontario, Mexico's Museo Dolores Olmedo, and others to mount "Frida & Diego: Passion, Politics, and Painting."

Her intense, colorful canvases and tumultuous life story have made Frida Kahlo (1907-54) a pop culture icon. But Diego Rivera (1886-1957) - the mentor she married, divorced, and remarried - was the famous one when they met, a controversial avant-garde artist with an international following. The two worked in different styles and formats; he created larger, more naturalistic canvases, as well as murals. But "they were both dealing with similar ideas," says David Brenneman, the High's director of collections and exhibitions. "They saw and appreciated each other's work in a way that no one else did." 404-733-4400; high.org

Must-see painting: Kahlo's Diego on My Mind. Says Brenneman: "The relationship must have tormented Frida, but at the same time she seems able in her paintings to put herself above that and embrace him with all his flaws."

4 More Don't-Miss Shows

" 'Great and Mighty Things': Outsider Art from the Jill and Sheldon Bonovitz Collection"
Only at the Philadelphia Museum of Art can you see these works by 27 self-taught artists, including William Edmondson, Rev. Howard Finster, Martín Ramírez, and Bill Traylor. Through June 9; 215-763-8100; philamuseum.org
Must-see: Finster's lively painting, Quit Blowing Your Horn Down There. Don't You See My Hands Are Full.

"Hotel Texas: An Art Exhibition for the President and Mrs. John F. Kennedy"Two Texas museums mark the 50th anniversary of President John F. Kennedy's assassination by reassembling a special installation created for the Kennedys' Fort Worth hotel suite on that fateful 1963 trip. Highlights include paintings by Vincent van Gogh, Thomas Eakins, Marsden Hartley, and Franz Kline, and sculptures by Henry Moore and Pablo Picasso. Dallas Museum of Art: May 26-Sept. 15; 214-922-1200; dma.org. Amon Carter Museum of American Art in Fort Worth: Oct. 12-Jan. 12, 2014; 817-738-1933; cartermuseum.org
Must-see: van Gogh's rarely exhibited Outskirts of Paris Road With Peasant Shouldering a Spade

"Picasso and Chicago"
Only at the Art Institute of Chicago, this exhibition highlights Chicago's century-long relationship with Pablo Picasso. Included are more than 250 paintings, prints, sculptures, and other objects from the Art Institute's holdings and the city's private collections. Through May 12; 312-443-3600; artic.edu
Must-see: The Frugal Meal, a haunting etching from Picasso's Blue Period

"Sicily: Art and Invention Between Greece and Rome"
The Getty Villa in Malibu, Calif., premieres a traveling exhibition with nearly 150 objects representing the peak of Classical culture on this island kingdom. It then moves to the Cleveland Museum of Art. Getty: April 3-Aug. 19; 310-440-7300; getty.edu. Cleveland: Sept. 29-Jan. 5, 2014. 216-421-7350; clevelandart.org
Must-see: The Mozia Charioteer, a tour de force of Greek stone carving