Great Lives

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Biographical series in which guests choose someone who has inspired their lives.

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Great Lives: Frida Kahlo nominated by author Jessie Burton

Frida Kahlo

Frida Kahlo nominated by author Jessie Burton

BBC Radio 4 - Great Lives, Frida Kahlo nominated by author Jessie Burton

Artist Frida Kahlo is nominated by Jessie Burton. With Circe Henestrosa.

4 Extra Debut. Author Jessie Burton chooses Mexican artist, Frida Khalo. With Circe Henestrosa and Matthew Parris. From 2020.

“We’re talking here about a woman who was Mexican, dark skinned, disabled and queer, who produced art and didn’t allow her disabilities to define her. She defined who she was on her own terms," says Circe Henestrosa, fashion curator, Frida Khalo scholar and co curator of Frida Kahlo: Making Herself Up.

Circe joins Jessie Burton, author of The Miniaturist in discussion about the Mexican artist known for her self-portraits and her distinctive look - the dresses and flowered hair, the monobrow, the piercing stare. 

Born in 1907, Kahlo's life was a collage of strength, beauty and pain. She survived polio and a bus crash that should have killed her, as well as a complex, passionate marriage to fellow artist Diego Rivera. 

Nominator Jessie Burton celebrates Frida Kahlo as a remarkable life who triumphed over adversity with true grit, glamour and great wit.

Presenter: Matthew Parris

Producer: Nicola Humphries

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in August 2020.

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Frida Kahlo nominated by author Jessie Burton

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