Partially narrated in the voice of Kahlo, Francisco de la Mora’s new graphic biography of the great Mexican painter Frida Kahlo (1907-1954), takes the reader on an irresistible journey through her life story, told with humor and sensitivity and in the rich color and charm of de la Mora’s drawings. “Everyone knows the story,” says Kahlo’s comics avatar. “There were two accidents in my life. One was on the bus, and the other was … Diego Rivera.” The book begins at the Blue House in Coyoacán, Mexico–now the Frida Kahlo Museum–where Kahlo was born and eventually died. And it goes on to tally her early years, the illness and trauma she experienced (polio, the terrible bus accident, miscarriages, and lifelong pain); her love of, and life with, the legendary muralist Rivera; her love of indigenous Mexico, and of course, her transcendent art and the events of her life in Mexico, the U.S. and France that shaped her career and legacy as an artist. In this 11-page excerpt we meet young Frida in 1922 as she prepares to enter the National Preparatory School, one of 34 women admitted, the first generation of women allowed to study at the school. Frida Kahlo: Her Life, Her Work, Her Home by Francisco de la Mora will be published this month by SelfMadeHero.
