Dead Famous

Original version

BBC Radio 4 FM

BBC Radio 4 is a radio channel that started transmitting on the 30th September 1967. It replaced BBC Home Service.

BBC Radio 4

Radio 4

Radio 4 (FM)

Documentaries

Factual: Arts, Culture & the Media: Arts

Rosie Millard looks at three artists whose reputations were transformed after their deaths

Rosie Millard analyses the legacy of three artists, all of whom rose to global fame many years after they died.

Rosie Millard analyses the legacy of these three artists, all of whom rose to global fame many years after they died. Stepping back in time, she finds the key moments in history that transformed these artists from just dead to Dead Famous.

BBC Radio 4 LW

Dead Famous: Episode Three - Frida Kahlo

Episode Three - Frida Kahlo

BBC Radio 4 - Dead Famous, Episode Three - Frida Kahlo

Rosie Millard uncovers Frida Kahlo’s rise to superstardom.

How did Frida Kahlo become a global star? Rosie Millard explores how the reputation of this celebrated artist was transformed after her death.

In episode three, we look at the work of Frida Kahlo.  Overshadowed in her lifetime by her domineering husband Diego Riviera, Kahlo was not the giant figure of the art world we know today. 

Rosie Millard traces Kahlo’s legacy and her rise to fame through films, marketing fads and ground breaking exhibitions.  We see how patronage by the likes of Madonna helped turn Kahlo into an icon of feminism and triumphant independence.

Vermeer. Van Gogh. Frida Kahlo. Three of the best-known artists in the world.  Their work is reproduced on everything from umbrellas to jigsaw puzzles to fridge magnets. They command record prices in the auction houses and deliver blockbuster shows which sell out immediately. 

It wasn’t always this way, however.  Each died with no idea that their work would become so hugely valuable or that it would inspire Hollywood movies and many future generations of artists and fans. Their work was not globally renowned when they were alive. How did they manage to market themselves so well after death? How did their status rise from zero to hero? 

In this three-part series, Rosie Millard analyses the legacy of these three artists, all of whom rose to global fame many years after they died. Stepping back in time, she finds the key moments in history that transformed these artists from just dead to Dead Famous. 


Presented by Rosie Millard
Producer: Tom Woolfenden 
Executive Producer: Kirsten Lass
A Loftus Media production for BBC Radio 4

Intelligent speech, the most insightful journalism, the wittiest comedy, the most fascinating features and the most compelling drama and readings anywhere in UK radio.

Accessibility links

Programme Index

Dead Famous

Episode Three - Frida Kahlo

Genres

Brand

BBC Radio 4 FM

About BBC Radio 4