El diario de Frida Kahlo

By Frida Kahlo

Book Overview

An intimate self-portrait of one of the most renowned Mexican artists of the twentieth century, this beautiful book is "a visual document, engaging the eye with a volcanic profusion of penned-and-painted imagery" (New York Times).

Published in its entirety, Frida Kahlo's amazing illustrated journal documents the last 10 years of her turbulent life. These passionate, often surprising, intimate records, kept under lock and key for some 40 years in Mexico, reveal many new dimensions in the complex personal life of this remarkable artist.

The 170-page journal contains the artist's thoughts, poems, and dreams--many reflecting her stormy relationship with her husband, artist Diego Rivera--along with 70 mesmerizing watercolor illustrations. Her views of love, politics, and more come into sharp focus in a kaleidoscope of creativity and thought.

In his introduction, award-winner Carlos Fuentes, one of Mexico's most important writers and critics, ties Kahlo's images of pain, loss, mutilation, and transcendence to Mexico's historic cycles of revolution and reaction. Sprinkled with irony, black humor, even gaiety, and augmented with translations of the diary entries plus commentaries and photographs, her diary stands as a reminder of not only Kahlo's formidable talent, but also her resilience and courage.

The text entries, written in Frida's round, full script in brightly colored inks, make the journal as captivating to look at as it is to read. Her writing reveals the artist's political sensibilities, recollections of her childhood, and her enormous courage in the face of more than 35 operations to correct injuries she had sustained in an accident at the age of 18.

This intimate portal into her life is sure to fascinate fans of the artist, art historians, and feminist scholars alike.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0810959542
• ISBN13: 9780810959545
• Release Date: August 2005
• Publisher: Abrams Books
• Length: 296 Pages
• Weight: 2.08 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.4" x 9.5"
• Age Range: 13 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 8 to Postsecondary

Customer Reviews

Exceptional reproduction of actual diary pages, in full

Enrique Torres' review is 100% accurate, so I just want to add a few additional comments. The reproduction of the diary pages is nothing short of amazing - apparently scanned with a high quality scanner, or perhaps photographed digitally or with film and then digitized. The colors of both the writing and the images appear exceptionally accurate - Frida used many different colored pencils in her diary. Even penciled notations look like pencil, ballpoint ink looks like ink, and all pages are printed on high-quality semi-gloss paper. The second half, which contains the English translations, also contains small black & white reproductions of each page translated and of each image described/explicated. Makes it easy to return to the first half and look at the original full-color page. CAVEAT & RECOMMENDATION: The book I have is the 2005 hardback ed. published by Harry N. Abrams, Inc. I have not seen nor can I speak of any other published editions. I would buy this edition - the price is more than reasonable and the quality top-notch.

The Diary of Frida Kahlo: An Intimate Self-Portrait , A Review by Cheryl Millard

Owning this book is really the closest you will become in owning an actual piece of kahlos intimate belongings even if it is only a reproduction.The books cover is a faithful reproduction of the diarys cover, you feel as if you are holding in your hands the actual diary,The pages are reproduced in a way that shows where the writing on the other side of the page has started to come through or where the paint,ink and marker has bled .You get a direct insight into the inner thoughts of this tormented,but highly talented person, tormented by the chronic pain from a life altering injury at such a young age as well as tormented by her love for Diego Rivera,miscarriages,opperations to alieviate the constant pain ,Frida weaves her art into words.The diary also shows her humorous side in making do with what life has dealt her with her dark sense of brash humor in a poetic yet sad way, we cannot help feeling as if we are looking into something forbidden expecting her to appear behind us as we look into the most fragile part of her life. In the back is a page by page translation for those of us who cannot read spanish, you will find this very helpful.This is another book that anyone who loves Kahlo should not be without,it is really well done in all aspects.

Now my Frida Kahlo Library is Complete!

To actually see the pages of Frida's diary (in full color) is amazing. Her diary is a work of art. Although heart-wrenching to read, her poetry, musings, and, quite possibly, 'random neural firings' give us a very personal picture of her last days. No Frida library is complete without it.

Graphically rich!

If you are expecting a standard diary, full of descriptions of what happened today, who visited for breakfast, and what Frida had for dinner - then don't order this book. Frida's diary is an amazing combination of text and paintings. She writes random comments with little consideration of form. In fact, many of the things she writes are random lists of words, or letters to loves that are never sent, or even descriptions of fantastic events that never occur outside of her imagination. It's like a huge and colorful experiment in free writing and unconscious expression. Combine these words with the sketches, paintings, and drawing scattered about - sometimes on pages of their own, sometimes in the midst of words that are written around the edges of the artwork - and you have an incredible and extremely unique diary. Personally, I found it inspiring to read and have incorporated many of the elements into my own journal. (If you are looking for a way to break out of writers block, or artists block, I would seriously consider getting a copy of this book and mimicking the technique. It's very freeing and has a way of generating ideas.)