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Frida: A Biography of Frida Kahlo

Hayden Herrera

Start date: September 1, 2026

Finish date: September 30, 2026

Discussion: Non-Fiction Classics

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What Members Thought

Dec 09, 2009 Chrissie rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: arts, mexico, dnf, bio

Most of us know about the Mexican painter Frida Kahlo and how she suffered. Her suffering is unimaginable. The book begins with the details of her bout with polio and then her accident, when the bus she was riding in, in Mexico City, was hit by a tram. September 17, 1925. Her letters to her boyfriend, Alejandro Gómez Arias, are excruciating to read. He attempts to escape (her); she hangs on with an unrelenting fervor. Letter after letter are included in this book. (Stricter editing please!) Her Most of us know about the Mexican painter Frida Kahlo and how she suffered. Her suffering is unimaginable. The book begins with the details of her bout with polio and then her accident, when the bus she was riding in, in Mexico City, was hit by a tram. September 17, 1925. Her letters to her boyfriend, Alejandro Gómez Arias, are excruciating to read. He attempts to escape (her); she hangs on with an unrelenting fervor. Letter after letter are included in this book. (Stricter editing please!) Her pain is both physical and psychological; painting is an attempt to fight back. I cannot but help comparing why she paints to Kandinsky's statement that he stopped painting when his pain ceased. Only for her it does not cease. She lives with physical pain and illness. There is more: her relationship with her husband Diego Rivera, the famed muralist, is not easy…..but neither is she easy to live with. Both have affairs. She is bisexual.

Both black and white photos and colored plates of paintings are included in the book. All are explained in relation to her physical and psychological state. This is interesting, but excessive. Need everything be explained, and is there only one true explanation?

After 200 pages, I realize I cannot go on with this book! Reading about a person that is so diametrically opposed to yourself and all that you value makes their behavior incomprehensible. Yes, she reinvents facts, but that is not all I object too.

Furthermore, I hate books of art criticism that instruct how you should interpret artwork. For this reason too, the book is not for me. I don't think the book is bad for others who react less negatively to her morals and personal choices. I don't think it is bad for those of you who want Kahlo's art explained. My two stars just reflects my personal reaction to this book. I cannot even wait to slam the book shut until after I have read about her affair with Trotsky. I will read about that quickly on Wikipedia instead.

She is such a whiner.......even if she has a lot to whine about! OK, punch me for not loving a book about a woman who suffered terribly.

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After 131 pages:
Oh my, it is good I have two books to switch between because Frida: A Biography of Frida Kahlo is at times harrowing and at other times frustrating. Her accident is harrowing, but her tendency to reinvent facts is frustrating. This book is detailed, sometimes excessively.

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Apr 18, 2010 Nadine rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites, biographies-memoirs, highlights

The biography of Frida Kahlo, Mexican painter and icon, who had a horrible accident in her youth which she suffered from all her life, gives an insight into her independent mind, her expressive art and her turbulent life. She was married to the famous Diego Rivera, who had countless affairs, found a way to deal with his ways and to cope with the health issues she had all her life, due to the accident, including several misscarriages by painting.
The narrative is a wonderful and effective mix of a ...more

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Dec 29, 2013 Sarah rated it liked it

Shelves: owned

Wow, that was long. Well written and interesting, but long. I've wanted to read this for a long time, and quite happy I did. I learned a lot, was always interested in her because of her Detroit connections, and learned a great deal more than I bargained for. She was smart, tough, talented, and an over the top diva drama queen. She was a communist who loved jewelry. And, the unibrow was not fact, it was part of her own self created myth. Her real eyebrows did not actually touch, close but no ciga ...more

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