Frida Kahlo: A story of overcoming, full of contradictions. More than love. Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera Life of Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera

07.08.2010 - 19:01

She had to endure so much pain and grief that would be more than enough for hundreds of people. But she withstood all the tests, always remaining cheerful and cheerful. And only in the paintings painted by Frido Kahlo can one see her suffering, hidden from prying eyes ... And her love brought her so much pain that an ordinary woman would not be able to endure ...

wooden leg

The famous Mexican artist Frida Kahlo was born on July 6, 1907 in a suburb of Mexico City. Her father was a photographer, and the girl fell in love with this mysterious art from an early age - houses, people, trees suddenly appeared on empty paper .... Her father trusted her to retouch some of the photos, and little Frida enthusiastically embellished reality, while experiencing happiness ...

But the easy and cloudless childhood for the girl ended very early - at the age of 6 she became seriously ill with polio. Frida survived, but forever she had a physical deformity - a sick and lame thin leg.

Children always do not like peers suffering from certain ailments and defects. Frida is no exception. They came up with the nickname "Wooden Leg", and the kids angrily harassed the girl. But, unlike many children in her position, Frida did not withdraw. She set herself the goal of being in no way inferior to healthy children, and successfully achieved it - no one could equal her in swimming or running. She even played football with the boys, and soon the yard brethren accepted her into their ranks. Frida put on several stockings on her sore leg so that it would be equal in volume to a healthy one, and no one noticed her flaw. And when rumors spread in Mexico that somewhere in Europe some ladies wear trousers, Frida immediately began to put on men's trousers too, shocking the audience a lot.

At the age of 15, she once again surprised others - she was going to study medicine and entered the National Preparatory School. There were only a few women there, and Frida was among them...

In the men's team, Frida quickly became very popular - thanks to her unusual appearance and even more - a sharp and paradoxical mind. Among the many applicants for the role of her lover, she chose the student Alejandro Gomez Arias, and Frida's first love blossomed like bright gloxinia flowers that stole her parents' garden. But this first feeling ended very tragically ...

In spite of death

On the evening of September 17, 1925, Frida and Alejandro rode together on a bus. And then a terrible thing happened - the bus crashed into a tram at high speed. Alejandro practically did not suffer, and Frida received many injuries - a steel pin went through her body through and through, stuck in her stomach, injured her spine in three places, crushed her hip bone. Her legs, collarbone, several ribs were broken ...

The fact that she would remain alive was out of the question - the wounds turned out to be too severe. But Frida did not die - the craving for life turned out to be so strong in her. She had to endure 32 operations and a long and painful recovery period. And it was then that she first encountered the humiliating situation of a poor and disenfranchised person - Frida's parents could not pay a lot of money for treatment, and the girl in the hospital felt like a second-class person: “They treated us terribly. There was only one nurse for twenty-five patients. No one paid attention to me, moreover, they didn’t give me an x-ray.”

In addition, beloved Alejandro never went to see her... It was here, in the hospital, having endured so much pain, upheaval and humiliation, for the first time in her life Frida picked up a brush and paints and began to draw... Her first works were self-portraits - according to her At the request of her relatives, she hung a mirror next to the bed, and Frida spent days drawing herself: “I paint myself because I spend a lot of time alone and because I am the topic that I know best.”

Doctors did not advise her to draw, because every movement hurt her, but she stubbornly tried to convey her suffering on canvas, and Frida did it better and better every day ...

Second disaster

Frida was discharged from the hospital, she could walk, but she always had excruciating pain in her spine and a terrible sentence - the inability to have children.

She continued to paint, and a year later she went with her paintings to the famous Mexican artist Diego Rivera. He was amazed by her creativity, intelligence, unusual fate ...

Love began, mutual, passionate, painful and difficult. Diego was 21 years older than Frida - huge, fat, next to him the little artist seemed even more fragile - friends called them "The Elephant and the Dove". They got married, but Frida did not experience much happiness. She jokingly said: “There were two accidents in my life: one was when the bus crashed into a tram, the other was Diego.” Diego really liked women, and he could not help but respond to their persistent attention. And Frida suffered, taking out her pain in the pictures ...

After another betrayal of Diego, especially painful for Frida - because it happened to her younger sister, she painted a picture - a naked woman was bleeding from stab wounds, and her killer stood indifferently nearby ...

But she continued to live with Diego, who, although he hurt her, still sincerely loved little Frida. He always paid tribute to her mind, perseverance and creativity. Rivera said: "Frida is the only artist in the history of art who tore apart his chest and heart to reveal the biology of his feelings."

And she continued to suffer. She really wanted to have children, but she could not bear them - her three pregnancies ended in miscarriages. After that, she began to draw children. Dead children, the sight of which made you shudder ...

Dear "Roots"

Frida's suffering increased, and soon she could no longer endure the constant betrayals and betrayals of Rivera. In 1939 they decided to separate. Diego said then: “We were married for 13 years and always loved each other. Frida even learned to accept my infidelity, but could not understand why I choose those women who are unworthy of me, or those who are inferior to her ... She assumed that I was a vicious victim of my own desires.

But it's a white lie to think that a divorce will end Frida's suffering. Won't she suffer more?" And Rivera was right - his wife continued to love him, just as he could not forget Frida - and they again reached out to each other. She wrote to her husband: “Diego, my love, do not forget that as soon as you finish the fresco, we will unite again and forever, without quarrels and without anything bad - just to love each other very much.” In 1940, they got married again - to be together until the end ...

Frida suffered more and more physically every year - she had to constantly wear corsets, endure painful operations on her spine. But she did not give up, she continued to draw. And if in the pictures you can see her pain, then in life the artist never showed her mind that she was ill or hard. She was always even and cheerful, loved to meet friends. But Frida was getting worse. Soon she could only move in a wheelchair, and then her right leg was also amputated ... But she continued to draw, gritting her teeth. And she conquered all new heights with her creativity - she was recognized on an equal footing with Diego, they arranged a personal exhibition.

She died at the age of 47, on July 13, 1954, from pneumonia. The weakened body could not cope with the disease ... At her funeral, Diego, a strong and courageous man, sobbed, mourning his only true love ...

He bequeathed after his death to arrange a Frida Kahlo museum in their house. And now this museum is visited by a huge number of people - the name and work of the artist is very popular today. Her paintings have acquired a fabulous value.

Recently at Sotheby's, Roots, a self-portrait painted shortly after returning to Diego, was sold for $5.6 million. And the name of Frida Kahlo went down in history forever - books are written about her, songs are written and films are made, admiring her extraordinary stamina and power of love...

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Romantic natures would say that Diego and Frida were destined to live life together. But this love story was very far from ideal. Unbridled passion in her was intertwined with all-consuming anger, tenderness - with betrayal, devotion - with jealousy, love - with pain.

Frida Kahlo. Frida and Diego Rivera
1931, 100×79 cm. Oil, Canvas

Fearless

Diego heard her voice first. In 1922, the artist was painting an auditorium at the National Preparatory School of Mexico City. And several times an invisible girl, hiding behind the columns, shouted sarcastic comments at him. And then one evening, Diego was working on the scaffolding with his then wife Lupe Marin, and suddenly he heard some noise outside the door, after which the girl was pushed into the audience.

“She was dressed like any other student, but her demeanor instantly made her stand out from the crowd. There was an unusual dignity and self-confidence in her, and a strange fire burned in her eyes. She looked straight at me, "If I watch you work, will it cause any inconvenience?" I replied: "No, young lady, I will be flattered."

Diego Rivera at work.

She sat down and silently watched me, her eyes following every movement of my brush. A few hours later, jealousy woke up in Lupa, and she began to insult the girl. But she paid no attention to it. This, of course, angered Lupe even more. Putting her hands on her hips, she walked over to the girl and stared at her with a belligerent air. The girl froze and met her gaze without a word. Frankly amazed, Lupe stared at her for a long time, and then smiled and said to me with envious admiration: “Just look at this girl! So small - and not at all afraid of such a tall and strong woman like me. I like her".

When the girl left, she only said "Good night." A year later, I found out that it was she who was shouting those mocking jokes from behind the columns, and that her name was Frida Kahlo. But I had no idea that one day she would be my wife."

Frida Kahlo. self-portrait
1922

"Blackbird Wings"

Their next meeting took place a few years later. During this time, Frida managed to endure a terrible accident that almost cost her her life, spend several months in a cast, learn to walk again and start drawing.

That day, Rivera was working on frescoes in the building of the Ministry of Education and suddenly heard a cry: “Diego, please get down from there! I need to discuss something important with you!” The artist recalled: “A girl of 18 years old was standing on the ground under me. She had a beautiful nervous body and a tender face. Her hair was long and dark, and her thick eyebrows met over the bridge of her nose. They were like the wings of a blackbird.;.

Frida Kahlo at the age of 18.

Intrigued, Rivera went downstairs to talk, and the girl immediately got down to business: “I'm not here for fun. I need to work in order to have a livelihood. I have done some paintings and I want you to appreciate it from a professional point of view. I need a completely honest opinion, because I can’t afford to simply indulge my own ego. ”

When Diego looked at the three portraits of women that Frida had brought with her, he was amazed: “There was an unusual energy and expression in these canvases, and at the same time a true seriousness. They did not have any of the tricks in the name of originality that distinguish the work of ambitious newcomers. It was obvious that this girl was a true artist.”

Frida Kahlo. Self-portrait in a velvet dress
1926, 79×58 cm

Knowing about his reputation as a lover and favorite of women, Frida did not immediately believe Diego. She did not look for compliments and insisted that she needed criticism. To which Rivera replied: “In my opinion, no matter how hard it gets, you should keep drawing.”.

Finally, the girl asked Rivera to come to her house to evaluate the rest of her work. When she told him her address and name, Diego suddenly had an idea. He remembered the fearless girl who teased him and was able to stand up for herself. Of course, he agreed to come.

Diego wrote: “I didn’t know about it yet, but then Frida had already become the most important part of my life. And she remained until her death for the next 27 years..

Elephant and dove

Frida's parents were against this marriage. It hurt them to see their fragile daughter next to this monster - a huge, ugly, fat womanizer. Guillermo and Matilda called this union "the marriage between an elephant and a dove." But the girl's father was a little reassured by the fact that Rivera was rich, which means Frida would not have to work.

Frida and Diego were married on August 21, 1929. Rivera got ugly drunk at the wedding. In a drunken stupor, he beat dishes, brandished a pistol and even broke someone's finger. Frida was furious and agreed to move in with Diego only a few days after the wedding.

Diego Maria Rivera. Arsenal
1928

After some time, Kahlo became pregnant for the first time, but for medical reasons she had to have an abortion. Frida longed to give her husband a child, despite the fact that Rivera was against it.

Shortly after their marriage, Rivera was expelled from the Communist Party for accepting a major order from the Mexican government. As a sign of her loyalty to her husband, Kahlo also decided to leave the party, but both remained faithful to the ideals of the communists. Frida generally preferred to be a wife "for her husband", at least at first. She did not consider herself a serious artist and painted only to keep herself busy. When Diego received several large orders in the US, Frida went with him, but remained in his shadow. The Americans almost deified Rivera, and his wife was perceived as a kind of curious detail of his wardrobe.

American dream

The six months spent in San Francisco became very productive for Kahlo, as she almost did not communicate with anyone. In San Francisco, the artist painted one of her most famous paintings, Frida and Diego Rivera. Unexpectedly for her, the canvas was at the exhibition of women artists. This was the first time her work was presented to the public.

Rivera began to cheat on his wife almost from the first day of marriage. In San Francisco, he began an affair with tennis player Helen Moody, who posed for him for one of the commissioned murals. Frida began a romantic relationship with Christina Hastings, the wife of one of Diego's assistants. At this time, the artist began to suffer severe pain in her right leg, disfigured by polio. The famous surgeon Leo Elosser concluded that the deterioration of health is associated with stress, and prescribed Frida bed rest and a healthy diet.

Frida Kahlo. Self-portrait on the border between Mexico and the United States
1932, 31×35 cm

The couple returned to Mexico separately: Frida in May 1931, and Diego in June. During the separation, Kahlo managed to get acquainted with the New York photographer Nicholas Murray. Their secret, periodically renewed romance lasted a total of about 10 years.

Diego and Frida soon traveled to New York for the opening of Rivera's massive retrospective at MoMA. Diego bathed in glory. In enthusiastic articles dedicated to him, Kahlo was referred to only as "Mrs. Rivera." Then the couple, following the next order, moved to Detroit, which Frida described as "a wretched old village." Here the artist became pregnant again, but three and a half months later she had a miscarriage. Kahlo spent 13 days in the Henry Ford Hospital and painted one of her most tragic paintings, dedicated to her dead son.

Frida Kahlo. Henry Ford Hospital
1932, 30.5×38 cm

In September 1932, Frida received the news that her mother was terminally ill. Matilda died a week after her daughter's arrival. Returning to Detroit, Kahlo again toils from idleness: Diego is in a hurry to finish the order on time and almost does not find time for her. Longing for her native Mexico, Frida begins to paint again and, when Diego again transports her to New York, paints the famous painting “My Dress Hangs Here”, in which she criticizes the dull industrial world of the States.

Diego's work on the mural at the Rockefeller Center ended in a scandal: among other heroes, the artist depicted Lenin on the wall, which caused the indignation of the customer. They did not find a compromise, and as a result, the contract was broken, and the mural was destroyed. Due to the scandal, Rivera's other orders were also canceled, he was broke and finally agreed to return to his homeland.

Frida Kahlo. Here is my dress
1933, 46×55 cm

Pain and happiness

At the beginning of 1934, several crushing blows fell upon Frida at once. Her third pregnancy again ended in miscarriage. And soon after that, she found out that Diego was cheating on her with her younger sister Christina. Kahlo suspected that her husband had a new hobby, but she could not imagine that her own sister would turn out to be the “other woman”. Frida felt betrayed by two of her most beloved people at once. She left Diego and settled in a separate apartment for several months. The artist habitually poured out her pain on the canvas. She paints a scene of a brutal murder she read about in the newspapers and calls the painting "Just a few scratches!"

Frida Kahlo. Just a few scratches!
1935, 30×40 cm

However, despite the betrayal, Frida could not remain separated from Diego for a long time. The couple reunited at the end of 1935, but still lived apart. Their house consisted of two separate buildings connected by an air bridge: Kahlo lived in one of them, Rivera lived in the second. During the separation, Frida managed to start several novels with men and women. Diego, who was never a model of fidelity, was terribly jealous of her, so the artist tried to keep her romantic adventures a secret.

Frida Kahlo. Portrait of Christina, my sister
1928, 99×81.5 cm

Frida's diary entry: Diego = my husband. Diego = my friend. Diego = my mother. Diego = my father. Diego = my son. Diego = me. Diego = Universe".

In 1937, Leon Trotsky and his wife Natalya Sedova came to Mexico in search of political asylum. They were settled in the "blue house", in which Frida spent her childhood, and in which her father still lived. Kahlo and Trotsky quickly became close, their forbidden romance was passionate and secret. To some extent, an intimate relationship with such a prominent person, whom Diego respected immensely, was for Frida a way to once again take revenge on her unfaithful husband for having an affair with Christina. Frida and Trotsky communicated with each other in English, which Natalya did not understand, and passed love notes to each other, exchanging books. But Sedova did not need to understand their conversations in order to guess everything.

I must say that the "old man" quickly got bored with the artist, and their relationship ceased. Soon after, Frida painted a self-portrait dedicated to Trotsky, which he hung in his office. However, when he and his wife left the "blue house", Natalya convinced him not to take the painting with him.

Frida Kahlo. Self-portrait dedicated to Leon Trotsky
1937, 87×70 cm

This year was very productive for Kahlo, she painted some of her best paintings and, without much hope, sent them to an exhibition in Mexico City. However, it was there that they were noticed by the American gallerist Julien Levy. Thanks to him, Frida's first solo exhibition took place in New York in October 1938. The success was tremendous: she finally ceased to be considered just "the wife of Diego Rivera" and became an independent artist. This was followed by an exhibition in Paris, where one of Kahlo's self-portraits was acquired by the Louvre. A photograph of the artist in an exotic Mexican outfit and with flowers in her hair was placed on the cover of French Vogue.

Photo of Frida Kahlo from the cover of Vogue.

Despite her success, Frida felt endlessly alone and desperately wanted to return home. At the same time, her long-term romance with Nicholas Murray ended, who decided to marry another. Devastated and betrayed by the men she loves, Kahlo finally returns to Mexico and stays in the blue house. Relations with Diego continued to deteriorate, and in the same year they divorced. After the divorce, the artist paints the famous double portrait “Two Fridas”: one of the heroines is the one that Diego loved, the second is the one that he rejected. However, the couple will remarry next year.

Frida Kahlo. Two Fridas
1939, 173.5×173 cm

Till the last breath

After the death of Guillermo Kahlo in 1941, Frida's health began to deteriorate faster and stronger. She underwent several major operations on her back and leg, was forced to wear supportive corsets, and could no longer live without huge doses of painkillers. In order to somehow cope with eternal pain and depression, the artist begins to keep a diary in which she will make notes and drawings until her death.

In 1948, Diego started another affair, which turned into a public scandal. The actress Maria Felix had a weakness for ugly men, and she wished to get Rivera as her husband at all costs. When Diego asked Frida for a divorce, she at first took it as a joke, but then she realized that he was serious and became furious. Kahlo told reporters about Rivera's "illegal" connection, and the story hit the headlines the next day. Mexican Catholics unconditionally took the side of the deceived wife, and Maria quickly ended the relationship with Diego.

Frida's diary entry: "Diego can't be anyone's husband, and never will be, but he's a great companion."

Frida Kahlo. Diego and I.
1949, 29.5×22.4 cm

Frida Kahlo Self-portrait as Tejuana
1943, 76×61 cm

Frida spent almost the entire 1950 in a hospital bed: she underwent seven new operations. Diego most often spent the night in the next room. The following years, Kahlo will be bedridden almost all the time, but will not stop drawing. Most of her latest works are still lifes in which she celebrates life.

Frida Kahlo. Viva la vida! watermelons
1954, 50.8×59.5 cm

Despite constant pain and a premonition of imminent death, Frida was happy. She managed to live to see her first solo exhibition in her native Mexico. On the opening day, the doctor categorically forbade her to get out of bed, so Kahlo, along with the bed, was loaded into the back of a truck, brought to the gallery and placed in its center. So Frida became the main exhibit of her own exhibition.

The artist's suffering did not end, health problems grew like a snowball. In 1953, she had to have her leg amputated due to gangrene. A year later, she spent two months in the hospital with pneumonia. The disease did not want to recede and finally crippled Frida's health.

Frida Kahlo. Sleep (Bed)
1940, 74×98.5 cm

The night before the artist's death, Diego spent at her bedside. Kahlo gave her husband a ring she bought for him on their wedding anniversary. Diego was surprised: there were still 17 days left before this date. Frida replied: "I feel like I'm leaving you very soon". When she died the next morning, Rivera refused to believe it for a long time, the doctors hardly managed to convince him. All the next day, a continuous stream of people went to the "blue house" to say goodbye to Frida. More than 500 people attended the funeral.

Diego Rivera died three years later from cardiac arrest. He asked that after his death he be cremated and the ashes were placed in the "blue house" next to the ashes of Frida. However, his two daughters and his last wife refused to comply with the artist's request.

FRIDA KALO AND DIEGO RIVERA

Famous Mexican artists were considered an unusual couple: she is a small, beautiful, refined woman of 22 years old; he is a huge fat man who has exchanged his fifth decade. The marriage of the “dove” and the “elephant”, as their friends called them behind their backs, was extremely stormy: jealousy, betrayal, unsuccessful pregnancies ... The couple even diverged, but soon realized that they could not live without each other.

It was strange love. Strange for ordinary people. Even outwardly they were so different - a huge, massive Rivera and a small, thin, 153 cm tall, Frida. She forgave him everything: when asked by curious friends if she knew about one, and the other, and the third connection of her husband, she silently nodded her head, but did nothing, so that those around her gave the impression that she was afraid to offend him. However, in this sense, she herself was not without sin, but she carefully concealed her connections from Rivera, representing his fury. Among her addictions, in addition to many men, were the famous actresses Paulette Godard and Dolores Del Rio, as well as the famous woman photographer Tina Modotti. But Diego has always come first.

He was the most famous muralist of his time, a major personality, finally a communist, and in 1929 Frida also joined the communist party. Diego traveled a lot - he painted frescoes in various parts of the world - his wife followed him everywhere. He was her teacher and connoisseur, she listened to his word, portrayed him in many of her paintings. Creativity and Diego were tightly connected with her. And Rivera believed that the creative female power in art was truly the first to be expressed by his wife. He also depicted her several times on his frescoes as a fighter of the communist brigade.

When she died, Rivera wept bitterly: "Until Frida died, I did not know that I loved her so much."

Dozens of novels and works of art history have been written about her, drama and opera performances have been staged, and three feature films have been shot at once. But all this is just an attempt to grasp the essence, to unravel the main thing - the secret of its magical attraction. To some extent, it even reached the point of absurdity. "Freedomania" swept the Western world, American feminists call her their forerunner, bisexuals admire her, surrealist artists enrolled the artist in their camp, Kal's paintings are estimated at millions of dollars. Oh, how this cheerful woman would have had fun knowing that she was equated with the gods, and maybe she would have proudly turned away from these delights, because she lived in a world where everything was real - pain, art, love.

The name Frida, which means "peace" in German, was given to her by her father Guillermo (Wilhelm) Kahlo, a Hungarian Jew who came from Germany to Mexico in search of a better life. Here he gained fame as a photographer, married Mathilde Calderon y Gonzalez, who bore him four children. For his large family, Guillermo built a huge "blue house" - a dream-colored house - in the suburbs of the Mexican capital, in Cayocan. In it, on July 6, 1907, Madeleine Carmen Frida was born. Of course, Guillermo dreamed of a son, but the only boy his wife gave birth to died, and the father transferred all his love to his daughter. The girl was afraid of her mother and called “my boss”, and she loved her father with all her heart. She grew impulsive, boyishly restless and independent. The inquisitive girl often accompanied her father on the set and watched his work with pleasure.

On one of these walks, seven-year-old Frida thought that she had badly hurt her leg “on the thick roots of a tree and fell, stunned by pain.” From that day until the end of her life, she had to live in a world of unrelenting pain. The doctors' diagnosis was not encouraging - poliomyelitis. For almost a year she did not leave the house: her right foot atrophied, her leg became thinner and shorter. But the courageous little girl trained hard and a year later she was playing football with the boys and even put together a street gang that surrounded the gardens and mischievous teachers. A pair of extra stockings for the right leg and no tears in public and no pain on the face. Soon everyone forgot that they once teased her "Frida is a wooden leg." The girl turned into a slender beauty with deep black eyes under thick, fused eyebrows and luxurious black hair. Always friendly, smiling, she attracted attention with that hidden charm that fully manifested itself when Frida turned into a woman. She did not dwell on her inferiority, did not complex, and, perhaps, that is why the most attractive and intelligent young man from the National Preparatory School, Alejandro Gomez Arias, fell in love with her. Frida studied there from 1922, having passed a serious examination and preparing to become a doctor. This was unheard of for a Mexican woman. But those around have long understood that this smart girl can do everything, and she will build her life the way she wants, without regard to other people's opinions.

Observant Frida looked for beauty in everything. Once, for several hours, she watched how the strokes confidently lay on the wall, how the paints combined under the brush of the muralist Diego Rivera (which did not stop her from teasing him later along with the rest of the students). But one day Kahlo told her friends that "she would definitely marry this macho and give birth to his son." Probably, the first part of the phrase sounded at the appointed hour, in the future her words came true.

But while she was dating Alejandro. They saw each other every day and wrote to each other every day, because the cheerful, open to happiness Frida wanted so much. On September 17, 1925, a couple in love got into a crowded bus, which collided with a tram at the nearest intersection. Alejandro was thrown through the window. He remained unharmed and rushed to look for the girl. She lay without signs of life: "The handrail pierced me like a blade pierces a bull." The young man, without losing his composure for a second, transferred her to a billiard table taken out of the cafe, and some man tore the iron out of her body. “Frida screamed so much that she drowned out the siren of the Red Cross carriage that had arrived.”

The doctors gave her no hope. The injury was terrible: “fracture of the fourth and fifth lumbar vertebrae, three fractures in the pelvis, 11 fractures of the right leg, dislocation of the left elbow, a deep wound in the abdominal cavity, made by an iron bar, which entered the left thigh and exited through the vagina. Acute peritonitis. Young vitality overcame death, but it seemed that nothing could lift the mutilated body to its feet. Frida lay, staring blankly at the ceiling, and listened to her pain, until Sister Matilda had the idea of ​​attaching a canopy to the bed, and even with a mirror, so that the patient could see herself.

"Mirror! The executioner of my days, my nights... It studied my face, the slightest movements, the folds of the sheet, the outlines of the bright objects that surrounded me. For hours I could feel his gaze on me. I saw myself. Frida inside, Frida outside, Frida everywhere, Frida without end... And suddenly, under the power of this all-powerful mirror, a mad desire came to me to paint. I had enough time not only to draw the lines, but also to fill them, to give them meaning, form, content. To understand them, to be imbued with them, to fuse, bend, tear, bind... And like all beginning artists, I chose the only model - myself. I have often been asked why I am so insistent on painting self-portraits. Firstly, I had no choice, and this is perhaps the main reason for the constancy with which I addressed the theme of my own personality in all my works ... "

In the first self-portrait, donated by Alejandro, Frida appears as an ideal girl - beautiful, impassive, she looks straight into her eyes. The parents sent the young man to Europe to separate him from his mutilated lover. When he returned in 1927, Frida was already on her feet. Despite the fact that their intimate friendship was renewed, Alejandro married another woman. Kahlo became seriously interested in painting and, with her indomitable indomitability, joined the political and artistic life of Mexico City. Wearing a men's suit (possibly an attempt to disguise the corset she was forced to wear), which looked very extravagant on her, she appeared at crowded meetings and parties and easily met with various people. Often saw she and Diego Rivera. One day she bravely approached the famous artist at the Ministry of Education, where he painted the walls, forced him to come down from the scaffolding to "hear an honest opinion" about his work. Rivera was rather surprised by the skill (Kalo did not specifically study painting) and the originality of the works. He said, "Go on. Your will will lead you to your own style, ”and asked for a visit to see the rest of the work. It was just a suggestion...

Diego Rivera was born on December 6, 1886 in the town of Guanajuato in the family of a school inspector. His restless character manifested itself in early childhood - he painted everywhere: on paper, on the covers of his father's books, on wallpaper. The boy lived as if in two dimensions. One was the school where he went to study, friends, ball games and childish pranks, the other was the world of an old building that used to be a hospital, but now housed the Academy of Fine Arts. For six years, Diego attended evening classes at the academy, and then became her student. Moreover, when other students obediently drew a human figure, Diego tried to build it as a geometric body. It is not surprising that the proud rebel Rivera, having quarreled with the director of the academy, decided to study himself: “Nature, life!”

When the young man turned 23, he left to study and work in Spain. But the pictures painted during that period did not satisfy the young artist. They seemed to him student, imitative. Where is he, Diego Rivera? And then he went to Paris to the modernists. There he met a talented artist from St. Petersburg, Angelina Belova, and soon married her. Family life occupied him little, and the fact that his wife was expecting a child did not interest him. He worked tirelessly, looking for entertainment, looking at women. One of them was the artist Maria Stebelskaya, as eccentric and passionate as he was. A stormy romance began, ending with Diego leaving his wife. And soon, having received a large order in Mexico, he completely left for his homeland.

Rivera was an artist inextricably linked to public life. In Mexico, he joined the populists, together with David Siqueiros and other muralists, founded the "Syndicate of Artists". At the same time, he began work on a panel at the Ministry of Education, which brought him worldwide fame. Diego also participated in the publication of the Machete newspaper - militant, filled with propaganda cartoons and poems, which not everyone approved of. He was often threatened with violence, but he only laughed. However, when students began to smash his paintings, Rivera denied the newspaper gossip about himself and left the syndicate.

His personal life was just as turbulent. In 1922, fate brought Diego to Guadalupe Marin, who made him forget about all other women for a while. But the stormy temperament of both, scenes of jealousy and scandals soon led to a divorce, from which the spouses were not kept even by two daughters born in this marriage. He was free again, full of creative ideas and hopes. It was at this time that Rivera was struck by the unearthly beauty of Frida Kahlo.

On August 21, 1929, 22-year-old Frida and 43-year-old Diego got married. Huge, fat, with bulging eyes like a toad, he burst into the life of Kal o "like a colorful whirlwind full of surprises." Rivera, on the other hand, was subdued by a young, refined and very beautiful woman. She was a vibrant fusion of Western culture and Mexican temperament. The one who called their union mysterious, considering it another prank, was deeply mistaken. Years later, Kahlo will say about this event: “There were two accidents in my life: one was when a bus crashed into a tram, the other was Diego. And speaking of our union with Diego, perhaps monstrous, but still sacred, I will say: it was love.

However, Rivera was never a faithful husband, and Frida forgave him a lot, but he himself was morbidly jealous.

One day, finding his wife in the workshop alone with the sculptor Isaama Noguchi, he almost shot the poor fellow. With all her soul and body, Kahlo became attached to her unbridled man. Despite excruciating pain, she accompanied him to New York and Detroit, where he performed commissioned paintings. And she worked as much as her health allowed. Frida also dreamed of a child, but numerous injuries did not give her the happiness of motherhood - two pregnancies ended in miscarriages.

But Rivera did not mourn the loss of children with his wife, not feeling the need for them. By two wives and a mistress, he had three daughters, whom he was never interested in. For Frida, this was the collapse of another dream, a tragedy. Children appear in her paintings, but most often dead ones. And although most of the still lifes and landscapes are permeated with the sun and light, and the last work is called “Long live life!”, Paintings of the 1930s. imbued with pain, despair and terrible symbolism of hopelessness. But, overcoming painful suffering, Frida never involved other people in her problems. She was in companies, sparkled with humor, laughed contagiously, made fun of herself, and in art she was extremely honest, frank and serious. She portrayed "her own reality" without any moral or aesthetic barriers and did not smile in any of her self-portraits. Only by them can one determine what it cost to live.

1934 was a difficult time for the family: Frida's third difficult pregnancy ended in a miscarriage again, doctors removed her appendix, and amputated her right toes. Diego complained that his wife's treatment was "stranding him." To top it all off, after a tempestuous affair with sculptor Louise Nevelson, he seduced Kahlo's younger sister, Christina. She couldn't forgive this. The state of the "cold war" dragged on for years, and Frida also began to allow herself liberties. Sculptor Isaama Noguchi, poet Carlos Pellicer, photographer Nicholas Murray and art collector Heinz Berggruen were captivated by the magic of this uninhibited woman. Family life turned into hell, and Frida first went to another apartment, and then went to New York. She prepared herself for the inevitable break, but she could not live away from Diego for a long time. He was her greatest joy and her greatest sorrow.

In 1937, the Mexican government, at the request of Rivera, granted political asylum to Leon Trotsky, who had been expelled from the USSR by Stalin. Diego was in the hospital, and the "tribune of the Russian revolution" with his wife Natalia met Fried. She placed them in her empty "blue house" and almost instantly captivated the old revolutionary, who fell in love like a high school student.

His life as an exile did not allow for either the fun or the frivolity with which Kahlo sparkled. Light flirting was shrouded in mystery. Passionate notes were transmitted in books, they communicated in English, which Diego and Natalia did not know. Love with an eye - all this worried Frida, who was used to openly expressing her feelings. Then there was a secret private rendezvous at the country estate of San Miguel Regla. However, this unusually intelligent man, although he was a strong and attractive personality, could not replace Rivera. One of her friends heard how Frida, tired of a secret affair, exclaimed: "I'm tired of this old man!" Diego, as befits self-confident husbands, was the last to know about the betrayal. Some historians believe that if the famous muralist had received information about his wife's flirting immediately, Stalin would not have had to send an assassin with an ice pick to Trotsky in 1940 - Diego would have sent him to the next world three years earlier ...

Family life seemed to Frida a passed stage. She was tired of her husband's jealousy and infidelity. She devoted herself entirely to creativity and worked hard, preparing for her first exhibition, which took place in New York in November 1938. 25 paintings were exhibited at the Julien-Levy Gallery: “Despite my indisposition, the mood was excellent, I was seized by a rare sense of freedom from the fact that I suddenly found myself far from Diego. I wanted to throw off his emotional pressure, try my charms and assert myself. I must have looked sloppy to everyone. Not at all embarrassed, she moved from one man to another. That evening, when the exhibition opened, I was extremely excited. She dressed to the nines, and it made a splash. The gallery was full of people. People pushed their way to my paintings, which apparently shocked them. It was a complete success…” Half of Kahlo's works were sold.

Perked up, she went to France, where the "father of surrealism" Andre Breton organized the exhibition "All Mexico". He presented not only the work of Frida, but also objects of Indian cults and folk crafts. The exposition was not a commercial success (however, the Louvre bought one painting by Kahlo), but her art and she herself became a sensation in art-satiated Paris. The uniqueness and mystery of the Mexican woman left a deep mark in the memory of Bohemians. And the shocked Pablo Picasso confessed to Rivera in a letter: "... Neither you, dear Diego, nor I can draw faces like Frida Kahlo."

At that time, the artist agreed to a divorce from her husband, but continued to painfully love him: “No one will ever understand how much I love Diego. I want only one thing: that no one hurts him and does not bother him, does not deprive him of the energy that he needs to live. Live the way he likes ... If I had health, I would like to give it entirely to Diego ... "

To drown out the pain of separation, Frida worked like never before. Winter 1939–1940 she painted "Self-portrait with a monkey", "Self-portrait with a short haircut", "Self-portrait of thorns and hummingbirds". She felt lonely, although she never suffered from a lack of attention from men. Women were not indifferent to her either. However, she carefully concealed her adventures from Diego, well aware of his jealousy.

Spouses could not always be together, but never apart. At the end of 1939 they divorced, and in December 1941 they got married again so as not to part. For the first time, Kahlo put forward a number of conditions: no jealousy and betrayal, tolerance, material independence. “I was so happy to have Frida back that I agreed to everything,” Rivera recalled. They were together again "and forever, without quarrels, without anything bad - just to love each other very much."

The life of a woman has gained stability, a painful love addiction to Diego has grown into a calm feeling. Frida continued to draw, and since 1942, together with her husband, she began teaching at the Esmeralda School of Art. Her health failed her more and more often. Corsets - plaster, leather, steel (some weighed up to 20 kg) - only supported her long-suffering body, but the pain did not recede. In 1945, a spinal operation in New York, a year later in Mexico City, and exorbitant pain, which was relieved only by strong doses of morphine, and even that she did not tolerate well. Her works of this period are full of torment, beauty and symbolism: in the painting “Broken Column”, naked Frida is crying, her body, pulled together by a metal corset, is dissected, revealing a broken antique column instead of a spine.

Increasingly, Kahlo is worried about thoughts of death. Physical forces are running out and spiritual ones also sometimes can't stand it. From 1950 to 1951 she underwent seven spinal surgeries (a total of 32 in her life), made several suicide attempts, and once, driven to despair, almost burned herself alive. At the first call of the nurse, Diego broke off from work and rushed to the “blue house”, to a tiny bedroom, where large bright painted butterflies fluttered on the ceiling to calm, caress, pour strength into the woman dear to him. “My winged Diego, my millennial love,” whispered Frida, forgetting herself in a restless sleep.

In 1953, another tragedy occurred: Kahlo's right leg was amputated due to the onset of gangrene, and, as if to console the artist, her first retrospective exhibition opened in Mexico City. The audience was nervous, wondering if Frida would be able to find the strength to visit the exposition. The siren of an ambulance and the roar of a motorcycle escort announced Kahlo's arrival. She was carried on a stretcher into the gallery hall and laid on a bed. Her paintings were all around. Dozens of Freeds with serious, mournful faces, without smiles, looked at their creator. She, beautifully dressed, with her hair styled, lay on her back and tried to laugh, to rejoice at the people around her. Her face was convulsing from pain, but Frida was happy: next to the pictures and Diego - her whole life. She didn’t need anything else, she drank to the bottom the joy, love, happiness and pain measured out to her by fate.

On July 13, 1954, after suffering pneumonia, Frida Kahlo died. The Blue House, where the urn with her ashes rests, has become a museum of the famous artist, and her paintings are the pride and national treasure of Mexico. It is really worth writing books, making films about the life, love and work of this courageous woman in order to feel the extraordinary fortitude, but God forbid anyone to experience everything that she endured.

Diego briefly outlived his "dove". This great atheist, champion of universal happiness and joy, passed away in 1957 at the age of 70. Thousands of people came to say goodbye to him at the National Palace of Fine Arts, thereby expressing love and respect for his talent.