Episode One: The Making and Breaking

Episoe one tells the story of the young Frida growing up in a time of revolution, from her rebellious school days to an encounter with the man who would change her life – Diego Rivera, then one of the world’s most famous artists.

In 1925 a tragic accident thwarts Frida’s ambition of becoming a doctor, when a tram crashes into the bus she is travelling on, gravely injuring the teenage Kahlo. Miraculously she survives, but is confined to many lonely months recuperating, but she finds a new passion: painting.

When she finally ventures out again into Mexico City, it has become a thriving hub for artists and intellectuals from all over the world. The ambitious young Frida tracks down Rivera, and demands his opinion on her artistic potential, his words setting her upon a new path as an artist.

Fiercely independent, Frida becomes entranced by photographer and former Hollywood actress, Tina Modotti, who is living in Mexico. A politically radical and sexually liberated woman, she is a role model for the young artist. At one of Tina’s infamously raucous parties, Frida sees Diego Rivera again – and this time it’s love.

Just six months later, 22-year-old Frida Kahlo marries Diego Rivera, 20 years her senior. Although very much in love she soon discovers that life with Diego isn’t all wedded bliss; there are other women and his work always comes first.

Contributors include: Martha Zamora, biographer; Cristina Kahlo, great-niece of Frida Kahlo; Professor Luis-Martin Lozano, series consultant, art historian and curator; Marina Vasquez Ramos, art historian and author; Juan Coronel Rivera, Diego Rivera’s grandson; Hayden Herrera, biographer; Gannit Ankori, curator and author; Stephanie Smith, historian and author; Elena Poniatowska.

Episode Two: Love and Loss

Frida Kahlo and and Diego Rivera travel to San Francisco, where he has an important commission, and the city is abuzz with excitement at their arrival. Frida’s style stirs much excitement and catches the attention of well-known photographers Imogen Cunningham and Edward Weston, who ask her to pose for them.

With Diego constantly working, Frida faces the realities of life as the wife of a famous artist. Determined to succeed in her own right and in the face of his affairs, she paints a powerful marriage portrait Frida and Diego Rivera, which is selected for exhibition.

While Diego is revelling in work from wealthy patrons, Frida is shocked by the vast gap between rich and poor in Depression-era New York and struggles to hide her loathing of high society.

In New York she meets the artist Georgia O’Keefe, a woman who deeply inspires her, and they kindle a romantic relationship.

Diego takes on the most unlikely of commissions in Detroit, funded by the Ford Motor Company, arriving in the city in the aftermath of the shooting of peaceful protestors who had demonstrated against mass-layoffs at the Ford Rouge plant.

Frida falls pregnant and her worst fears are confirmed when she loses her child, she spends 13 agonising days in hospital with her close friend Lucienne Bloch by her side. Frida turns once more to her art and paints Henry Ford Hospital, a devastating portrait of miscarriage and loss.

Tragedy continues when she receives a telegram to say her mother is gravely ill. Desperate, she travels home, without Diego and days later her mother dies. It is devastating, but her trauma and grief leads to one of her most visceral/powerful paintings: My Birth….