A year from now, the Detroit Institute of Arts plans to launch a major exhibit that no other museum could stage.

And other museums and private collectors are stepping up to help.

The exhibition will highlight the time Diego Rivera and his wife and fellow artist Frida Kahlo spent here while Rivera created the venerable "Detroit Industry" murals on four courtyard walls at the DIA — and Kahlo pursued her own art.

Rivera's preparatory drawings for "Detroit Industry," which have not been shown for 30 years, will be the centerpiece of the exhibition.

And many of the works Kahlo created while living here will be shown for the first time in Detroit, DIA Director Graham Beal said.

That creative period, from April 1932 through March 1933, was a pivotal time for both artists.

"When Rivera was here, he was regarded as one of the most important artists in the world of western art at that time," Beal said.

Edsel Ford paid for the murals, which wound up costing just less than $21,000 at the time, according to the DIA.

Rivera, seen as one of the greatest muralists of his time, was a very important influence on the artists who became abstract expressionists, Beal said.

And Kahlo's development as an artist took place when she was here in Detroit. Renowned as not only a portrait artist but as a symbol of feminist strength, Kahlo's works range in style from folk art to surrealist.