1 00:01:24,920 --> 00:01:28,280 It is certain that they are going to amputate my right leg. 2 00:01:28,320 --> 00:01:32,840 Details I don't know much but the opinions are reliable. 3 00:01:39,200 --> 00:01:40,840 I'm worried. 4 00:01:42,320 --> 00:01:45,360 But at the same time I feel it could be a relief. 5 00:02:37,160 --> 00:02:39,600 Everybody knows Frida Kahlo. 6 00:02:39,640 --> 00:02:41,960 An artist, an icon,... 7 00:02:42,000 --> 00:02:47,320 ..a woman, a wife, a saint, a martyr. 8 00:02:47,360 --> 00:02:51,240 She has become a symbol, an ideal,... 9 00:02:51,840 --> 00:02:54,840 ..but there is so much more to her story. 10 00:03:46,080 --> 00:03:49,360 Frida Kahlo was born, lived and died in the Casa Azul. 11 00:03:49,400 --> 00:03:54,080 She would go back there, it was her home, her intimate world, her universe. 12 00:03:54,120 --> 00:03:56,360 She even depicted it in several of her paintings. 13 00:04:01,080 --> 00:04:08,120 When I was asked ... 14 00:04:08,160 --> 00:04:12,200 .."What can I do? Everything has already been said, and written about Frida." 15 00:04:12,240 --> 00:04:15,120 "Many books have been published..." 16 00:04:15,160 --> 00:04:21,960 "I don't know what to do here." I really didn't know. 17 00:04:23,120 --> 00:04:31,320 The trunks had been sealed for 50 years. 18 00:04:32,240 --> 00:04:37,280 The Museum technical committee asked me to open those places,... 19 00:04:37,320 --> 00:04:40,160 ..and my team and I did so,... 20 00:04:42,640 --> 00:04:46,920 ..uncovering wonders that changed Frida's story. 21 00:04:46,960 --> 00:04:51,800 It was not badly written, but the nuances were missing. 22 00:04:51,840 --> 00:04:58,240 When we started opening all the boxes and trunks I felt like I was... 23 00:04:58,320 --> 00:05:00,000 I felt like... 24 00:05:00,040 --> 00:05:03,280 I had mixed feelings. 25 00:05:03,320 --> 00:05:09,200 Analyzing those objects meant invading her privacy,... 26 00:05:09,240 --> 00:05:11,840 ..and that's hard, nobody wants to do that. 27 00:05:13,160 --> 00:05:15,160 I think that... 28 00:05:15,360 --> 00:05:22,480 Those of us who work there have learnt what art is through Frida. 29 00:05:22,520 --> 00:05:29,080 When you work so close to an artist... 30 00:05:30,320 --> 00:05:35,080 ..you discover things books don't teach. 31 00:05:40,240 --> 00:05:42,800 There's no better way to understand Frida Kahlo... 32 00:05:42,840 --> 00:05:45,640 ..than through her letters and her diary. 33 00:05:45,680 --> 00:05:48,880 Frida has always been a very good storyteller. 34 00:05:48,920 --> 00:05:54,160 She always played with facts and fiction with life and myth. 35 00:05:58,800 --> 00:06:00,840 Outline of my life. 36 00:06:00,880 --> 00:06:03,560 1910. 37 00:06:03,600 --> 00:06:07,480 I was born in the room on the corner of Calle Londres and Calle Allende in Coyoacán. 38 00:06:07,520 --> 00:06:13,560 At one o'clock in the morning. My father, Guillermo Kahlo, emigrated to Mexico in the 19th century. 39 00:06:13,600 --> 00:06:17,560 He settled here for the rest of his life. He married a Mexican girl. 40 00:06:17,760 --> 00:06:23,080 When his wife died, he married Mathilde Calderòn y Gonzalez. 41 00:06:23,120 --> 00:06:26,120 One of twelve children of my grandfather Antonio Calderòn. 42 00:06:28,200 --> 00:06:31,440 A man of an indigenous race from the state of Michoacan... 43 00:06:31,480 --> 00:06:34,400 ..and my grandmother Isabel Gonzalez y Gonzalez. 44 00:06:34,440 --> 00:06:36,640 Who was the daughter of a Spanish general. 45 00:06:37,400 --> 00:06:41,680 My childhood was wonderful, even though my father was not a healthy man. 46 00:06:41,720 --> 00:06:44,760 He was an immense example for me of tenderness and work. 47 00:06:44,800 --> 00:06:47,200 He was a photographer and also a painter. 48 00:06:49,600 --> 00:06:54,640 I saw with my own eyes the clash between Zapata's peasants and the forces of Carranza. 49 00:06:54,680 --> 00:06:57,320 My position was very clear. 50 00:06:57,360 --> 00:06:58,840 We were four sisters. 51 00:06:58,880 --> 00:07:01,160 Matita. Adri. 52 00:07:01,200 --> 00:07:06,440 Me, Frida, and Cristina, the chubby midget. I'll talk about her later. 53 00:07:18,800 --> 00:07:22,720 With a caring family and a reawakened nation,... 54 00:07:22,760 --> 00:07:27,440 ..the young Frida had a bright future ahead of her,... 55 00:07:27,480 --> 00:07:32,280 ..but a terrible accident would change everything. 56 00:07:38,280 --> 00:07:40,960 A little while ago, not much more than a few days ago,... 57 00:07:41,000 --> 00:07:44,040 ..I was a child who went about in a world of colors. 58 00:07:44,080 --> 00:07:47,040 Of hard and tangible forms. 59 00:07:47,080 --> 00:07:49,840 Everything was mysterious and something was hidden. 60 00:07:49,880 --> 00:07:54,000 Guessing hat it was a game for me. 61 00:07:56,520 --> 00:08:00,400 If you knew how terrible it is to know suddenly. 62 00:08:00,440 --> 00:08:03,360 As if a bolt of lightning elucidated the earth. 63 00:08:04,400 --> 00:08:08,960 Now I live in a painful planet, transparent as ice. 64 00:08:09,000 --> 00:08:12,560 But it is as if I had learned everything at once in seconds. 65 00:08:14,560 --> 00:08:19,800 I became old in instants and everything today is bland and lucid. 66 00:08:21,400 --> 00:08:25,920 I know that nothing lies behind. If there was something, I would see it. 67 00:08:53,320 --> 00:09:00,480 It was on this corner that Frida had a accident while returning home with her boyfriend Alejandro. 68 00:09:00,520 --> 00:09:07,280 The bus collided with a streetcar, ... 69 00:09:07,320 --> 00:09:12,160 ..a crushed foot, a fractured leg, a splintered column,... 70 00:09:12,200 --> 00:09:15,360 ..but the most horrifying thing... 71 00:09:15,400 --> 00:09:22,920 ..was that a hand-rail went through her abdomen and out of her pelvis. 72 00:09:22,960 --> 00:09:25,560 Frida would spend one month in the Red Cross hospital... 73 00:09:27,200 --> 00:09:29,440 ..and another 8 at home. 74 00:09:29,480 --> 00:09:33,960 That's when she started to paint. The accident changed her life. 75 00:09:35,280 --> 00:09:39,080 And in that moment, in that place... 76 00:09:39,120 --> 00:09:42,120 ..two Fridas were born. 77 00:09:46,880 --> 00:09:51,440 The first is that which becomes the icon everyone knows,... 78 00:09:51,480 --> 00:09:57,800 ..the independent and strong woman tormented by agony and love. 79 00:10:03,680 --> 00:10:09,560 The second is the artist unleashed from her physical restraints. 80 00:10:16,120 --> 00:10:20,520 The affliction of one fed the vision of the other. 81 00:10:20,560 --> 00:10:25,200 The energy of one kept the other alive. 82 00:10:35,160 --> 00:10:40,120 Two faces of the same person sharing one heart. 83 00:10:40,160 --> 00:10:46,360 On their own, they would never have endured what life had in store for them. 84 00:11:35,640 --> 00:11:42,840 After the accident, Frida spent many months convalescencing in bed. 85 00:11:42,880 --> 00:11:45,800 Spending so much time alone... 86 00:11:45,840 --> 00:11:50,800 ..converted her art into self-representation. 87 00:11:50,840 --> 00:11:56,520 "I paint myself because I am the person I know best". 88 00:12:41,000 --> 00:12:47,000 This is the bed adapted for Frida after the accident. 89 00:12:47,040 --> 00:12:49,120 Her mother had a mirror rigged up,... 90 00:12:49,160 --> 00:12:55,960 ..and her father built her a piece of furniture so she could paint and see herself in the mirror. 91 00:13:02,400 --> 00:13:08,920 In her early portraits, Frida Khalo paints herself in very rigid style, very European style,... 92 00:13:08,960 --> 00:13:11,480 ..especially in "Self-portrait in a velvet dress",... 93 00:13:11,480 --> 00:13:15,280 ..where she appears so rigid. 94 00:13:15,320 --> 00:13:17,680 Perhaps, one year after her accident,... 95 00:13:17,760 --> 00:13:23,000 ..she was remembering how her body had been, longing for what she had lost. 96 00:13:42,680 --> 00:13:48,120 "I never painted dreams" she would say, "I painted my own reality". 97 00:13:48,840 --> 00:13:53,200 But looking at those bloody reds and her abyss-like blacks,... 98 00:13:53,240 --> 00:13:58,280 ..it is clear that Frida was still holding back a hurricane. 99 00:13:58,320 --> 00:14:02,320 Her was a fiery butterfly within to burst. 100 00:14:02,360 --> 00:14:06,920 All she needed for it to pop was a little push... 101 00:14:06,960 --> 00:14:10,640 ..or, even better, a gunshot. 102 00:14:34,040 --> 00:14:37,000 Diego in my urine. Diego in my mouth, in my heart,... 103 00:14:37,040 --> 00:14:40,080 ..in my madness, in my dream, in the blotting paper. 104 00:14:40,120 --> 00:14:44,680 In the tip of the pen, in the landscapes, in the food, in my imagination. 105 00:14:44,720 --> 00:14:50,280 In the ruptures, in his eyes, in his mouth, in his lie. 106 00:15:06,760 --> 00:15:10,080 It is said that Frida came here with her work... 107 00:15:10,120 --> 00:15:16,040 ..and showed it to Diego Rivera while he was painting these wonderful murals. 108 00:15:16,080 --> 00:15:20,120 "I want you to see my work. Will I be an artist one day?" 109 00:15:20,160 --> 00:15:22,960 He came down from his scaffolding to look at the pictures. 110 00:15:23,000 --> 00:15:27,920 She was amazed by his little hands and large cyclopean eyes. 111 00:15:27,960 --> 00:15:31,000 She would love him forever. 112 00:15:42,760 --> 00:15:46,320 When Frida and Diego became friends,... 113 00:15:46,360 --> 00:15:53,000 ..Diego Rivera showed interest in her and visited her at the house in Coyoacán. 114 00:15:53,040 --> 00:15:57,800 Now it's a museum, but once it was the home of the Kahlo family. 115 00:16:00,320 --> 00:16:07,440 .. 116 00:16:07,480 --> 00:16:10,560 .."I see that you are interested in my daughter". 117 00:16:10,600 --> 00:16:18,440 "Yes, otherwise I would not come to Coyoacán to visit her". 118 00:16:18,480 --> 00:16:21,880 And Guillermo Kahlo, ... 119 00:16:21,920 --> 00:16:24,560 .."I warn you, she is a demon". 120 00:16:24,840 --> 00:16:30,640 "I know, and it's fine". 121 00:16:30,680 --> 00:16:34,760 So he began to come to the house to visit her. 122 00:16:36,560 --> 00:16:39,240 WELCOME HOME... 123 00:16:47,280 --> 00:16:54,400 On August 21, 1929, Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo got married. 124 00:16:54,440 --> 00:16:59,120 ... 125 00:16:59,160 --> 00:17:05,880 ..Diego Rivera was so big and Frida so small,... 126 00:17:06,040 --> 00:17:10,040 ..and people said they looked like an elephant and a dove. 127 00:17:27,360 --> 00:17:31,240 Diego Rivera was the most famous artist in Mexico... 128 00:17:31,280 --> 00:17:36,480 ..and Frida was one of the few who manage to stand up to him. 129 00:17:36,520 --> 00:17:40,520 No matter how difficult things became at certain times... 130 00:17:40,560 --> 00:17:43,080 ..and despite the troubles they got into... 131 00:17:43,120 --> 00:17:50,920 ..their relationship was so solid that they were literally living one inside the other. 132 00:18:50,600 --> 00:18:55,320 I think that opening these spaces... 133 00:18:55,360 --> 00:19:02,880 ..hasn't changed Frida and Diego's story, but it gives it a new perspective. 134 00:19:03,000 --> 00:19:13,600 Through her objects we have discovered the person inside the artist,... 135 00:19:13,640 --> 00:19:17,440 ..the bohemian, cheerful Frida,... 136 00:19:17,480 --> 00:19:22,560 ..who knew how to turn pain into a work of art. 137 00:19:31,960 --> 00:19:36,080 She knew she could die, but she wanted to live life to the fullest. 138 00:19:36,120 --> 00:19:40,160 That's why for her, friendship or love... 139 00:19:40,200 --> 00:19:43,160 ..today it's here, tomorrow it's gone. 140 00:19:44,840 --> 00:19:47,680 She was frustrated and bedridden,... 141 00:19:47,720 --> 00:19:51,760 ..but she decided to live her life and with colors. 142 00:19:59,080 --> 00:20:02,800 There is a very nice phrase I love. 143 00:20:02,840 --> 00:20:06,440 Frida wrote very well,... 144 00:20:06,480 --> 00:20:12,080 ..she was very precise, and very sensitive, too,... 145 00:20:12,120 --> 00:20:17,200 "You welcomed me destroyed, and you gave me back whole." 146 00:20:18,200 --> 00:20:22,400 In this urn,... 147 00:20:22,440 --> 00:20:26,440 ..a pre-Hispanic frog-toad,... 148 00:20:26,480 --> 00:20:29,000 ..are Frida's ashes. 149 00:20:29,040 --> 00:20:33,440 She is in a frog-toad, because Diego was nicknamed "Saporrana",... 150 00:20:33,480 --> 00:20:36,720 ..and she'd call him "my little toad". 151 00:20:37,680 --> 00:20:44,040 The reason her ashes are here is that Frida rests inside Diego,... 152 00:20:44,080 --> 00:20:46,400 ..this is a pre-Hispanic Diego. 153 00:20:46,440 --> 00:20:54,240 In this urn Diego put, on top of her ashes,... 154 00:20:54,280 --> 00:20:58,800 ..her bodice... 155 00:20:58,840 --> 00:21:02,320 ..and her Mexican shawl. 156 00:21:03,320 --> 00:21:09,400 It is very moving because it speaks of the great love,... 157 00:21:09,440 --> 00:21:16,440 ..affection and respect that Diego... had for Frida. 158 00:22:05,880 --> 00:22:10,840 In 1930, three months pregnant,... 159 00:22:10,880 --> 00:22:14,120 ..Frida performed an abortion. 160 00:22:14,160 --> 00:22:18,320 Miscarriages will haunt Frida for the rest of her life... 161 00:22:18,360 --> 00:22:22,600 ..and she tried to exorcise these ghosts by portraying her sorrow... 162 00:22:22,640 --> 00:22:27,400 ..with her brushes dipped into oil and tears. 163 00:22:38,480 --> 00:22:42,360 No matter what Frida does or where she goes... 164 00:22:42,400 --> 00:22:47,560 ..the shadow of the streetcar accident is constantly cast upon her. 165 00:22:47,600 --> 00:22:50,560 A trauma that generates new scars,... 166 00:22:50,600 --> 00:22:55,400 ..running deep in her body and inside her mind. 167 00:23:02,800 --> 00:23:06,760 Buzzing, stoning, whiteness of gray road,... 168 00:23:06,800 --> 00:23:09,480 ..silhouette, tenderness, ballad. 169 00:23:09,520 --> 00:23:13,800 Gangrene, Petrarch, sunflower, sinister blues. 170 00:23:14,800 --> 00:23:16,960 Acute, rosemary. 171 00:23:17,120 --> 00:23:22,920 Circumlocutions, garbage, yesterday, lap, tumbling. 172 00:23:23,120 --> 00:23:28,760 Visions, illusive, sleeping, pillar, friendly columns. 173 00:23:29,080 --> 00:23:34,480 Murmurs of glass, abuses, nearby, lies, passion. 174 00:23:34,520 --> 00:23:39,680 Arcane, thousands, money, vigor, overlapping conscience. 175 00:23:39,720 --> 00:23:43,480 Prostitute palm grove, the strength marine. 176 00:23:43,520 --> 00:23:46,840 Hunchback control, looks I say,... 177 00:23:46,880 --> 00:23:50,200 ..withered lair, "mikado" . 178 00:23:50,240 --> 00:23:53,800 Senile gurgle, square bright star seized,... 179 00:23:53,840 --> 00:23:56,440 ..at russet dawn, at the green lie. 180 00:24:16,720 --> 00:24:22,120 Here in Gringoland, I spend my life dreaming of returning to Mexico. 181 00:24:28,960 --> 00:24:31,920 A few months after Frida's first miscarriage,... 182 00:24:31,960 --> 00:24:36,280 ..the couple moved to the United States. 183 00:24:36,320 --> 00:24:41,160 Diego Rivera was invited to paint murals in Detroit,... 184 00:24:41,200 --> 00:24:44,600 ..San Francisco and New York. 185 00:24:44,640 --> 00:24:51,440 He accepted these commissions offered by the great capitalism... 186 00:24:51,480 --> 00:24:56,040 ..represented by Henry Ford, Rockefeller, financers,... 187 00:24:56,080 --> 00:24:59,760 ..or the San Francisco Stock Exchange. 188 00:24:59,800 --> 00:25:07,480 He thought that in these great works of art he could represent his socialist ideals... 189 00:25:07,520 --> 00:25:11,880 ..and defend the working class. 190 00:25:35,520 --> 00:25:38,680 Frida couldn't stand the American way of life. 191 00:25:38,720 --> 00:25:41,600 She got tired of speaking English all the time... 192 00:25:41,640 --> 00:25:46,760 ..and found the local citizens boring, and lacking in personality. 193 00:25:46,800 --> 00:25:52,120 Many of these gringos called her indigenous comrades "monkeys". 194 00:25:52,160 --> 00:25:58,280 These were the enemies who raped, poisoned and robbed the land she loved so much. 195 00:26:08,000 --> 00:26:10,440 During the time spent in the United States,... 196 00:26:10,480 --> 00:26:15,360 ..Frida experienced contradictions and conflict because,... 197 00:26:15,400 --> 00:26:18,840 ..she missed her beloved Mexico,... 198 00:26:18,880 --> 00:26:23,440 ..faced with what she considered the cold,... 199 00:26:23,480 --> 00:26:25,480 ..industrialized,... 200 00:26:25,520 --> 00:26:28,640 ..and dehumanized society of the United States. 201 00:26:28,680 --> 00:26:32,200 During this time, ... 202 00:26:32,240 --> 00:26:35,000 .."My dress hangs there",... 203 00:26:35,040 --> 00:26:39,800 ..and "Self-Portrait on the Border Line", 1933. 204 00:26:39,840 --> 00:26:44,240 She painted "Self-Portrait" in two parts,... 205 00:26:44,280 --> 00:26:47,400 ..one full of light and sun representing Mexico,... 206 00:26:47,440 --> 00:26:52,360 ..with elements of pre-Hispanic pieces and popular art. 207 00:26:52,400 --> 00:26:58,200 In the darkest part there are factories,... 208 00:26:58,240 --> 00:27:01,360 ..skyscrapers, smoke. 209 00:27:01,400 --> 00:27:04,720 It's the same with "My dress hangs there",... 210 00:27:04,760 --> 00:27:12,760 ..where the dress is herself, floating, as if she wasn't there,... 211 00:27:12,800 --> 00:27:18,120 ..as if she were carrying out an analysis, and its representation goes beyond art,... 212 00:27:18,160 --> 00:27:22,040 ..becoming a political and social analysis of that time. 213 00:27:38,120 --> 00:27:41,160 Frida rejected the exploitative,... 214 00:27:41,200 --> 00:27:44,920 ..neo-colonialist mores of this terrifying new world... 215 00:27:44,960 --> 00:27:48,480 ..with its social disparities and injustices. 216 00:27:52,440 --> 00:27:58,600 Hers was a primordial need a craving ... 217 00:27:58,640 --> 00:28:01,200 ..pre-Columbian Mexico. 218 00:28:21,880 --> 00:28:26,000 When Frida came here Teotihuacan, you know... 219 00:28:26,040 --> 00:28:28,520 Some of this hasn't really changed very much... 220 00:28:28,560 --> 00:28:32,000 ..but she would have seen the pyramid of the Sun here. 221 00:28:32,040 --> 00:28:39,040 What we see today it's our version of Teotihuacan or a version of Teotihuacan... 222 00:28:39,080 --> 00:28:44,120 We see a version of Teotihuacan now that was basically constructed in the 20th Century 223 00:28:44,160 --> 00:28:51,440 to foment national pride in the ancient past, in the glories of the past. 224 00:28:51,480 --> 00:28:55,520 That's why tourists will come here today... 225 00:28:55,560 --> 00:29:00,040 ..to kind of glory in that amazing past. 226 00:29:08,160 --> 00:29:11,520 Kahlo would have also been very interested in the concept of dualities... 227 00:29:11,560 --> 00:29:15,440 ..how you could get a sense of that here in Teotihuacan. 228 00:29:15,480 --> 00:29:20,960 You had a pyramid of the Sun which of course represented the day and that all aspect... 229 00:29:21,000 --> 00:29:25,960 ..the heat, light, life, and then the Moon which would have been associated... 230 00:29:26,000 --> 00:29:30,680 ..with night and darkness and perhaps even death. 231 00:29:30,720 --> 00:29:34,480 These dualities, for Mesoamerican people, including the Aztecs,... 232 00:29:34,520 --> 00:29:38,960 ..structured their whole cosmos and universe, life and death. 233 00:29:39,000 --> 00:29:45,360 These two parts would have been not separate... 234 00:29:45,400 --> 00:29:49,720 ..like evil and good are separate in the Christian tradition,... 235 00:29:49,760 --> 00:29:55,120 ..but really more integrated into a whole that neither side alone was enough... 236 00:29:55,160 --> 00:30:00,400 ..but only the two together create this single cosmic force. 237 00:30:48,640 --> 00:30:51,360 The theme of Aztec dualism... 238 00:30:51,400 --> 00:30:54,440 ..is explored in "The Love Embrace of the Universe,... 239 00:30:54,480 --> 00:30:59,880 ..the Earth Myself, Diego and Señor Xolotl". 240 00:30:59,920 --> 00:31:02,360 The canvas is split in half... 241 00:31:02,400 --> 00:31:07,000 ..divided into night and day, nature and soul,... 242 00:31:07,040 --> 00:31:11,920 ..and Frida is holding a baby with Diego's face. 243 00:31:11,960 --> 00:31:15,920 Her breasts are covered and although she looks at peace,... 244 00:31:15,960 --> 00:31:18,440 ..teardrops mark her cheeks,... 245 00:31:18,480 --> 00:31:24,160 ..and blood spurts onto her chest from a bright red crack. 246 00:31:24,200 --> 00:31:29,960 The connection between Frida, and the feminine energies of the Earth are clear... 247 00:31:30,000 --> 00:31:32,800 ..as the various layers of the universe,... 248 00:31:32,840 --> 00:31:38,560 ..depicted in a female form embrace each other, united. 249 00:31:42,240 --> 00:31:48,960 The mother-daughter relationship is more evident in "My Nurse and I". 250 00:31:49,000 --> 00:31:51,520 Based on her childhood memories,... 251 00:31:51,560 --> 00:31:56,800 ..she is about to be breast fed by her native indigenous wet nurse. 252 00:31:56,840 --> 00:32:00,360 The artist was obviously too young to remember her,... 253 00:32:00,400 --> 00:32:04,400 ..and that's why she is depicted without a face,... 254 00:32:04,440 --> 00:32:08,840 ..wearing instead a pre-Columbian funerary mask. 255 00:32:08,880 --> 00:32:13,600 Once again, Life and Death. 256 00:32:18,280 --> 00:32:21,880 Such was the importance of Pre-Columbian culture... 257 00:32:21,920 --> 00:32:27,600 ..that Diego and Frida began collecting a huge number of ancient artifacts. 258 00:32:27,640 --> 00:32:32,240 The collection became the cornerstone of the Anahuacalli Museum. 259 00:32:32,280 --> 00:32:35,760 The couple wanted to leave a record for the ages,... 260 00:32:35,800 --> 00:32:40,440 ..creating a firm bond between their people and roots. 261 00:32:45,600 --> 00:32:50,200 From a cultural point of view, they were the perfect couple. 262 00:32:50,240 --> 00:32:52,840 They both loved the same Mexican culture,... 263 00:32:52,880 --> 00:32:57,280 ..they both loved our country and they believed in our people. 264 00:32:58,000 --> 00:33:04,960 The idea of Diego was to create a house for his pre-Columbian collection... 265 00:33:05,000 --> 00:33:07,920 ..that would serve future generations. 266 00:33:07,960 --> 00:33:13,800 That's why he built this, so future generations could learn about it see it,... 267 00:33:13,840 --> 00:33:21,160 ..live with it and feel proud, and help them in their cultural growth. 268 00:33:21,200 --> 00:33:25,800 Diego wanted to preserve that and that was one of his dreams. 269 00:33:25,840 --> 00:33:30,600 He was very romantic, and, as well as Frida,... 270 00:33:30,640 --> 00:33:33,200 ..very passionate of Mexican culture and history. 271 00:33:47,920 --> 00:33:53,240 Flesh offerings were one of the leitmotifs of Aztec culture. 272 00:33:53,920 --> 00:33:56,920 In order to repay their debts to the gods... 273 00:33:56,960 --> 00:34:00,560 ..priests gave the blood of their people. 274 00:34:00,600 --> 00:34:04,640 Frida, too, was to understand the meaning of sacrifice... 275 00:34:04,720 --> 00:34:07,080 ..during the course of her life. 276 00:34:14,240 --> 00:34:18,040 Dualism returns in "The Tree of Hope"... 277 00:34:18,080 --> 00:34:20,800 ..where we can see two different Fridas. 278 00:34:21,080 --> 00:34:23,720 One is ... 279 00:34:23,760 --> 00:34:29,920 ..her bloody battered body is mercilessly offered to a hungry Sun God. 280 00:34:29,960 --> 00:34:32,920 She is tired, in pain,... 281 00:34:32,960 --> 00:34:37,600 ..and doesn't even have the strength to show her face. 282 00:34:37,640 --> 00:34:39,800 The other is watching over her... 283 00:34:39,840 --> 00:34:44,240 ..illuminated only by moonlight ... 284 00:34:44,280 --> 00:34:47,760 .."Arbol de la Esperanza, mantente firme",... 285 00:34:47,800 --> 00:34:51,840 ..or "Tree of hope, keep firm". 286 00:34:51,880 --> 00:34:57,920 She is strong, proud, but cannot keep back her tears... 287 00:34:57,960 --> 00:35:03,960 ..as if she knew that pain was often necessary to generate beauty. 288 00:35:15,640 --> 00:35:18,440 On July 4th 1932,... 289 00:35:18,480 --> 00:35:23,920 ..while Detroit is illuminated by the fireworks celebrating Independence Day... 290 00:35:23,960 --> 00:35:28,800 ..Frida loses her second unborn baby. 291 00:36:25,600 --> 00:36:28,960 The second miscarriage, in Detroit,... 292 00:36:29,000 --> 00:36:32,640 ..was very traumatic, and left Frida devastated. 293 00:36:32,680 --> 00:36:36,840 She asked the doctor to bring her the fetus and a book. 294 00:36:36,880 --> 00:36:39,160 She wanted to know what happened within her body,... 295 00:36:39,200 --> 00:36:46,280 ..and with that material, she painted the small, but important, "Henry Ford Hospital". 296 00:36:49,280 --> 00:36:52,960 Frida is lying on a bed, bleeding,... 297 00:36:53,000 --> 00:36:57,920 ..circled by six objects held together by six ribbons... 298 00:36:57,960 --> 00:37:02,240 ..coming out of her stomach like umbilical cords. 299 00:37:03,040 --> 00:37:06,480 A cold, dehumanized machine,... 300 00:37:06,520 --> 00:37:09,400 ..an orchid, a gift from Diego,... 301 00:37:09,440 --> 00:37:14,240 ..the fractured pelvic bone, that is the cause of all her problems,... 302 00:37:14,280 --> 00:37:16,400 ..an orthopedic cast,... 303 00:37:16,440 --> 00:37:21,680 ..a snail, symbolizing the slowness of the abortion,... 304 00:37:21,720 --> 00:37:26,240 ..and, at the center, her unborn son. 305 00:37:26,280 --> 00:37:31,120 His lifeless body is floating above her like a ghost,... 306 00:37:31,160 --> 00:37:33,640 ..but she is staring in our direction... 307 00:37:33,680 --> 00:37:37,480 ..as if she cannot bear the nightmarish vision. 308 00:37:37,520 --> 00:37:40,920 Its qualities and potency are undeniable... 309 00:37:40,960 --> 00:37:46,200 ..as is its representation of a woman's resilience to pain and suffering. 310 00:37:46,240 --> 00:37:51,080 A representation depicted through the Mexican ex-voto form. 311 00:38:40,400 --> 00:38:48,840 All of Frida Khalo's easel works are inspired by ex-voto paintings. 312 00:38:48,880 --> 00:38:56,080 Ex-votos are stories told by people to thank a saint,... 313 00:38:56,120 --> 00:38:58,720 ..or the virgin Mary. 314 00:39:00,200 --> 00:39:05,720 They might give thanks only because they are alive. 315 00:39:09,120 --> 00:39:11,520 Ex-votos are short films with a beginning and an end,... 316 00:39:11,560 --> 00:39:18,800 ..a scene illustrating the moment, and a text telling the story. 317 00:39:22,320 --> 00:39:25,680 Ex-voto paintings come from Europe,... 318 00:39:25,720 --> 00:39:29,720 ..but it is here in Mexico that they take on more human warmth. 319 00:39:31,920 --> 00:39:37,480 When people tell me a story, I feel they expose themselves,... 320 00:39:37,520 --> 00:39:43,480 ..trusting me with their feelings. 321 00:39:43,840 --> 00:39:50,040 The retablero's task is to explain what people want. 322 00:39:50,080 --> 00:39:54,440 Sometimes it is painful, but it is necessary. 323 00:39:54,480 --> 00:39:58,240 Here in Mexico we have to give thanks for this. 324 00:41:21,120 --> 00:41:23,640 By the end of 1933,... 325 00:41:23,680 --> 00:41:27,040 ..about 1 year and a half after the abortion in Detroit,... 326 00:41:27,080 --> 00:41:32,160 ..Diego reluctantly agrees to take his wife back to Mexico. 327 00:41:35,000 --> 00:41:39,720 This has a big backlash on the balance of the couple relationship. 328 00:41:40,240 --> 00:41:44,760 Frida is happy to end this grim chapter of her life. 329 00:41:44,800 --> 00:41:48,280 She is unaware that the worst is yet to come. 330 00:42:08,320 --> 00:42:13,680 I had never suffered so much. And did not think I could take so much pain. 331 00:42:14,640 --> 00:42:16,800 You cannot even imagine what state I'm in. 332 00:42:16,840 --> 00:42:20,960 And I know it is going to take me years to get out of this mess that I have in my head. 333 00:42:25,320 --> 00:42:27,640 At the beginning I thought there was a solution. 334 00:42:27,680 --> 00:42:32,680 I thought that what had happened would be something that would last a short time and wouldn't be serious. 335 00:42:34,600 --> 00:42:39,680 But every day I am more and more convinced that it was just wishful thinking. 336 00:42:51,120 --> 00:42:54,320 After a time in the United States,... 337 00:42:54,320 --> 00:43:01,080 ..Frida and Diego moved to these twin houses Diego had commissioned his friend,... 338 00:43:01,120 --> 00:43:04,320 ..the architect and extraordinary painter Juan O'Gorman,... 339 00:43:04,360 --> 00:43:10,080 ..to build in the San Ángel district. 340 00:43:10,120 --> 00:43:13,680 The houses are separated. 341 00:43:13,720 --> 00:43:17,000 Two houses,... 342 00:43:17,040 --> 00:43:23,680 ..one is for Diego, with a studio and one room,... 343 00:43:23,720 --> 00:43:28,400 ..and the other house with a study is for Frida. 344 00:43:32,880 --> 00:43:39,680 Diego, when asked for the eccentricity of the twin separated houses,... 345 00:43:39,720 --> 00:43:47,520 ..would answer in a very amusing way that they preserved conjugal peace. 346 00:43:47,560 --> 00:43:52,080 Frida Kahlo lived only a short time in these houses. 347 00:43:52,120 --> 00:43:58,480 Her emotional balance was precarious. 348 00:43:58,520 --> 00:44:05,960 When she lived here, she learnt of Diego's romance with Cristina, her sister. 349 00:44:06,000 --> 00:44:13,360 It created a deep emotional fracture between them. 350 00:44:24,240 --> 00:44:27,960 Reciprocal infidelities had been a constant in their marriage,... 351 00:44:28,000 --> 00:44:31,440 ..but learning that Diego had been with her sister Cristina... 352 00:44:31,480 --> 00:44:34,080 ..proved to be a blow too low for Frida. 353 00:44:34,080 --> 00:44:38,240 She leaves Rivera, and goes to live on her own for almost a year. 354 00:44:40,080 --> 00:44:42,760 She is trying to reinvent herself,... 355 00:44:42,800 --> 00:44:47,320 ..to emancipate herself from her broken body and failed love story... 356 00:44:47,360 --> 00:44:52,560 ..using the canvas as a reminder of what she has chosen to leave behind. 357 00:44:52,600 --> 00:44:57,960 She creates one of her most visceral, ... 358 00:44:58,000 --> 00:45:00,360 .."A Few Small Nips". 359 00:45:06,640 --> 00:45:12,360 Inside a tiny frame Frida represents a bloodied woman lying on a bed,... 360 00:45:12,600 --> 00:45:17,840 ..her blood-splattered killer still wielding the knife in his right hand. 361 00:45:17,880 --> 00:45:20,120 In an image of surreal horror... 362 00:45:20,160 --> 00:45:24,720 ..her upper and lower body are portrayed in inverse directions. 363 00:45:25,400 --> 00:45:30,480 The killer in the painting is portrayed as the classic Latino-macho cliché... 364 00:45:30,520 --> 00:45:35,080 ..standing strong and proud with a beast-like glare. 365 00:45:36,400 --> 00:45:40,160 The woman is reduced to a lifeless object... 366 00:45:40,200 --> 00:45:43,600 ..unable to answer the observer's questions... 367 00:45:43,640 --> 00:45:46,280 ..as to what has happened. 368 00:46:07,480 --> 00:46:10,040 It is at this point in her life... 369 00:46:10,080 --> 00:46:13,640 ..that Frida learns how to support herself,... 370 00:46:13,680 --> 00:46:17,160 ..how to emerge out of Diego's shadow. 371 00:46:29,000 --> 00:46:36,000 She starts, consciously or not, to work on her image as an icon. 372 00:46:45,440 --> 00:46:51,480 Each object is part of her life, of her personality. 373 00:46:52,560 --> 00:46:58,400 Through the object you discover the artist, the person. 374 00:46:58,440 --> 00:47:03,680 She knew this well, that's why she dressed as she did and wore necklaces. 375 00:47:03,720 --> 00:47:10,400 She knew well the meaning all these things had in her life, and in her work. 376 00:47:11,360 --> 00:47:15,040 And she turned her-self into a work of art. 377 00:47:15,080 --> 00:47:17,880 With all these things... 378 00:47:19,200 --> 00:47:21,920 It's very interesting. 379 00:47:23,760 --> 00:47:29,480 She rebuilt herself with the objects that surrounded her. 380 00:47:29,520 --> 00:47:36,560 And these things gave her life. They are part of her work. 381 00:47:36,600 --> 00:47:41,680 "I paint to paint, I paint what surrounds me, what I love". 382 00:47:42,400 --> 00:47:46,800 They also reveal a woman intellectually restless,... 383 00:47:47,560 --> 00:47:51,560 ..who is not weak at all. 384 00:47:51,600 --> 00:47:53,320 Frida weak? No. 385 00:47:53,360 --> 00:47:55,800 She was a cheerful woman... 386 00:47:56,880 --> 00:48:01,240 She loved mariachi, tequila, the will to live. 387 00:48:03,400 --> 00:48:08,880 She turned her house, her clothes, and her objects 388 00:48:08,920 --> 00:48:11,720 into art for herself. 389 00:48:11,760 --> 00:48:16,680 She turned them into art... 390 00:48:16,720 --> 00:48:21,880 ..in her house, on herself, and in her paintings. 391 00:48:27,400 --> 00:48:32,120 This is from Tehuantepec in Oaxaca. 392 00:48:32,160 --> 00:48:37,160 It is incredibly well preserved because it is made of very fragile material. 393 00:48:37,200 --> 00:48:41,560 She used these things to decorate. 394 00:48:53,520 --> 00:48:57,320 Tehuantepec is a major city in the state of Oaxaca... 395 00:48:57,360 --> 00:48:59,400 ..in south-western Mexico. 396 00:49:01,800 --> 00:49:04,200 It is the center of Zapotec culture... 397 00:49:04,240 --> 00:49:08,720 ..and has a reputation for been a matriarchal society. 398 00:49:15,360 --> 00:49:19,160 The women of Tehuantepec still dominate the local market... 399 00:49:19,640 --> 00:49:22,800 ..and are famous for their traditional dresses. 400 00:49:24,040 --> 00:49:30,400 Frida never got to see this place, but fell in love with its ideals and aesthetics,... 401 00:49:30,440 --> 00:49:34,720 ..especially with the "huipil grande", the traditional headdress,... 402 00:49:34,760 --> 00:49:39,640 ..in which she frames her face in "Self Portrait" as a Tehuana. 403 00:49:39,680 --> 00:49:46,320 Flowers garnish her forehead like a crown endowing her with a royal look. 404 00:49:46,360 --> 00:49:49,680 She is graceful, ethereal. 405 00:49:49,720 --> 00:49:54,400 The perfect representation of a completely different world. 406 00:50:41,400 --> 00:50:47,560 The Zapotec world of Tehuantepec or Juchitan is very interesting... 407 00:50:47,600 --> 00:50:51,600 ..because it is not as modern as other places,... 408 00:50:51,640 --> 00:50:54,360 ..at least until recently, when I visited Juchitan. 409 00:50:54,400 --> 00:50:59,200 They like partying a lot. 410 00:50:59,240 --> 00:51:03,480 This is what happens after a "kidnapping". They call it kidnapping but it's not that. 411 00:51:03,520 --> 00:51:08,280 The bride's mother tells them her daughter is not a virgin,.. 412 00:51:08,320 --> 00:51:14,240 ..and they dance of joy, but they also cry because it's a drama. 413 00:51:14,280 --> 00:51:21,120 Bride and groom go to the groom's parents house,... 414 00:51:21,160 --> 00:51:24,160 ..where they take away her virginity with a finger. 415 00:51:24,200 --> 00:51:26,440 It's hard but that's how it goes. 416 00:51:26,480 --> 00:51:33,200 If the next day his mother, they are at his house, sees there is blood,... 417 00:51:33,240 --> 00:51:35,080 ..which means the girl was a virgin,... 418 00:51:35,120 --> 00:51:38,840 ..they place red tulips and confetti,... 419 00:51:38,880 --> 00:51:43,600 ..and then they sing, celebrate sand cry. 420 00:53:15,480 --> 00:53:19,040 Frida was a very sensitive woman, she loved this,... 421 00:53:19,080 --> 00:53:22,520 and that's how she dressed, with her shawls and her jewelry... 422 00:53:22,560 --> 00:53:24,800 A lot of her jewelry was stolen when she died. 423 00:53:24,840 --> 00:53:34,200 She was really in love with Mexican clothes and jewelry. 424 00:53:34,240 --> 00:53:41,280 She even tried getting clothes she liked through her favorite dealers. 425 00:53:41,360 --> 00:53:45,480 This is a party. Both women and men drink a lot. 426 00:53:46,040 --> 00:53:50,280 Men fall down but women do not, they handle it better. 427 00:53:50,320 --> 00:53:55,800 Women sell at the market. 428 00:53:55,880 --> 00:54:01,400 Men are not allowed to go. 429 00:54:01,440 --> 00:54:06,640 Women manage the family economy. We call it matriarchy. 430 00:56:39,640 --> 00:56:42,880 I do not know whether it is a special situation here in Mexico,... 431 00:56:42,920 --> 00:56:50,720 ..but for us Mexicans, when someone suffers severe pain,... 432 00:56:50,760 --> 00:56:56,920 ..we feel a sort of compassion, and she was made a saint, right? 433 00:56:57,240 --> 00:57:02,240 Frida was made a saint, and this is the most visited museum that most people go to. 434 00:57:02,280 --> 00:57:08,440 It is a very important image, for everybody. 435 00:57:08,480 --> 00:57:15,760 I don't relieve in the myth of Saint Frida, and that she was feminist... 436 00:57:15,800 --> 00:57:18,040 I do not think it's true. 437 00:57:18,080 --> 00:57:23,960 When feminists present Frida as a feminist, I wonder why. 438 00:57:24,000 --> 00:57:26,080 No, she was not a feminist. 439 00:57:26,120 --> 00:57:28,800 She was a liberated woman,... 440 00:57:28,840 --> 00:57:35,480 ..like Diego, free to have sex with whomever she liked, women, men, 441 00:57:35,520 --> 00:57:40,280 ..but, I think always submissive with Diego. 442 00:57:46,640 --> 00:57:51,640 The most intense of these liaisons are with the photographer Nickolas Muray,... 443 00:57:52,680 --> 00:57:55,920 ..and the Japanese-American artist, Isamu Noguchi. 444 00:57:57,440 --> 00:58:02,760 She is happy again. And this is something Diego cannot stand. 445 00:58:06,080 --> 00:58:09,960 He storms off to her home, armed as usual,... 446 00:58:10,000 --> 00:58:12,480 ..in order to reclaim her. 447 00:58:31,760 --> 00:58:35,400 Diego's return opens a new chapter in Frida's life,... 448 00:58:35,440 --> 00:58:41,440 one where their house becomes a beacon, for the most prominent intellectuals of the time. 449 00:58:45,720 --> 00:58:51,280 Leo Trotsky goes on trial at the home of Mr and Mrs Diego Rivera in Mexico. 450 00:58:51,320 --> 00:58:53,640 The trial's entirely unofficial. 451 00:58:53,680 --> 00:59:00,080 In Moscow the Russian government charged Trotsky, on left, of being a counter-revolutionist. 452 00:59:02,520 --> 00:59:05,800 Diego managed to convince the Mexican president... 453 00:59:05,840 --> 00:59:08,720 ..to give asylum to the Soviet exile. 454 00:59:12,640 --> 00:59:17,520 It didn't take long for Frida and Trotsky to become attracted to each other. 455 00:59:17,560 --> 00:59:20,120 Their secret affair didn't last long,... 456 00:59:20,160 --> 00:59:27,760 ..but Diego's jealous reaction to his political hero, sufficed to give her immense satisfaction. 457 00:59:29,640 --> 00:59:36,320 In 1938, the Surrealism theorist, André Breton, landed in Mexico. 458 00:59:36,880 --> 00:59:39,240 Together with Rivera and Trotsky,... 459 00:59:39,280 --> 00:59:44,840 ..he published the "Manifesto for an Independent Revolutionary Art",... 460 00:59:44,880 --> 00:59:50,400 ..with the intent of using culture as a weapon against totalitarian regimes. 461 00:59:52,000 --> 00:59:56,280 It was Frida's works that captured his attention. 462 00:59:56,320 --> 01:00:00,040 Comparing them to the European surrealist movement,... 463 01:00:00,080 --> 01:00:04,480 ..he describes them as a "ribbon around a bomb". 464 01:00:06,360 --> 01:00:09,280 Frida rejected the comparison. 465 01:00:09,320 --> 01:00:15,040 She didn't want to represent the petit bourgeois dream landscape, for its own sake. 466 01:00:15,080 --> 01:00:19,800 She wanted to use her vision to represent the Mexican underbelly,... 467 01:00:19,840 --> 01:00:23,400 ..filtered through its cultural iconography. 468 01:00:31,840 --> 01:00:36,280 I never painted dreams. I painted my own reality. 469 01:00:49,640 --> 01:00:54,480 In "What the Water Gave Me", something extraordinary happens. 470 01:00:54,520 --> 01:00:58,240 We finally see the world from Frida's point of view. 471 01:00:58,280 --> 01:01:03,080 It's a rare, intimate portrayal of her creative process. 472 01:01:03,120 --> 01:01:08,440 Under the apparently calm, relaxed waters of a daily bath,... 473 01:01:08,480 --> 01:01:12,560 ..we witness her visual stream of consciousness. 474 01:01:12,600 --> 01:01:19,600 There's a sense of melancholy, as Frida remembers some of her past works her parents,... 475 01:01:19,640 --> 01:01:22,000 ..and the terrible American years... 476 01:01:22,040 --> 01:01:27,040 ..shown through an Empire State Building swallowed by a volcano. 477 01:01:27,080 --> 01:01:34,680 The flowering desert plants, and their roots betray a desire for rebirth. 478 01:01:40,000 --> 01:01:43,800 Her vision is further explored in "The Dream",... 479 01:01:43,840 --> 01:01:47,320 ..where a Día de Los Muertos skeleton floats,... 480 01:01:47,360 --> 01:01:52,320 ..above a sleeping Frida wired with explosives. 481 01:01:52,360 --> 01:01:57,160 The artist, on the other side, is covered with green plants,... 482 01:01:57,200 --> 01:02:02,240 ..challenging the Grim Reaper with the beauty of Life. 483 01:02:02,280 --> 01:02:06,680 She is mocking Death in a typical Mexican style. 484 01:02:16,160 --> 01:02:22,560 She has this beautiful painting where she is lying in bed, and death is lying above her. 485 01:02:24,000 --> 01:02:28,480 I think she said the same 486 01:02:28,520 --> 01:02:34,400 "The Skull smiled at us", fate gave us a second chance. 487 01:02:35,520 --> 01:02:41,880 A nice thing in Mexico is that we play with death,... 488 01:02:41,920 --> 01:02:48,120 ..we laugh with it, we eat it, we entertain ourselves with it, we paint it. 489 01:02:48,160 --> 01:02:51,760 It is a tradition here in Mexico. 490 01:02:51,800 --> 01:02:57,720 We play with it when we put on a death mask,... 491 01:02:57,760 --> 01:03:02,760 ..we eat it in the Skull shaped sweets sold in November,... 492 01:03:02,800 --> 01:03:07,520 ..we laugh with it because we paint it drunk and playful. 493 01:03:07,560 --> 01:03:12,920 I think we all carry death on our backs,... 494 01:03:12,960 --> 01:03:15,720 ..that's how it is for me,... 495 01:03:15,760 --> 01:03:20,440 ... 496 01:03:20,480 --> 01:03:24,880 "Enough, let's go," or "Be happy and enjoy your life". 497 01:03:48,760 --> 01:03:55,120 In 1938, things with Diego start worsening again... 498 01:03:55,160 --> 01:04:01,240 ..to the point on 6th of November, their marriage is over. 499 01:04:32,360 --> 01:04:35,840 The day the divorce documents reach Frida,... 500 01:04:35,880 --> 01:04:40,480 ..she finished her largest ... 501 01:04:40,520 --> 01:04:43,000 .."The Two Fridas". 502 01:05:06,480 --> 01:05:12,080 Here we have one of the most well-known, painting by Frida Kahlo, "The Two Fridas". 503 01:05:12,120 --> 01:05:16,720 It is a single person depicted twice. 504 01:05:16,760 --> 01:05:19,480 She had just divorced Diego Rivera,... 505 01:05:19,520 --> 01:05:25,200 ..and here she depicts him in a small portrait from which comes out... 506 01:05:25,240 --> 01:05:30,520 ..an artery uniting the two hearts of Frida Kahlo,... 507 01:05:30,560 --> 01:05:39,000 ..to represent her racial richness, Spanish, indigenous, Criollo. 508 01:05:39,040 --> 01:05:46,120 A hemostat stop the blood which turns into flowers. 509 01:05:46,160 --> 01:05:51,280 Blood becomes life, as everything does with Frida. Pain becomes art. 510 01:05:51,320 --> 01:05:56,400 A dark sky announces a storm, loneliness. 511 01:06:02,000 --> 01:06:04,720 The fact I painted myself twice. 512 01:06:04,760 --> 01:06:09,360 Doesn't mean it was only a representation of solitude. It's almost like. 513 01:06:09,400 --> 01:06:13,040 Turning to myself, searching for my own help. 514 01:06:13,080 --> 01:06:16,760 It's for this reason that the two figures shake hands. 515 01:06:16,800 --> 01:06:19,280 I don't think the difference in style of the clothes... 516 01:06:19,320 --> 01:06:22,800 ..is of greater importance than that of the color or form. 517 01:06:24,360 --> 01:06:27,680 The most vivid object in the picture is the hearts. 518 01:06:27,720 --> 01:06:31,920 That are enjoined by imaginary arteries. To become just one. 519 01:06:54,360 --> 01:07:00,240 After the divorce Frida's body continues to torment her. 520 01:07:06,920 --> 01:07:13,480 She is used to it now, and knows she will never escape from her cage of flesh... 521 01:07:13,520 --> 01:07:17,400 ..facing her sorrow with great dignity and calm,... 522 01:07:17,440 --> 01:07:22,680 ..even when thorns pierce her neck, like the crown on Jesus' head. 523 01:07:22,720 --> 01:07:27,000 The apparent grace of the flora and fauna surrounding her,... 524 01:07:27,040 --> 01:07:31,120 ..are a wretched reminder of what she has lost. 525 01:07:31,160 --> 01:07:35,760 A once lively, brightly-colored humming bird is dark,... 526 01:07:35,800 --> 01:07:40,880 ..hanging from her necklace, while a monkey distractedly proceeds,... 527 01:07:40,920 --> 01:07:44,640 ..with the tightening of her instrument of torture. 528 01:07:48,360 --> 01:07:55,560 This time, Frida will not give her captors the satisfaction of seeing her cry. 529 01:07:58,080 --> 01:08:02,320 Coyoacán, near Mexico City, August 20th, 1940. 530 01:08:02,640 --> 01:08:07,840 A young man plunges a mountain climber's axe in the old man's skull. 531 01:08:10,000 --> 01:08:13,400 The exiled, Leon Trotsky, is dead. 532 01:08:17,520 --> 01:08:21,040 After Trosky's death, Frida is put in custody,... 533 01:08:21,080 --> 01:08:24,040 ..and questioned by the police for twelve hours. 534 01:08:24,080 --> 01:08:31,000 A few months earlier Diego had fled to the U.S. because he was among the suspects. 535 01:08:31,040 --> 01:08:36,600 When he learns that Frida is being arrested, and about her health conditions,... 536 01:08:36,640 --> 01:08:40,680 ..he urges her to join him in the United States. 537 01:08:40,720 --> 01:08:45,960 It is there, for some reason, that they decide to remarry. 538 01:08:53,600 --> 01:08:58,560 Despite the ups and downs between Diego Rivera and Frida Khalo... 539 01:08:58,600 --> 01:09:04,440 ..due to multiple affairs on both sides,... 540 01:09:04,480 --> 01:09:09,080 they were always friends, they were always close. 541 01:09:12,800 --> 01:09:18,680 Frida forgave Diego for his affair with her sister Cristina,... 542 01:09:18,720 --> 01:09:21,840 ..and they remarried. 543 01:09:21,880 --> 01:09:28,080 Frida agreed to remarry under some conditions. 544 01:09:28,120 --> 01:09:34,360 There were two main conditions. The first one is no sex. 545 01:09:34,400 --> 01:09:40,680 The second, determined by Frida's increased confidence in her art,... 546 01:09:40,720 --> 01:09:44,160 ..in her creativity,... 547 01:09:44,200 --> 01:09:51,680 ..was that she would pay her own way after the marriage. 548 01:09:57,560 --> 01:10:01,520 In the early forties, Frida's career takes off. 549 01:10:01,560 --> 01:10:03,760 She is now accepted worldwide... 550 01:10:03,800 --> 01:10:09,800 ..as one of Mexico's most prominent painters, and her commissions skyrocket. 551 01:10:11,600 --> 01:10:16,080 She's on the verge of achieving full artistic recognition,... 552 01:10:16,120 --> 01:10:20,760 ..but health-wise, there would be a heavy price to pay. 553 01:10:52,800 --> 01:10:57,360 Frida's backbone and right foot start worsening. 554 01:10:57,400 --> 01:11:01,040 Her vertebras cannot sustain her body anymore. 555 01:11:01,080 --> 01:11:07,480 A bone surgeon prescribes her complete rest and a bust to support her spine. 556 01:11:28,160 --> 01:11:33,680 Well, here we have Frida's corsets. She could not walk without them. 557 01:11:33,720 --> 01:11:36,880 She depicts this physical limitation... 558 01:11:36,920 --> 01:11:42,400 ..in one of her most important paintings, "The Broken Column",... 559 01:11:44,760 --> 01:11:47,120 ..a fragmented column. 560 01:11:47,160 --> 01:11:50,520 She is crying, she illustrates pain,... 561 01:11:50,560 --> 01:11:56,680 ..but she looks straight ahead and is not overwhelmed by life. 562 01:11:57,560 --> 01:12:01,320 Here she brings together pain and life. 563 01:12:01,360 --> 01:12:06,040 She is accustomed to facing life, and she invites the onlooker to look at her,... 564 01:12:06,080 --> 01:12:09,600 ..at her feelings, at her deepest being. 565 01:12:19,240 --> 01:12:24,200 In 1946, Frida goes to New York to undergo surgery... 566 01:12:24,240 --> 01:12:28,880 ..that would later reveal itself to be a complete failure. 567 01:12:28,920 --> 01:12:33,040 To solve her spine problem, 4 vertebras are fused together... 568 01:12:33,080 --> 01:12:36,480 ..with a piece of bone removed from her pelvis,... 569 01:12:36,520 --> 01:12:39,240 ..and a five-inch long metal bar. 570 01:12:56,080 --> 01:12:58,080 Pain is real. 571 01:12:58,120 --> 01:13:04,640 And if you ever experience pain in your life, you know pain is not romantic at all. 572 01:13:04,680 --> 01:13:06,880 Pain is disgusting. 573 01:13:06,920 --> 01:13:13,000 Frida is obsessed with it, and she wants to know everything about her suffering. 574 01:13:32,560 --> 01:13:36,760 Frida's pain gets worse and worse,... 575 01:13:36,800 --> 01:13:41,200 and she represents it in emblematic works of art such as "The Wounded Deer",... 576 01:13:41,240 --> 01:13:47,000 ..a desolate, deserted landscape with sad trees. 577 01:13:47,040 --> 01:13:53,600 The arrows piercing her body represent the pain she feels. 578 01:13:56,120 --> 01:14:00,520 I leave you my portrait. So that you will have my presence. 579 01:14:00,560 --> 01:14:04,760 All the days and nights, that I am away from you. 580 01:14:04,800 --> 01:14:08,400 The sadness is portrayed in all my painting. 581 01:14:08,400 --> 01:14:12,840 But that's my condition. I do not have any composure. 582 01:14:18,400 --> 01:14:24,040 Imagine how poor Frida had to paint wearing these things. 583 01:14:24,080 --> 01:14:30,840 I had the opportunity to visit Frida Kahlo's museum a few years ago... 584 01:14:30,880 --> 01:14:34,880 when Hilda asked me to photograph her "huipiles". 585 01:14:34,920 --> 01:14:41,320 I noticed that they had just opened her bathroom, after 50 years. 586 01:14:41,920 --> 01:14:45,720 When Frida Kahlo died in the year '54,... 587 01:14:45,760 --> 01:14:51,800 ..Diego said that this bathroom was not to be opened for 15 years,... 588 01:14:51,840 --> 01:14:54,120 ..that's where all her belongings were,... 589 01:14:54,160 --> 01:14:58,800 ..but 50 years went by and the bathroom was not opened. 590 01:14:58,840 --> 01:15:02,080 When I saw it, right after it had been opened,... 591 01:15:02,120 --> 01:15:08,360 ..I asked for permission to photograph all of Frida's objects,... 592 01:15:08,400 --> 01:15:11,280 ... 593 01:15:11,320 --> 01:15:16,080 ..corsets, crutches,... 594 01:15:16,120 --> 01:15:22,080 ..prosthesis, all these objects of pain. 595 01:15:22,120 --> 01:15:24,800 Everything was in the tub. 596 01:15:24,840 --> 01:15:30,280 I simply took Frida's objects and interpreted them,... 597 01:15:30,320 --> 01:15:33,920 ..in the bathroom and in other places,... 598 01:15:33,960 --> 01:15:42,920 ..to have a report on Frida's pain, because it is her pain. 599 01:16:48,560 --> 01:16:52,440 Possibly, in reaction to her own physical limits,... 600 01:16:52,480 --> 01:16:56,120 ..Frida's artistic vision gains in scope. 601 01:16:56,160 --> 01:17:00,440 A wide open space surrounds her small world in paintings,... 602 01:17:00,480 --> 01:17:04,840 ..such as Moses or The Nucleus of Creation,... 603 01:17:04,880 --> 01:17:11,120 ..where her traditional landmarks merge with spiritual elements from all over the world,... 604 01:17:11,160 --> 01:17:15,360 ..as the titular baby is ready to come into existence. 605 01:17:15,400 --> 01:17:19,640 "People need to make up gods and heroes", Frida said,... 606 01:17:19,680 --> 01:17:22,960 .."because they are afraid of life and death". 607 01:17:23,000 --> 01:17:28,160 There's a sense of purpose in this masterpiece of clarity. 608 01:17:28,200 --> 01:17:32,040 As if this ensemble of Frida's protectors and villains,... 609 01:17:32,080 --> 01:17:34,320 ..inspirations and failures,... 610 01:17:34,360 --> 01:17:37,680 ..turned her into the artist we all know,... 611 01:17:37,720 --> 01:17:41,880 ..taking her by the hand and never leaving her alone. 612 01:18:02,040 --> 01:18:04,240 I must have been six years old,... 613 01:18:04,280 --> 01:18:08,600 ..when I had the intense experience of an imaginary friendship with a little girl. 614 01:18:15,720 --> 01:18:20,160 I used to breathe on one of the top panes. 615 01:18:20,200 --> 01:18:23,280 And with my finger I would draw a "door". 616 01:18:24,560 --> 01:18:29,040 Through that "door" I would leave, in my imagination, and hurriedly, with immense happiness. 617 01:18:32,400 --> 01:18:36,400 I don't remember her appearance or her color. 618 01:18:36,400 --> 01:18:38,960 But I do remember her joyfulness. 619 01:18:39,000 --> 01:18:41,840 She laughed a lot. Soundlessly. 620 01:18:45,960 --> 01:18:49,720 She was agile and danced as if she were weightless. 621 01:18:55,400 --> 01:18:58,600 I followed her in every movement. 622 01:18:59,880 --> 01:19:03,600 And while she danced, I told her my secret problems. 623 01:19:08,560 --> 01:19:11,160 I was happy. 624 01:19:23,600 --> 01:19:26,400 Life hasn't been kind to Frida. 625 01:19:26,440 --> 01:19:32,680 The more it takes from her, the more her liberating cry gets louder. 626 01:19:44,960 --> 01:19:52,520 Since 1950 Frida Kahlo's physical condition began to seriously deteriorate,... 627 01:19:52,560 --> 01:19:56,480 ..and she has to go repeatedly to hospital. 628 01:19:56,520 --> 01:20:05,080 In 1950 she was hospitalized on seven different occasions. 629 01:20:05,120 --> 01:20:08,880 It was a very difficult time for her. 630 01:20:08,920 --> 01:20:14,200 Gangrene set into four toes of her right foot,... 631 01:20:14,240 --> 01:20:17,200 ..and her leg had to be amputated. 632 01:20:22,640 --> 01:20:25,440 In the spring of 1953,... 633 01:20:25,480 --> 01:20:32,240 ..it is clear to everybody that Frida is about to enter the last chapter of her life. 634 01:20:32,280 --> 01:20:36,040 Possibly influenced by her physical situation,... 635 01:20:36,080 --> 01:20:38,720 ..a personal exhibition of her works... 636 01:20:38,760 --> 01:20:44,040 ..is organized at the Lola Alvarez Bravo Gallery, in Mexico City. 637 01:20:45,680 --> 01:20:48,840 Her face looks like a mortuary mask,... 638 01:20:48,880 --> 01:20:51,680 ..with cheekbones piercing her pale skin,... 639 01:20:51,720 --> 01:20:59,120 ..and her unblinking eyes fixed upon every stare they come into contact with. 640 01:21:03,440 --> 01:21:07,520 The artist may have been receiving the accolades of a lifetime,... 641 01:21:07,560 --> 01:21:12,840 ..but the woman was waiting upon her own untimely funeral. 642 01:21:20,240 --> 01:21:23,480 August 1953. 643 01:21:23,560 --> 01:21:27,160 It is certain that they are going to amputate my right leg. 644 01:21:29,800 --> 01:21:35,000 Details I don't know much but the opinions are reliable. 645 01:21:35,040 --> 01:21:38,560 I'm very, very worried. 646 01:21:38,600 --> 01:21:41,880 But at the same time I feel it could be a relief. 647 01:22:22,400 --> 01:22:28,600 After all the hours lived through. The vectors continue in their original direction. 648 01:22:28,640 --> 01:22:33,840 Nothing stops them. With no more knowledge than live emotion. 649 01:22:33,880 --> 01:22:38,040 With no other wish than to go on until they meet. 650 01:22:38,080 --> 01:22:41,440 Slowly, with great unease. 651 01:22:41,480 --> 01:22:46,280 But with the certainty that all is guided by the "golden section." 652 01:22:47,360 --> 01:22:49,840 There is cellular arrangement. 653 01:22:49,880 --> 01:22:53,080 There is movement. There is light. 654 01:22:53,080 --> 01:22:56,280 All centers are the same. 655 01:22:56,320 --> 01:22:59,120 Folly doesn't exist. 656 01:22:59,160 --> 01:23:03,400 We are the same as we were and as we will be. 657 01:23:03,440 --> 01:23:06,040 Not counting on idiotic destiny. 658 01:23:09,720 --> 01:23:12,480 I hope the exit is joyful. 659 01:23:12,520 --> 01:23:15,240 And I hope never to return. 660 01:23:40,440 --> 01:23:45,760 On July 13th 1954 Frida Kahlo died. 661 01:23:45,800 --> 01:23:49,960 The official cause of death was pulmonary embolism. 662 01:24:47,480 --> 01:24:53,560 First the illness she suffered as a child,... 663 01:24:53,560 --> 01:25:04,000 ..according to what I read, and then the streetcar accident that pierced her,... 664 01:25:04,040 --> 01:25:07,720 ..that's agony,... 665 01:25:07,760 --> 01:25:11,560 ..but the pain she paints is the one that carries in her soul. 666 01:25:27,120 --> 01:25:31,080 These are my feet, in Frida's tub. 667 01:25:31,120 --> 01:25:35,000 I have a problem in my foot, ... 668 01:25:35,040 --> 01:25:39,480 .."Fridita, please forgive me", because I laid down in her tub. 669 01:25:39,520 --> 01:25:43,960 This is my foot after the surgery. That's me, I laid down and took a photo. 670 01:25:44,000 --> 01:25:49,160 It's a self-portrait, but I think I did something wrong. 671 01:25:49,200 --> 01:25:54,080 When I have surgery, I'll light a candle to Santa Frida, so she can cure me. 672 01:26:02,840 --> 01:26:11,320 I discovered Frida Kahlo when I was about ten years old, reading a book. 673 01:26:11,360 --> 01:26:16,520 I remember I felt confused, I thought "poor woman",... 674 01:26:16,560 --> 01:26:21,000 ..she must have suffered a lot, and she was my father's aunt. 675 01:26:24,240 --> 01:26:28,720 But I think that I keep discovering Frida, we all keep discovering her. 676 01:26:35,240 --> 01:26:40,680 Frida Kahlo was like a child, and in her house, with all those things. 677 01:26:40,720 --> 01:26:44,160 She is playing with you, she is playing with the viewer, right? 678 01:26:44,200 --> 01:26:46,160 She is leaving clues for you to find. 679 01:26:46,160 --> 01:26:51,480 this is the part of myself I want people to see. 680 01:27:10,280 --> 01:27:15,160 Before her departure, she picked up her brush for one last time... 681 01:27:15,200 --> 01:27:18,360 ..to write a short sentence. 682 01:27:18,400 --> 01:27:20,640 "Viva la Vida".