Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera

Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera have become one of the most well known and recognized artist couples of the early 20th century. There are two different accounts of how they met. One version takes place in the home of Tina Modotti, at a Communist party meeting. Diego is said to have fired a gun at a record player making him particularly memorable to Frida. The other is less dramatic and takes place at The Ministry of Public Education where Diego was working on a mural. The story goes that she had brought some of her work to him. She asked his opinion if she should continue painting or do something else with her life. Diego is impressed by what he sees in her paintings and offers her encouragement. It is not long before this attention blossoms into a love affair.

In 1929 Diego and Frida are married. Her parents said,"it was like the marriage between an elephant and a dove".9 Diego's brilliance was housed in a corpulent frame that seemed to dwarf the diminutive Frida who was 20 years his junior. These were small things to the couple who had found their heart in the other. This heart, both were to discover, was filled with challenges.

At the wedding festivities an outburst of one of Diego's ex wives created a row between Diego and Frida that would end with the lovers apart on their wedding night. They didn't begin their life together until almost a week later. This would foretell of the stormy, passionate relationship that would be the catalyst for so many of Frida's very personal works.

Frida usually worked on a small scale. She taught herself to paint during her month long convalescence after the infamous trolley accident. She made paintings that addressed issues that affected her very directly. These topics ranged from her constant physical pain, death, her miscarriage, her isolation, Diego, and all things inherently Mexican. She poked at her bruises and made art from them. She has become an icon of the suffering woman. Frida taped into suffering in such a way as to help us understand our own pain and trials.

Diego on the other hand, focused his energy on a very large scale. His works were very public and politically charged works. He was a highly trained artist who had studied and traveled extensively before ever meeting Frida. His vast murals were a vehicle to unite the Mexican people. He used his art to give the people pride in their heritage and give them hope for their future. His work requires a historical context that can sometimes loose modern viewers. This loss of context does not change the fact that his work is powerful.

Frida and Diego were always very supportive of each others art work. Diego said on more than one occasion that she was a better painter than he was. She in turn referred to him as the, "architect of life". Regardless of what Diego thought of her works Frida always down played her successes.

In many ways Frida catered to the notion that Diego was the real artist and she was just making some little pictures. This can be seen quite clearly in her painting Frieda and Diego, 1941. She paints herself pint sized, seeming to float above the floor, and in traditional Mexican dress holding her shawl and Diego's hand. Diego holds the painters palette and brushes defining him with his tools. She depicts herself as the little woman standing by her man.

Frida stands by Diego through his many infidelities in their early marriage. A serious break down in the relationship occurs when Frida finds Diego and her sister together. This all but destroys Frida. In 1939 Diego divorces her and in response Frida cuts her hair very short signifying mourning/ death. It is also possible she was trying to get back at Diego who loved her long hair. She works through this pain as with all others in her life on canvas Self Portrait with Cropped Hair, 1940.

To the Top

Diego and Frida remarry a year later. This is a new page for the couple, especially for Frida. During their divorce (and even prior to it) she has an opportunity to have lovers of both sexes and travel for showings of her work outside of Mexico. All the while she thinks of her Diego and her beautiful Mexico. When they are reunited they are happy for a time. When Diego begins his inevitable "skirt chasing" Frida follows Diego's lead with extramarital affairs of her own. These affairs, strangely enough, become a part of their marriage.

The compromises they reached to stay together were very unconventional. This passionate couple endured many hardships. All the while they creatively supported each other. Both maintained an underlying need for and a respect of the other as artists and as comrades. In addition, Frida cultivates a motherly relationship which Diego welcomes. These roles further complicate their relationship but allow the marriage to continue. There can be little doubt that both of these individuals were influenced artistically by the other.

Diego beginning

Diego founder

Diego my child

Diego my darling

Diego painter

Diego 'my husband'

Diego my friend

Diego my mother

Diego my father

Diego my son

Diego =I=

Diego universe

diversity in unity

Why do I call him my Diego? He has never been, and never will be, mine. He belongs to himself.11

-The Diary of Frida Kahlo: An Intimate Self-Portrait p.235

"Being the wife of Diego is the most marvelous thing in the world...I let him play matrimony with other women. Diego is not anybody's husband and never will be, but he is a great comrade".9

-Frida Kahlo

' I recommend her to you,not as her husband, but as an enthusiastic admirer of her work, which is astringent and delicate, hard as steel and as fine as butterfly wings, gentle like a lovely smile and brutal as life is bitter.''3

-Diego Rivera on Frida Kahlo,1938