Frida by Kahlo

   Frida Kahlo, Diego's Lover and Friend

Frida Kahlo was Diego Rivera's biggest admirer.  She was a student, and watched Diego work on the Creation mural in the Bolivar Amphitheatre at the National Preparatory School in Mexico City in 1922, when Diego was married to Lupe Marin, who helped Diego as a model.

In 1928, after Diego had left Lupe Marin and returned from the Soviet Union, Frida and Diego met again, fell in love, and in 1929 they married.  Frida shared Diego's revolutionary philosophy, and was, like Diego, a member of the Communist party.

Diego and Frida just married in 1929

In 1933, after the traumatic incidence at the Rockefeller Center, Diego and Frida worked on a 19 piece movable mural, 'Portrait of America', at the New Workers' School in New York, in an old and dirty building, and below they are taking a break together:

Diego (less about 100lb!) and Frida in 1933 at the New Workers' School

Here's Frida in front of one of Diego's unfinished panels...

Frida in front of an unfinished 'Workers of the World Unite' panel in 1933

The finished panel looked like this:

The finished 'Workers of the World Unite' panel, 1933

This panel is also called the 'Communist Unity Panel', reflecting that the panel itself shows unity (hands) led by Lenin, and his interpretation of Marx's and Engel's theories, with Trotsky and Stalin as lieutenants.  Lenin, backed by Trotsky, looks annoyed, probably because in the Rockefeller Center he is now covered by a big canvas, and they have the premonition that he will be chipped to pieces soon.

Diego at later times favored the other panels at the New Workers' School, possibly because the 'Communist Unity Panel', which originally was intended to be the cornerstone of Diego's 'Portrait of America' murals, was too openly communistic.

Diego (TL), Frida (TR), and Leon Trotsky (BL), 1937

Leon Trotsky, after being ousted by Stalin in 1929, was living in exile, and in January 1937 Trotsky and his wife arrived in Mexico, after Diego had helped them gain access.   Frida and Leon had a relatively brief affair, and after that, for Leon's birthday November 7, 1937, Frida gave him the self-portrait, 'Between the Curtains'.

Diego and Frida in 1940

Stellweg, 'FRIDA KAHLO The Camera Seduced, Chronicle Books, p105, p111, p32, 1992

Bertram D. Wolfe, 'The Fabulous Life of Diego Rivera', Scarborough House, p298, 1969

Martha Zamora, 'FRIDA KAHLO The Brush of Anguish', Chronicle Books, p55, 1990

Stellweg, 'FRIDA KAHLO The Camera Seduced, Chronicle Books, p50, 1992

Frida and Diego at Alameda Park, 1948

For more information or comments send e-mail to fredrik2@inreach.com