Seeing Kahlo, singing Orpheus

Museo del Palacio de Bellas Artes

MEXICO CITY Through Aug. 19

As much icon as artist, Frida Kahlo has come to have an increasingly strong hold on the popular imagination since her death in 1955. Her fellow Mexicans call the obsession with her "Fridamania." This year marks Kahlo's centenary. Honoring the occasion is a massive retrospective, the largest ever devoted to her work, at the Museo del Palacio de Bellas Artes. It boasts more than 350 items by Kahlo: paintings, drawings, watercolors. Another notable exhibition runs at the Museo Frida Kahlo (the house she shared with her husband, Diego Rivera), in the suburban neighborhood of Coyoacán , through Sept. 30. It includes drawings, photographs, letters, and dresses owned by Kahlo.

Avenida Juárez y Eje Lazaro Cardenas , 011-55-52-51 30-09 00 ext. 2528, museobellasartes.artte .com.

Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art

KANSAS CITY, Mo.

Steven Holl , whose best-known architectural design in the Boston area is an MIT dormitory, Simmons Hall , has drawn international attention for his addition to the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, which opened last month. Meant to complement the neoclassical bulk of the main museum building, the new wing is organized around five "lenses" of translucent glass that bring light to the interior, integrate the new structure into the surrounding landscape, and diminish any sense of mass and weight. An important element in the design is a plaza organized around an installation and reflecting pool by Minimalist artist Walter de Maria . The Bloch wing houses galleries for contemporary art, African art, and photography.

4525 Oak St., 816-751-1278 , nelson-atkins.org.

National Gallery

LONDON Through Sept. 16

The 17th century was the Golden Age of the Dutch Republic, a time of expanding wealth and rising political power. Nowhere was it more golden than on canvas. Dutch painting of that era is one of the glories of Western culture. "Dutch Portraits " brings together some 60 works by such masters as Nicolas Maes, Pieter Claesz , and its two namesakes. Organized jointly by London's National Gallery and the Royal Picture Gallery Mauritshuis in The Hague, it's the first extensive survey of 17th-century Dutch portraiture in half a century.

Trafalgar Square, 011-44-20-7747-2885 , nationalgallery.org .uk.

Through Nov. 21

Since its founding in 1895, the Venice Biennale has been one of the world's foremost art events. Initially devoted solely to Italian art, it has long since become global in scope, encompassing architecture, cinema, dance, music, and theater, as well as art. This year's edition, the 52d , opened last month and the art section is titled, "Think with the Senses -- Feel with the Mind . Art in the Present Tense." More than 100 artists from 76 countries are participating.

Palazzo Giustinian Lolin , 011-39-041-521-8711, labiennale.org/ en.

COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. Through Aug. 27 The theme of this year's season is the myth of Orpheus . All four operas being mounted at Cooperstown center on the musician who entered the underworld in an attempt to rescue his beloved Eurydice : Offenbach's "Orpheus in the Underworld," Gluck's " Orphée et Eurydice" (in the Berlioz version), Philip Glass's " Orphée, " and Monteverdi's "L'Orfeo." Glimmerglass is also presenting two concert performances of Haydn's interpretation of the Orpheus myth, "L'Anima del Filosofo."

7300 State Highway 80 , 607-547-5704 , glimmerglass.org.

Events sometimes are canceled, rescheduled, or sold out; call or check online to confirm. Mark Feeney can be reached at mfeeney@globe.com.