The work of this woman is amazing. Today, her paintings are valued at millions of dollars, sold at auctions, kept in private collections and exhibited in national museums and galleries around the world.

And few people know that a terrible tragedy led to the birth of an incredible talent in this woman.

Mexican artist

At the age of 18, the girl became a victim of a terrible accident: a bus collided with a tram. Its consequences for Frida Kahlo were terrible: a dislocation of the foot and shoulder, 11 fractures of the right leg, a triple fracture of the pelvis, a triple fracture of the spine, a fracture of the collarbone and ribs, a stomach and uterus pierced through with metal railings.

She had to undergo 32 operations and spend a whole year in bed in an orthopedic corset. After that, a wheelchair and gypsum became her usual companions for a long time. It was during this period that Frida first asked her father for brushes and paints. A special stretcher was attached to the bed, and the girl learned to draw while lying down.

Future artist Frida Kahlo felt hellish physical pain and experienced mental anguish. They were transformed into the same saturated with the power of experiences and just as unhealthy painting.

Frida Kahlo had an irresistible desire to live. She painted her cast and tried to waltz in a wheelchair. “I laugh at death so that it does not take away the best that is in me ...”- said this extraordinary personality.

Artist Frida has become a cultural symbol of Mexico. From 1944 to 1954, during the most creative period of her life, she kept a diary, which, after her death, was hidden by the Mexican government in a closed archive for forty years after her death. And after publication, the text immediately became a bestseller.

170 pages are filled with childhood memories, watercolor sketches and candid notes about painful love for her husband. “There have been two accidents in my life: one was when a bus crashed into a tram, the other was Diego.”

With her husband, the famous Mexican artist Diego Rivera, she was brought together not only by art, but also by political ideas - a passionate commitment to the communist party.

Diego was 20 years older than Frida: fat, ugly, cultureless, but at the same time adored by women.

And Frida herself was a lame woman with unibrows. At the first meeting with his idol - Diego Rivera -
she swore to herself that she would marry him. And yet she conquered him, but not with external beauty, but rather with her frantic energy. “Diego is the beginning, Diego is my child, Diego is my friend, Diego is an artist, Diego is my father, Diego is my lover, Diego is my husband, Diego is my mother, Diego is myself, Diego is everything” she wrote in her diary.

The couple had no children. The consequences of the accident and the frequent depression that Diego's incessant betrayals led to caused three miscarriages in Kahlo: "I tried to drown my sorrows, but these bastards learned to swim..."

Rivera realized he was wrong, but did not want to change: "The more I love women, the more I want to make them suffer". In the paintings, he depicted himself as a pot-bellied toad with someone's bloodied heart in his hands.

In the end, he cheated on Frida with her younger sister, seducing the girl. The couple divorced, but a year later they resumed their marriage, the artist could not live without Diego.

Frida herself has never been an exemplary wife. Her extraversive, liberated nature made itself felt, no pain was able to tame the violent temper of the artist. She used foul language, smoked heavily, abused tequila, sang obscene songs, told obscene jokes, threw wild parties, and made no secret of her bisexual relationships.

Her connection with Trotsky is now known to the whole world. For some time, the Soviet people's commissar stayed at the house of Mexican communist artists. Rivera himself sheltered him, and the men were united by a passion for Marxist ideas.

When Trotsky's attention to Frida Kahlo became visible to everyone, he was forced to leave Mexico in order to avoid death at the heavy hand of Diego, consumed by jealousy. “You gave me back my youth and took away my mind. With you, I feel like a seventeen-year-old boy.", - this is how the fugitive Marxist admitted his feelings in one of his love letters to a Mexican artist.

The disease that Frida Kahlo received as a result of the accident progressed and delivered terrible pain, which was suppressed by narcotic painkillers mixed with alcohol. In 1953, the artist had her first solo exhibition in her native country. She arrived at it already on a stretcher, smiling and straightening a flower pinned to her hair.

Eight days before her death, Frida Kahlo created a painting with the life-affirming inscription Viva la vida (“Long live life”). She painted sunny watermelons already with an amputated leg.

The last entry in her diary reads: “I hope that the departure will be successful, and I will not return again”.

And yet the most striking in it were other words: "Tree of hope, stand up straight!"

Tell your friends the story of this extraordinary talented person and share the article on social networks.

Alena loves to dance and go to the gym. He believes that you need to strive for balance in life and keep balance in any situation. He listens to jazz, enjoys watching short films. She dreams of visiting New York and visiting the Brooklyn Aquarium, located on the Atlantic coast. Admire Broadway. Alena's favorite book is Violets on Wednesdays by Andre Maurois.

The Mexican artist Frida Kahlo is known even to those who are far from the world of painting. However, few people are familiar with the plots of her paintings and the history of their creation. We correct this mistake by publishing material about the famous paintings of the artist.

self-portraits

In childhood and adolescence, Frida faced serious health problems. At the age of 6, she contracted polio, and 12 years later she had an accident, as a result of which she was bedridden for a long time. Forced loneliness and the innate talent of the artist were embodied in many canvases in which Frida portrayed herself.

In the creative heritage of Frida Kahlo, most of all are self-portraits. The artist herself explained this fact by the fact that she knows herself and her states best of all, especially since being alone with yourself, willy-nilly, you will study your inner and outer world to the smallest detail.

In self-portraits, Frida's face always has the same thoughtful and serious expression: you can't read any obvious signs of emotions and feelings on it. But the depth of emotional experiences is always betrayed by the look of a woman.

Henry Ford Hospital, 1932

Frida married the painter Diego Rivera in 1929. After the newlyweds left for the United States, Kahlo was pregnant more than once. But every time a woman lost a child due to previous traumas she suffered in her youth. The artist conveyed her suffering and emotional decline on the canvas “Henry Ford Hospital”. The painting depicts a sobbing woman on a bed covered in blood, surrounded by symbolic elements: a snail, a fetus, a pink anatomical model of a female seat, and a purple orchid.

Self-portrait on the border between Mexico and the United States, 1932

By depicting herself in the center of the canvas, standing on the border of Mexico and the United States, Kahlo conveyed her confusion and detachment from reality. The heroine of the picture is split between the technological world of America and the natural vitality inherent in Mexico.

The left and right parts of the picture are a contrasting combination: smoke from the chimneys of industrial giants and bright clear clouds, electrical equipment and lush vegetation.

Self-portrait "Rama", 1937

The first work of the artist, acquired by the Louvre, after the successful exhibition of Frida Kahlo in Paris. The attractive beauty of a Mexican woman, a calm, thoughtful face framed by a pattern of birds and flowers, a variegated color scheme - the composition of this canvas is considered one of the most harmonious and original in the entire creative heritage of the artist.

Two Fridas, 1939

The painting, painted by the artist after her divorce from her husband Diego Rivera, reflects the inner state of a woman after a breakup with her beloved. The canvas depicts two essences of the artist: the Mexican Frida with a medallion and a photograph of her husband, and the new, European Frida in white lace. The hearts of both women are connected by an artery, but the European alter ego of the artist suffers from blood loss: with the loss of a loved one, a woman loses part of herself. If not for the surgical clip in Frida's arm, the woman would probably have bled to death.

Broken column, 1944

In 1944, the artist's health deteriorated sharply. The painting lessons that Frida gave at the School of Painting and Sculpture, now she only teaches at home. In addition, doctors recommend that she wear a steel corset.

In the painting “Broken Column”, the artist depicts her body broken in half. The only support that helps her stay in a standing position is a steel corset with straps. The woman's face and body are riddled with nails, and her thighs are wrapped in a white shroud - these elements are symbols of martyrdom and suffering.

The flamboyant Mexican artist Frida Kahlo is best known to the public for her emblematic self-portraits and depictions of Mexican and Amerindian cultures. Known for her strong and strong-willed character, as well as communist sentiments, Kahlo left an indelible mark not only in Mexican, but also in world painting.

The artist had a difficult fate: almost all her life she was haunted by numerous diseases, operations and unsuccessful treatment. So, at the age of six, Frida was bedridden with polio, as a result of which her right leg became thinner than her left and the girl remained lame for life. The father encouraged his daughter in every possible way, involving her in men's sports at that time - swimming, football and even wrestling. In many ways, this helped Frida to form a persistent, courageous character.

The 1925 event was a turning point in Frida's career as an artist. On September 17, she had an accident along with her fellow student and lover Alejandro Gomez Arias. As a result of the collision, Frida ended up in the Red Cross hospital with numerous fractures of the pelvis and spine. Serious injuries led to a difficult and painful recovery. It was at this time that she asked for paints and a brush: a mirror suspended under the canopy of the bed allowed the artist to see herself, and she began her creative path with self-portraits.

Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera

Being one of the few female students of the National Preparatory School, Frida already during her studies is fond of political discourse. At a more mature age, she even becomes a member of the Mexican Communist Party and the Young Communist League.

It was during her studies that Frida first met the then-famous mural painter Diego Rivera. Kahlo often watched Rivera as he worked on the Creation mural in the school auditorium. Some sources claim that Frida already then spoke about her desire to give birth to a child from the muralist.

Rivera encouraged Frida's creative work, but the union of two bright personalities was very unstable. Most of the time, Diego and Frida lived apart, settling in houses or apartments in the neighborhood. Frida was upset by her husband's numerous infidelities, in particular, Diego's connection with her younger sister Cristina hurt her. In response to family betrayal, Kahlo cut off her famous black curls and captured the resentment and pain suffered in the painting "Memory (Heart)".

Nevertheless, the sensual and passionate artist also had affairs on the side. Among her lovers are the famous American avant-garde sculptor of Japanese origin Isamu Noguchi, and the communist refugee Lev Trotsky, who took refuge in the Blue House (Casa Azul) of Frida in 1937. Kahlo was bisexual, so her romantic relationships with women are also known, for example, with the American pop artist Josephine Baker.

Despite betrayals and romances on both sides, Frida and Diego, even after parting in 1939, reunited again and remained spouses until the death of the artist.

The infidelity of her husband and the inability to give birth to a child are vividly drawn on the canvases of Kahlo. The embryos, fruits and flowers depicted in many of Frida's paintings symbolize precisely her inability to bear children, which was the cause of her extremely depressive states. So, the painting “Henry Ford Hospital” depicts a naked artist and symbols of her infertility – a fetus, a flower, damaged hip joints connected to her by bloody vein-like threads. At the New York exhibition in 1938, this painting was presented under the title "Lost Desire".

Features of creativity

The uniqueness of Frida's paintings lies in the fact that all her self-portraits are not limited to depicting only appearance. Each canvas is rich in details from the life of the artist: each depicted object is symbolic. It is also indicative how Frida depicted the connections between objects: for the most part, connections are blood vessels that feed the heart.

Each self-portrait contains clues to the meaning of what is depicted: the artist herself has always imagined herself serious, without a shadow of a smile on her face, but her feelings are expressed through the prism of perception of the background, color palette, objects surrounding Frida.

Already in 1932, more graphic and surrealistic elements are visible in the work of Kahlo. Frida herself was alien to far-fetched and fantastic plots: the artist expressed real suffering on her canvases. The connection with this trend was rather symbolic, since in Frida's paintings one can detect the influence of pre-Colombian civilization, national Mexican motifs and symbols, as well as the theme of death. In 1938, fate pushed her against the founder of surrealism, Andre Breton, about the meeting with whom Frida herself spoke as follows: “I never thought that I was a surrealist until Andre Breton came to Mexico and told me about it.” Before meeting Breton, Frida's self-portraits were rarely perceived as something special, but the French poet saw surreal motifs on the canvases that made it possible to depict the artist's emotions and her unspoken pain. Thanks to this meeting, a successful exhibition of paintings by Kahlo in New York was held.

In 1939, after her divorce from Diego Rivera, Frida painted one of the most telling canvases, The Two Fridas. The picture depicts two natures of one person. One Frida is dressed in a white dress, which shows drops of blood flowing from her wounded heart; the dress of the second Frida is more brightly colored, and the heart is unharmed. Both Fridas are connected by blood vessels that feed both exposed hearts, a technique often used by the artist to convey mental pain. Frida in bright national dress is exactly the “Mexican Frida” that Diego loved, and the image of the artist in a Victorian wedding dress is a Europeanized version of the woman Diego abandoned. Frida holds her hand, emphasizing her loneliness.

Kahlo's paintings stick in the memory not only with images, but also with a bright, energetic palette. In her diary, Frida herself tried to explain the colors used in the creation of her paintings. So, green was associated with kind, warm light, magenta purple was associated with the Aztec past, yellow symbolized insanity, fear and illness, and blue symbolized the purity of love and energy.

Frida's legacy

In 1951, after more than 30 operations, the mentally and physically broken artist managed to endure the pain only thanks to painkillers. Already at that time it was difficult for her to draw as before, and Frida used medicines along with alcohol. Previously detailed images became more blurry, hastily drawn and careless. As a result of alcohol abuse and frequent psychological breakdowns, the death of the artist in 1954 gave rise to many rumors of suicide.

But with her death, Frida's fame only increased, and her beloved Blue House became a museum-gallery of paintings by Mexican artists. The feminist movement of the 1970s also revived interest in the personality of the artist, as many viewed Frida as an iconic figure of feminism. Hayden Herrera's Frida Kahlo Biography and the 2002 film Frida keep that interest alive.

Frida Kahlo self-portraits

More than half of Frida's works are self-portraits. She began to draw at the age of 18, after she got into a terrible accident. Her body was badly broken: the spine was damaged, the pelvic bones, collarbone, ribs were broken, there were eleven fractures on only one leg. Frida's life is merry in the balance, but the young girl was able to win, and in this, oddly enough, drawing helped her. Even in the hospital ward, a large mirror was placed in front of her and Frida drew herself.

In almost all self-portraits, Frida Kahlo portrayed herself as serious, gloomy, as if frozen and cold with a stern, impenetrable face, but all the emotions and emotional experiences of the artist can be felt in the details and figures surrounding her. Each of the paintings contains the feelings that Frida experienced at a certain point in time. With the help of a self-portrait, she seemed to be trying to understand herself, to reveal her inner world, to free herself from the passions raging inside her.

The artist was an amazing person with great willpower, who loves life, knows how to rejoice and love endlessly. A positive attitude towards the world around her and a surprisingly subtle sense of humor attracted a wide variety of people to her. Many sought to get into her "Blue House" with indigo-colored walls, to recharge with the optimism that the girl fully possessed.

Frida Kahlo put the strength of her character into every self-portrait she painted, all the emotional anguish experienced, the pain of loss and genuine willpower, she does not smile on any of them. The artist always portrays herself as strict and serious. Frida endured the betrayal of her beloved husband Diego Rivera very hard and painfully. The self-portraits written in that period of time are literally riddled with suffering and pain. However, despite all the trials of fate, the artist was able to leave behind more than two hundred paintings, each of which is unique.

Today we read about Frida, about how she created her unique style!

And at the end of the article, I will again try on the style of our icon, adapting it for myself. Looking ahead, I will say that I really liked it, and I felt incredibly comfortable!

110 years have passed since the birth of the Mexican artist Frida Kahlo, but her image still continues to excite the minds of many people. A style icon, the most mysterious woman of the early 20th century, Salvador Dali in a skirt, a rebel, a desperate communist and a heavy smoker - these are just a small part of the epithets with which we associate Frida.

After suffering childhood polio, her right leg withered and became shorter than her left. And to make up for the difference, the girl had to wear several pairs of stockings and an extra heel at once. But Frida did everything possible so that her peers did not know about her illness: she ran, played football, boxed, and if she fell in love, then to unconsciousness.

The image that we mentally draw for ourselves at the mention of Frida is flowers in the hair, thick eyebrows, bright colors and puffy skirts. But this is only the thinnest top layer of the image of a magnificent woman, which any layman far from art can read about on Wikipedia.

Every element of the dress, every piece of jewelry, every flower on her head - Frida put the deepest meaning associated with her difficult life into all this.

The woman with whom we associate the Mexican artist, Kahlo was not always. In her youth, she often liked to experiment with men's suits and repeatedly appeared at family photo shoots as a man with sleek hair. Frida loved to shock, and for the 20s of the last century, a young woman in trousers and with a cigarette at the ready in Mexico was shocking of the highest category.

Later, there were also experiments with trousers, but only to annoy the unfaithful husband.

Frida is far left

Frida's creative path, which later led her to a familiar image, began with a serious accident. The bus in which the girl was traveling collided with a tram. Frida was pieced together, she underwent about 35 operations, and spent a year in bed at all. She was only 18 years old. It was then that she first picked up an easel and paints and began to paint.

Most of Frida Kahlo's works were self-portraits. She painted herself. A mirror hung on the ceiling of the room where the immobilized artist lay. And, as Frida later wrote in her diary: “I write myself because I spend a lot of time alone and because I am the topic that I studied the best.”

After a year spent in bed, Frida, contrary to the forecasts of doctors, was still able to walk. But from that very moment, her faithful companion until her death becomes incessant pain. First, the physical - aching spine, tight plaster corset and metal struts.

And then spiritual - passionate love for her husband, no less great artist Diego Rivera, who was a great admirer of female beauty and was content not only with his wife's company.

In order to somehow distract herself from her pain, Frida surrounds herself with beauty and bright colors, not only in the paintings, but also finds it in herself. She paints her corsets, weaves ribbons into her hair, and adorns her fingers with massive rings.

Partly to please her husband (Rivera was extremely fond of Frida's feminine side), and partly to hide the flaws in her body, Frida begins to wear long puffy skirts.

The original idea to dress Frida in a national costume belonged to Diego, he sincerely believed that native Mexican women should not adopt American bourgeois habits. The first time Frida appeared in national costume was at her wedding to Rivera, borrowing a dress from their maid.

It is this image that Frida Kahlo will make her calling card in the future, honing every element and creating herself the same object of art as her own paintings.

Bright colors, floral prints, embroidery and ornaments filigree intertwined in each of her outfits, distinguishing the outrageous Frida from her contemporaries, who slowly began to wear minis, pearl necklaces, feathers and fringe (hello from the great Gatsby). Kahlo becomes a real standard and trendsetter of ethnic style.

Frida loved layering, skillfully combined a variety of fabrics and textures, put on several skirts at the same time (again, in order, among other things, to hide the asymmetry of her figure after undergoing surgery). The loose embroidered shirts worn by the artist perfectly hid her medical corset from prying eyes, and the shawls draped over her shoulders were the finishing touch in diverting attention from the disease.

Unfortunately, this cannot be verified, but there is a version that the stronger Frida's pain was, the brighter her outfits became.

Paints, layering, an abundance of massive ethnic accessories, flowers and ribbons woven into her hair eventually became the main elements of the artist's unique style.

Kahlo did everything so that those around her did not think for a second about her illness, but only saw a bright, eye-pleasing picture. And when her injured leg was amputated, she began to wear a prosthesis with a heeled boot and bells so that everyone around could hear the approach of her steps.

For the first time the style of Frida Kahlo made a splash in France in 1939. At that time, she came to Paris for the opening of an exhibition dedicated to Mexico. Her photo in an ethnic outfit was placed on the cover by Vogue itself.

As for Frida's famous "unibrow", this was also part of her personal rebellion. Already at the beginning of the last century, women began to get rid of excess facial hair. Frida, on the contrary, specifically emphasized her wide eyebrows and mustaches with black paint and carefully drew them in her portraits. Yes, she understood that she did not look like everyone else, but that was precisely her goal. Facial hair has never stopped her from being desirable to the opposite sex (and not only). She radiated sexuality and an incredible will to live with every cell of her wounded body.

Frida died at the age of 47 a week after her own exhibition, where she was brought in a hospital bed. On that day, she, as befits, was dressed in a bright suit, jingled jewelry, drank wine and laughed, although she was in unbearable pain.

Everything that she left behind: a personal diary, outfits, jewelry - today they are part of the exposition of her and Diego's house-museum in Mexico City. By the way, it was her outfit that Frida's husband forbade exhibiting for fifty years after his wife's death. Mankind had to wait half a century to see with their own eyes the clothes of the artist, which the whole fashion world is still talking about.

Frida Kahlo on the catwalk

After her death, the image of Frida Kahlo was replicated by so many designers. Frida was inspired by Jean-Paul Gaultier, Alberta Ferretti, Missoni, Valentino, Alexander McQueen, Dolce & Gabbana, Moschino to create her collections.

Alberta Feretti Jean-Paul Gaultier D&G

Gloss editors also exploited Frida's style more than once in photo shoots. Monica Belucci, Claudia Schiffer, Gwyneth Paltrow, Karlie Kloss, Amy Winehouse and many others have reincarnated as a shocking Mexican at different times.

One of my favorite roles is the role of Salma Hayek in the movie Frida.

Frida is about love, acceptance of yourself and your body, about the strength of the spirit and creativity. Frida Kahlo is the story of an amazing woman who managed to make her own inner world a work of art.

And now it's my turn to try on Frida's style!

Attempts to tell about this extraordinary woman have been made more than once - voluminous novels, multi-page studies have been written about her, opera and drama performances have been staged, feature and documentary films have been shot. But no one managed to unravel and most importantly - to reflect the secret of her magical appeal and amazingly sensual femininity. This post is also one of those attempts, illustrated with rather rare photos of the great Frida!

frida kahlo

Frida Kahlo was born in Mexico City in 1907. She is the third daughter of Gulermo and Mathilde Kahlo. Father - a photographer, by origin - a Jew, originally from Germany. Mother is Spanish, born in America. Frida Kahlo fell ill with polio at the age of 6, after which she was left with a limp. "Frida is a wooden leg," her peers cruelly teased. And she, in defiance of everyone, swam, played football with the boys and even went in for boxing.

Two-year-old Frida, 1909. Photo taken by her father!

Little Frida 1911

Yellowed photographs are like milestones of fate. The unknown photographer who “clicked” Diego and Frida on May 1, 1924 hardly thought that his photograph would become the first line of their common biography. He captured Diego Rivera, already famous for his powerful "folk" frescoes and freedom-loving views, at the head of the column of the union of revolutionary artists, sculptures and graphic artists in front of the National Palace in Mexico City.

Next to the huge Rivera, little Frida with a determined face and courageously upturned fists looks like a fragile girl.

Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo at the 1929 May Day demonstration (photo by Tina Modotti)

On that May day, Diego and Frida, united by common ideals, stepped together into a future life - never to part. Despite the enormous trials that fate threw up to them every now and then.

In 1925, an eighteen-year-old girl was overtaken by a new blow of fate. On September 17, at a crossroads near the San Juan market, Frida's bus was hit by a tram. One of the iron fragments of the wagon pierced Frida through and through at the level of the pelvis and exited through the vagina. “So I lost my virginity,” she said. After the accident, she was told that she was found completely naked - all her clothes were torn off her. Someone on the bus was carrying a bag of dry gold paint. It tore, and the golden powder covered Frida's bloodied body. And a piece of iron stuck out of this golden body.

Her spine was broken in three places, her collarbones, ribs, and pelvic bones were broken. The right leg was broken in eleven places, the foot was shattered. For a whole month, Frida lay on her back, clad in plaster from head to toe. “A miracle saved me,” she told Diego. “Because at night in the hospital death danced around my bed.”

For another two years, she was pulled into a special orthopedic corset. The first entry she managed to make in her diary was: Good: I'm starting to get used to suffering.". In order not to go crazy with pain and longing, the girl decided to draw. Her parents made a special stretcher for her so that she could draw lying down, and attached a mirror to it - so that she had someone to draw. Frida could not move. Drawing so fascinated her that one day she confessed to her mother: “I have something to live for. For painting."

Frida Kahlo in a men's suit. We are used to seeing Frida in Mexican blouses and colorful skirts, but she also liked to wear menswear. Bisexuality from her youth prompted Frida to dress up in men's suits.

Frida in male costume (center) with sisters Adriana and Cristina and cousins ​​Carmen and Carlos Veras, 1926.

Frida Kahlo and Chavela Vargas, with whom Frida had a relationship and not quite spiritual, 1945

At 22, Frida Kahlo enters the most prestigious institute in Mexico (national preparatory school). Only 35 girls were taken for 1000 students. There Frida Kahlo meets her future husband Diego Rivera, who has just returned home from France.

Every day Diego became more and more attached to this small, fragile girl - so talented, so strong. On August 21, 1929 they got married. She was twenty-two, he was forty-two.

A wedding photograph taken on August 12, 1929, at the studio of Reyes de Coyaocán. She is sitting, he is standing (probably, in every family album there are similar pictures, only this one shows a woman who survived a terrible car accident. But you can’t guess about it). She is in her favorite national Indian dress with a shawl. He is in a jacket and tie.

On the day of the wedding, Diego showed his explosive temper. The 42-year-old newlywed went over a little tequila and began firing a pistol into the air. Exhortations only inflamed the roaming artist. There was the first family scandal. 22-year-old wife went to her parents. After oversleeping, Diego asked for forgiveness and was forgiven. The newlyweds moved into their first apartment, and then into the now-famous "blue house" on Londres Street in Coyaocan, Mexico City's most "bohemian" area, where they lived for many years.

Frida's relationship with Trotsky is fanned with a romantic halo. The Mexican artist admired the “tribune of the Russian revolution”, was very upset by his expulsion from the USSR and was happy that thanks to Diego Rivera he found shelter in Mexico City.

In January 1937, Leon Trotsky and his wife Natalya Sedova went ashore in the Mexican port of Tampico. Frida met them - Diego was then in the hospital.

The artist brought the exiles to her "blue house", where they finally found peace and quiet. Bright, interesting, charming Frida (after several minutes of communication, no one noticed her painful injuries) instantly captivated the guests.
Almost 60-year-old revolutionary was carried away like a boy. He tried his best to express his tenderness. Now as if by chance he touched her hand, then secretly touched her knee under the table. He scribbled passionate notes and, putting them in a book, passed them right in front of his wife and Rivera. Natalya Sedova guessed about the love adventure, but Diego, they say, never found out about it. “I’m very tired of the old man,” Frida allegedly once dropped in a circle of close friends and broke off a short romance.

There is another version of this story. The young Trotskyite allegedly could not resist the pressure of the tribune of the revolution. Their secret meeting took place in the country estate of San Miguel Regla, 130 kilometers from Mexico City. However, Sedova vigilantly watched her husband: the affair was strangled in the bud. Begging forgiveness from his wife, Trotsky called himself "her old faithful dog." After that, the exiles left the "blue house".

But these are rumors. There is no evidence of this romantic connection.

A little more is known about the love affair between Frida and the Catalan artist José Bartley:

“I don't know how to write love letters. But I want to say that my whole being is open to you. Since I fell in love with you, everything has been mixed up and filled with beauty ... love is like a fragrance, like a current, like rain., - Frida Kahlo wrote in 1946 in her address to Bartoli, who moved to New York, fleeing the horrors of the Spanish Civil War.

Frida Kahlo and Bartoli met when she was recovering from another spinal surgery. Returning to Mexico, she left Bartoli, but their secret romance continued at a distance. The correspondence lasted for several years, reflecting on the artist's painting, her health and her relationship with her husband.

Twenty-five love letters written between August 1946 and November 1949 will become the main lots of the Doyle New York auction house. Bartoli kept more than 100 pages of correspondence until his death in 1995, then the correspondence passed into the hands of his family. Bid organizers expect revenue of up to $120,000.

Despite the fact that they lived in different cities and saw each other extremely rarely, the relationship between the artists continued for three years. They exchanged sincere declarations of love, hidden in sensual and poetic works. Frida painted her double self-portrait Tree of Hope after one of her meetings with Bartoli.

"Bartoli - - last night I felt as if many wings were caressing me all over, as if the tips of my fingers had become lips that kissed my skin", Kahlo wrote on August 29, 1946. “The atoms of my body are yours and they vibrate together, we love each other so much. I want to live and be strong, to love you with all the tenderness that you deserve, to give you everything that is good in me, so that you do not feel alone.

Hayden Herrera, Frida's biographer, notes in an essay for Doyle New York that Kahlo signed letters to Bartoli "Maara". This is probably a shortened version of the nickname "Maravillosa". And Bartoli wrote to her under the name "Sonya". This conspiracy was an attempt to avoid the jealousy of Diego Rivera.

According to rumors, among other affairs, the artist was in a relationship with Isamu Noguchi and Josephine Baker. Rivera, who endlessly and openly cheated on his wife, turned a blind eye to her entertainment with women, but reacted violently to relationships with men.

Frida Kahlo's letters to José Bartoli have never been published. They reveal new information about one of the most important artists of the 20th century.

Frida Kahlo loved life. This love attracted men and women to her like a magnet. Excruciating physical suffering, a damaged spine constantly reminded of itself. But she found the strength to have fun from the heart and go wild. From time to time, Frida Kahlo had to go to the hospital, almost constantly wearing special corsets. Frida underwent over thirty surgeries during her lifetime.

The family life of Frida and Diego was seething with passions. They could not always be together, but never apart. They had a relationship, according to one of the friends, "passionate, obsessed and sometimes painful." In 1934, Diego Rivera cheated on Frida with her younger sister Cristina, who posed for him. He did this openly, realizing that he was insulting his wife, but did not want to break off relations with her. The blow for Frida was cruel. Proud, she did not want to share her pain with anyone - she just splashed it onto the canvas. The result was a picture, perhaps the most tragic in her work: a naked female body is excised with bloody wounds. Next to the knife in his hand, with an indifferent face, the one who inflicted these wounds. "Just a few scratches!" – the ironic Frida called the canvas. After Diego's betrayal, she decided that she also had the right to love interests.
This pissed off Rivera. Allowing himself liberties, he was intolerant of Frida's betrayals. The famous artist was morbidly jealous. Once, having caught his wife with the American sculptor Isama Noguchi, Diego pulled out a gun. Luckily, he didn't fire.

At the end of 1939, Frida and Diego officially divorced. “We have not stopped loving each other at all. I just wanted to be able to do what I want with all the women I liked.", - Diego wrote in his autobiography. And Frida admitted in one of her letters: “I can’t express how bad I feel. I love Diego, and the agony of my love will last a lifetime ... "

On May 24, 1940, an unsuccessful assassination attempt on Trotsky took place. Suspicion also fell on Diego Rivera. Warned by Paulette Goddard, he narrowly escaped arrest and managed to leave for San Francisco. There he painted a large panel depicting Goddard next to Chaplin, and not far from them ... Frida in the clothes of an Indian woman. He suddenly realized that their separation was a mistake.

Frida suffered a divorce hard, her condition deteriorated sharply. Doctors advised her to go to San Francisco for treatment. Rivera, having learned that Frida was in the same city with him, immediately came to visit her and announced that he was going to marry her again. And she agreed to become his wife again. However, she put forward conditions: they will not have sexual relations and they will conduct financial affairs separately. Together, they will only pay for household expenses. Here is such a strange marriage contract. But Diego was so happy to get his Frida back that he willingly signed this document.