Frida Kahlo
Chapter 1
Leaning close to
the cold window pane in her bedroom, Frida took a deep
breath and exhaled forcefully, forming a frosty circle in
the middle of the window darkened by night. Her full
black eyebrows met one another as she concentrated on
drawing a door that filled the circle. Confined to her
bed for months by polio, the only part of Frida that
still leapt and played was her inventive mind. She wished
she could leave her boredom and step through the door
into a fantastic world.
Staring at the translucent entrance, Frida imagined herself walking through it and crossing a large field that led to a dairy called Pinzon; through the O in the sign she slid easily into the center of the earth.
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There Frida found a
little girl her same age, six years old, dancing as if
she weighed nothing at all. While she danced, Frida told
her new friend all her secret problems. Many years later,
when Frida Kahlo was a famous artist, she remembered the
imaginary little girl: "I do not remember her image or
color. But I do know that she laughed a lot. How long had
I been with her? I do not know. It could have been a
second or thousands of years....I was happy."
Frida cherished the memory of what she called her "magic friendship." The imaginary child was her first creative act, and it foreshadowed her career as a portrait artist.
Cover
of Frida Kahlo
University of New Mexico Press
ISBN 0-8263-1642-5
1-800-249-7737
amazon.com
barnes
and noble
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