Frida Kahlo:
Notas Sobre una Vida
Notes on a Life

Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution
Celebrates Hispanic Heritage Month 2001

Frida Kahlo
in the Florence Arquin Papers

Author and painter Florence Arquin (1900-1974) traveled extensively in Latin America and the Caribbean documenting the art and culture of the region for numerous lectures she delivered in the United States. In 1949, she wrote Diego Rivera: The Shaping of an Artist, 1889-1921, one of the first of many books written about Rivera. A personal friend of both Frida and Diego, Florence Arquin's color photographs were taken in the courtyard of the "Blue House" in the suburbs of Coyoacán, Mexico.

Frida Kahlo in her studio with The Two Fridas, Coyoacán, Mexico, [1943 or 1944]. Photograph, b&w. 18 x 13 cm. Florence Arquin papers, 1923-1985. Archives of American Art.

Frida Kahlo with Self Portrait as a Tehuana, [ca. 1943]. Photograph, b&w. 18 x 13 cm. Florence Arquin papers, 1923-1985. Archives of American Art.

Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera in the interior court of the Detroit Institute of Arts, [ca. 1932]. Photograph, b&w. 17 x 12 cm. Florence Arquin papers, 1923-1985. Archives of American Art.

Frida Kahlo in the patio of her house in Coyoacán, Mexico, 1948. Photograph, col. 08 x 11 cm. Florence Arquin papers, 1923-1985. Archives of American Art.

Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera, Coyoacán, Mexico, 1948. Photograph, col. 11 x 08 cm. Florence Arquin papers, 1923-1985. Archives of American Art.

Frida Kahlo, Coyoacán Mexico, 1948. Photograph, col. 11 x 08 cm. Florence Arquin papers, 1923-1985. Archives of American Art.

Frida Kahlo in the patio of her house, Coyoacán, Mexico, 1948. Photograph, col. 11 x 08 cm. Florence Arquin papers, 1923-1985. Archives of American Art.

Frida in the patio of the Blue House, [195-?]. Photograph, col. 19 x 14 cm. Florence Arquin papers, 1923-1985. Archives of American Art.