The Diary of Frida Kahlo: An Intimate Self-Portrait

"Diego.
I ask you for violence, in the nonsense,
and you, you give me grace, your light
and your warmth.
I'd like to paint you, but there are no
colors because there are so many, in my
confusion, the tangible form
of my great love."

--Frida Kahlo to Diego Rivera

This is a stunning book. A wildly colorful record of Frida Kahlo's creativity, longing, passion, politics, pain, aspirations, fears and - of course - undying love for Diego Rivera. Frida's very heart and soul pour from every page.

Lendo este diário pude entender porque alguns são relutantes em aceitar Kahlo como ícone feminista, o caso é que a relação dela com Diego Rivera beirava à patologia, quer dizer, o tipo de paixão que ela sentia e demonstrava por Diego são comuns em garotas de 20 anos e aqui ela estava por volta dos 40 e soa como uma dependência emocional particularmente doentia partindo de uma mulher adulta.
Por outro lado, tirando essa questão desconcertante, ela ainda é um ícone feminista por sua resiliência perante tantas intempéries da ordem física e emocional, e a partir de todo esse sofrimento ela soube transformá-lo em arte, esta imensamente bem representada neste diário que teve toda sua magnitude editorial preservada nessa linda show more edição brasileira. show less

During the last ten years of her life Kahlo kept a journal, The Diary of Frida Kahlo: An Intimate Self-Portrait, a vivid scrawling volume of sketches, poetry, letters and appeals that I have read and stared at over and over again. It is a diary like none other in the world of letters. Not the quiet, considered reflections of an artist or philosopher sitting at their desk at the close of the day. Not the safe haven where she might indulge her wit and write down all the things she thought, but did not say, to the company she kept. No, this is a document that seems to have been written in fits and starts, as though she put brush and pen to paper because she simply couldn’t help herself. Turning the facsimiled pages—reproduced in full show more color, every marred sketch and crossed out word intact—I felt like I wasn’t seeing writing at all, but a process of spontaneous combustion. (“The art of Frida Kahlo,” said Andre Breton, “is a ribbon around a bomb.”). . read full review show less

Frida Kahlo was a fascinating, strong woman who I admire. Her rt work is not the "feel good" type, such as Monet or Renior, , but it is compelling and full of raw emotion. The things this woman went through are so harsh, from her accident, her multiple operations to her tumultuous marriage to Diego Rivera. All these things come to life in her art and in her personal diary. Her diary completely captivates me. It is so personal, as all good diaries are, that it really gives the reader a glimpse into the "real" Frida. A stunning book full of life, love, loss and anger. This is the heart and soul of Frida.

A remarkable combination of text and art. Selected pages of her diary explore her relationship to Diego Rivera, Communism, and art. Full color pages of the art and the original Spanish language text are followed by translation and commentary with line drawings of the art.

Haunting and brilliant - much like the artist herself. I feel as though I've seen almost too much. An intimate portrait indeed.

What an honor to read some of the private written and see the art in this journal. Her body of work is beautiful and startling. She was a great artist gone too soon.