Frida & Diego: Art, Love, Life

by Catherine Reef

Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera were both brilliant artists. Frida’s art revealed... read more

Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera were both brilliant artists. Frida’s art revealed a complex and richly imagined inner world. Diego’s art was about the world around him, whether he was depicting the lives and dignity of peasants in Mexico or the strength and ingenuity of workers in America. An insightful work examines the separate and intricately twined lives of these two individuals whose paths first converged when Frida was still a teenager. When she was in her twenties, they met again, falling in love and getting married. Their relationship was one full of pain as well as love. Diego was unfaithful to Frida; Frida was unfaithful to Diego. They eventually divorced. Later they remarried. Through it all they continued to admire and support one another as artists while navigating personal dramas and challenges. Diego had a tense relationship with Communists in Mexico, and artistic and political ideals he didn’t want to compromise. Through it all, he painted. Frida endured great physical and emotional pain. A bus accident broke her body when she was a young woman and required multiple surgeries throughout her life. Through it all, she painted. And for both of them, the force of their feelings for one another seemed to have a lasting hold, for better and for worse. A beautifully produced volume includes black-and-white photographs and full-color reproductions of selected paintings by each artist. (Age 13 and older)

© Cooperative Children's Book Center, Univ. of Wisconsin - Madison, 2015

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