One Plus One

One day, the world will hail Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera as Mexico’s greatest artists. But when they first meet in 1922, Frida is still a rebellious schoolgirl, while Diego – who’s twenty years older – is already famous for his huge, colorful murals celebrating the common man. Frida catches Diego’s eye on more than one occasion, but when she shows him her paintings, he becomes positively transfixed. Night and day, Diego thinks about the young artist -- even while he lies in bed with his wife. Diego’s encouragement fuels Frida’s creativity -- as well as her passions -- and soon they become engaged. Frida and Diego are so emotionally entwined that, for Frida at least, it’s hard to tell where she ends and Diego begins. But navigating the space between them will become the central challenge of their partnership. You can see the works of Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera mentioned in this episode on our website: https://wondery.com/shows/one-plus-one/

Both Frida and Diego discover early on the forces that will shape their life’s work, but the legacies of their different upbringings will challenge their creative and romantic union. As a child Frida is struck with polio, which cripples her leg and leaves her bedridden. Then as a young woman, a terrible accident nearly takes her life. The pain and loneliness of these experiences haunt her artwork as an adult. Diego, on the other hand, finds joy in more tangible muses. As a toddler, he’s already creating murals, covering the walls of his home with chalk drawings of trains with cabin cars and cabooses. And by age six, he discovers the grand passion of his life, the one that will become his most enduring source of inspiration — and marital strife. Women.

Newly married, Frida does everything to make Diego happy. She learns to cook his favorite dishes and sits quietly by his side while he creates his murals — all to the detriment of her own work. Frida has always been a non-conformist, but when it comes to Diego, she seems content to play the adoring wife of a genius. Still, life with Diego is too often life without Diego. And when Diego takes up with a beautiful American tennis player, Frida finds herself alone in a foreign country, without the object of her obsessive affection. She channels her feelings into art, painting the piece that will become the first of her works to be publicly exhibited.

Diego is invited to present a one-man show at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. The young museum has hosted just one other solo show, for the French modernist, Henri Matisse. For Diego, the invitation is the greatest honor of his career. The exhibition draws critical acclaim and the largest crowds the museum has ever had. On opening night, Diego is flooded with adoring American fans, while Frida stands silently at his side. In 1932, no one could imagine that Frida’s paintings will one day hang beside Diego’s in this museum — and command a higher price. But first, she has to paint. Just a few months later, another near death experience will send her back to her canvas. And this time, Diego will temporarily put aside his own ambitions to clear the path for Frida to work.

Back in Mexico, Diego feels creatively stifled. He complains about exhaustion, and claims he’s not well enough to paint. And for Diego, painting is oxygen. Frida’s alarmed. She has no idea how to help her husband. So she turns to her sister Christina for help. Christina and Frida are each other’s best and most trusted friends. To jumpstart Diego’s creativity, Frida suggests, perhaps he should try painting Christina. Sure enough, painting Christina revitalizes Diego. Soon she becomes his favorite model—and then, his lover. As an artistic duo, Frida and Diego are neither competitors nor collaborators. They’ve always been each other’s biggest champions. Their conflict, when it’s come, has never been professional, it’s always been personal. And this particular betrayal is so personal. It wrenches Frida and Diego apart. And though Frida can’t fathom it in this agonizing moment, that space will finally provide the artistic liberation she craves.

In 1940, Frida and Diego are married once again. Finally they’ve solved the major challenge in their relationship — finding the right amount of distance and closeness — creating the happy and peaceful home that always eluded them. But now, Frida is facing a new challenge, one she won’t be able to negotiate her way out of: Frida’s health is failing. She knows her time is running out. Frida has always cared for Diego like a child, but as the end approaches, he will become the caretaker she needs. After all that’s happened between them, their bond has never been stronger. He supplies her with love, comfort and paint. But when it comes to other women, Diego cannot change. Frida will paint to release the emotions she’s tried unsuccessfully to tame. The resulting works will be some of the greatest of her career.

Screenwriting duo Phil Hay and Matt Manfredi (Destroyer, Crazy/Beautiful, Ride Along) stop by to discuss how they got their start, how their creative relationship has changed over time, and the biggest hurdles they’ve faced as a team.