Longmont Museum’s Frida Kahlo Exhibit: What to See and When

"The reopening is about so much more than a bigger building," Longmont Museum Director Erik Mason said in the City of Longmont's reopening announcement. Directors often say that kind of thing at a ribbon-cutting. Three weeks after the museum at 400 Quail Road reopened, the fall calendar is starting to back him up.

The galleries closed after the Picasso exhibition on May 26, 2025, and stayed closed for more than a year of renovation and expansion, as the Longmont Leader reported when the closure began. They came back on Saturday, Oct. 17, with a free all-day celebration. The city puts the cost of the expansion at nearly $10 million, and it adds 70% more public gallery space. The new Bill Stewart Feature Gallery, a second exhibition beside it and a run of evening programs in November and early December all follow one subject: how women artists built their work and their public image. Frida Kahlo is the way in.

What the Frida Kahlo exhibition shows, and what it leaves out

"Frida Kahlo: An Intimate Portrait" has no paintings. It's made up of 98 photographs from Kahlo's private albums along with her handwritten letters and notes. Some of the images were taken by her father, the professional photographer Guillermo Kahlo. Others come from friends, family and other well-known photographers. The exhibition was organized by Vicente Wolf Associates from Vicente Wolf's collection.

According to the museum's exhibition page, the albums cover her marriage to muralist Diego Rivera, her friendships and her lifelong pain. They also serve as "evidence of the way Kahlo crafted and refined her world-famous image." The show's subject is how Kahlo made herself into a public figure, and that subject carries through the rest of the building.

The basics:

• Dates: Saturday, Oct. 17 through Sunday, Jan. 31
• Admission: $12 adults, $8 children, free for members
• Where: the new Bill Stewart Feature Gallery, which the city says has nearly doubled in size

The gallery's name has a source. The Stewart Family Foundation gave more than $6 million toward the expansion. BizWest reported in February that the capital campaign raised $10.2 million against an initial $8.1 million target, with more than 450 contributors. Raising that much more than planned is a sign of how many local people wanted this building to reopen.

The second exhibition gives the first one its context

Next to the Kahlo albums, the museum opened "Women Artists: Four Centuries of Creativity." It brings together work by Rosa Bonheur, Sonia Delaunay, Käthe Kollwitz, Louise Nevelson and Françoise Gilot. Gilot's place in the list stands out. Like Kahlo, she spent her career partly defined by a famous male artist and worked to establish her own name. The museum's last show before the closure was Picasso, and Gilot is part of that story too.

Seen together, the two exhibitions follow one line. The Kahlo show uses personal records to show how one artist shaped her image. "Four Centuries" shows women artists across several centuries. The November auditorium calendar continues the same discussion through film, talks and live music.

November is built around the exhibitions

The museum labels several fall programs as connected to the exhibitions. Here is the sequence from this week through early December, in order:

The Like Water for Chocolate screening is the night this post publishes, and the museum lists it as an exhibition program. Thursday nights are also the museum's extended hours, open most weeks from 5 to 9 p.m. A 7 p.m. film leaves time to see the Kahlo albums first.

The Body Politic on Nov. 12 ties most directly to both exhibitions. Elle Hong, Danielle See Walker and Suzi Q. Smith will talk about women artists working after Kahlo, with Justin Veach moderating. It's free, but reservations are recommended. After that, !Women Art Revolution on Dec. 3 brings the discussion to more recent decades.

Home Movie Day on Nov. 15 doesn't carry the Frida label, but it fits closely. The workshop covers how to care for family film, and the screening shows local footage. Upstairs, the Kahlo show is built from one family's albums. Downstairs, Longmont families can bring their own. Both parts are free.

The best weekend for a visit is the one with the free Saturday

The museum's regular hours are Monday through Saturday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sunday, 1 to 5 p.m. It also opens most Thursday evenings from 5 to 9 p.m. It lists a free day on the second Saturday of each month, which in November falls on Nov. 14. Program tickets are sold separately. Children under 2 get in free, and admission is $1 with a qualifying EBT/SNAP card. Ask the museum whether the free day covers the Kahlo exhibition before you plan around it.

The weekend of Nov. 13 through 15 has the most going on. LAPOMPE plays Friday afternoon, the free day is Saturday, and Home Movie Day is Sunday. Saturday is also one of the last Longmont Farmers Market dates of the year. The market runs 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Boulder County Fairgrounds, 9595 Nelson Road, and its 2026 season ends Nov. 21, according to Visit Longmont. The other two Saturdays left are Nov. 7 and Nov. 21.

DreamLab, in Lila's Children's Gallery, is a new permanent hands-on exhibit with a dragon castle and a calming crystal cave.

DreamLab means a household with young children can split a visit, with one adult in the Kahlo gallery and another in the children's gallery. The museum's Discovery Days early-childhood sessions for ages 2 to 6 also continue into December. Music & Movement meets Tuesdays through Dec. 8, and art sessions run Wednesday through Saturday through Dec. 12. Fees are $2.50 per person for members and $2.75 for nonmembers, for ages 2 and up.

Downtown, the same idea in a smaller space

The museum isn't the only new arts space in Longmont this fall. Future Arts Foundation, the nonprofit behind the Bluebird Music Festival, opened The Lost Bluebird in August at 600 Longs Peak Ave., Unit H, between Longs Peak Pub and Sweet Cow Ice Cream. The Longmont Times-Call described it as an espresso bar, a gallery for independent artists, the festival's merchandise shop and the permanent home of the Bluebird School, which offers free songwriting and performance classes to Colorado youth. Proceeds from daily operations help keep those classes tuition-free. The venue's own site and the Downtown Longmont listing give different hours, so check before you go.

At Quail Road, local donors put $10.2 million into larger galleries. On Longs Peak Avenue, coffee sales pay for youth music classes. A Thursday that starts with an espresso downtown and ends with a 7 p.m. screening at the museum covers both.

After Frida comes Longmont itself

The Kahlo albums leave on Jan. 31. The next opening is closer to home. "Collected: Longmont's History in 100 Objects" opens Jan. 22, 2027, in the history gallery as a long-term temporary exhibition, and the museum's permanent history exhibition will be developed afterward. In late January, both shows will be up for about a week and a half: Kahlo's private albums in one gallery and a hundred of Longmont's own objects in another. Before that, the museum's 11th Annual Holiday Show on Saturday, Dec. 5, features the Longmont All Star Jazz Band, Sphere Ensemble and Paloma Rose at 3 and 7 p.m., with reserved seats at $35, or $30 for members. The Boulder Philharmonic Woodwind Quartet follows on Friday, Dec. 11, at 2:30 p.m.

Josh Jackson and Les Pfenning of LIV Sotheby's International Realty follow the cultural calendars of the Front Range towns they work in, from Longmont's new galleries to the protected open space around Hogan Ranch. If you're thinking about where a long-term home near Boulder fits with these weekends, Josh Jackson can walk you through it. Get in touch.