Frieda and Diego Rivera
1931
This folkloric style double-portrait may have been based on their wedding photograph. It was completed about two years after their marriage while Frida and Diego were in San Francisco. The difference in height between the couple is not exaggerated. Frida’s dainty feet barely touch the ground and she appears to float beside her larger than life husband. With his palette and brushes in hand, Rivera is portrayed as an artist while she, dressed in traditional Mexican clothes, presents herself only as the adoring wife. She gave this painting to art collector Albert Bender in gratitude for the USA entry visa he helped to acquire for Diego. Diego had previously been refused entry into the USA due to his Communist party affiliation. In the title of this printing, Frida uses the German spelling of her name. The banner at the top of the painting proclaims: “Here you see us, me, Frieda Kahlo, with my beloved husband Diego Rivera. I painted these portraits in the beautiful city of San Francisco California for our friend Mr. Albert Bender, and it was in the month of April of the year 1931“.
When the painting was finished in 1931, a San Francisco newspaper described the work as being valuable only because it was painted by the wife of Diego Rivera.
This painting was shown at the “Sixth Annual Exhibition of the San Francisco Society of Women Artists” – the first public showing of her work.