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The remarkable cache of 25 love letters from Kahlo to her lover Jose Bartoli will now be revealed to the public for the first time when it gets auctioned at Doyle New York this 15 April.
Mexican painter Frida Kahlo, best known for her self-portraits, lived a tumultuous life up until her death at age 47. Not only was she in constant physical pain from a bus accident she was involved in as a teenager, her marriage to fellow Mexican painter Diego Rivera was troubled, worsened by her inability to have children result of the accident.
She found solace in one man – Jose Bartoli – a Spanish artist whom she diligently wrote love letters to from 1946 through 1949. Bartoli cherished and secreted the letters away up until his own death, following which they were inherited by his family.
The remarkable cache of 25 love letters will now be revealed to the public for the first time when it gets auctioned at Doyle New York this 15 April. They are estimated to fetch between $80,000 and $120,000 (RM292,800 and RM439,211).
Kahlo and Bartoli’s love bloomed when they met in New York while she was recuperating from yet another long list of spinal surgeries. They kept their love alive even after Kahlo made her way back to her beloved home and waiting husband in Mexico. In secrecy, they kept in touch with a series of intimate handwritten letters, inserted with keepsakes like drawings, photographs, pressed flowers and other mementos.
Images of the letters can be viewed online at www.doyle.com. The public is also invited to view the letters at Doyle New York from 11 – 14 April before it goes on auction.
(Photos: Doyle New York)
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