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 Nickolas Muray Papers

Nickolas Muray (1892-1965) was a close friend and lover of Frida Kahlo. The Hungarian-born photographer's celebrity portraits appeared regularly in Vanity Fair and Harper's Bazaar. He also took numerous photographs of Kahlo and purchased many of Kahlo's paintings, helping her financially while she was struggling during her brief eleven-month divorce from Rivera. She was having an affair with Muray when she and Rivera filed for divorce in 1939; although it is unclear whether the cause of the separation was Kahlo's or Rivera's infidelity. These intimate letters attest to Kahlo's close relationship with Muray.

Frida Kahlo in Paris to Nickolas Muray in New York, 1939 Feb. 16. Letter. 26 x 21 cm. Nickolas Muray papers, 1911-1978. Archives of American Art.

Gathering at the Riveras' San Angel home, 1938. Photograph, b&w. 20 x 25 cm. Nickolas Muray papers, 1911-1978. Archives of American Art.

Frida Kahlo to Nickolas Muray, 1939 Feb. 27. Letter. 27 x 21 cm. Nickolas Muray papers, 1911-1978. Archives of American Art.