Diego and Frida

When Frida Kahlo announced her marriage to Diego Rivera, her father quickly uttered a caustic comment: "It will be the wedding of an elephant and a dove." Everyone greeted with skepticism the news of the marriage of the troubled and frail young woman to the genius of Mexican murals, twice her age and three times her weight, with a reputation as a seductive ogre, an atheist communist with a prominent political role in revolutionary Mexico. In lucid and engaging prose, Le Clézio explores this strange love story that is both formed and expressed through painting. And in one of the most sensitive moments of his text, he describes the moment in which their artistic and loving partnership dissolves when, at the age of 46, Frida dies, leaving behind the unbearable memory of her ardor, her restless beauty reflected in empty mirrors. Despite the whirlwind of privilege surrounding Diego, the loneliness is immense. He dies in 1957, three years after his companion. DIEGO AND FRIDA tells the story of an extraordinary couple, from their meeting, Diego's fraught past, Frida's experience of pain and loneliness, their passage through the revolution to their relationship with Trotsky and Breton, their American adventure and the fascination Ford exerted on them. Finally, their role in the renewal of the art world. This is a moving and well-researched portrait of an indestructible, mythical couple, both perfect and contradictory.