Becoming Frida Kahlo promises to “strip away the myths” associated with one of the 20th century’s great artists and reveal who she was off canvas. But don’t expect the most exhaustive account of the Mexican painter’s life and career. Each episode of the three-part BBC documentary series is structured as a collection of bite-size chapters. It skims through her childhood, briefly touches on her exhibitions and condenses her final 15 years into 15 minutes.
What the programme does offer — often by drawing on Kahlo’s own reflections, extracted from diaries and letters — is a stirring, compassionate biography of her inner life. This is an exploration of Kahlo’s fervid passion for her husband (Diego Rivera) and the intense suffering brought by severe physical injuries, repeated miscarriages and emotional wounds inflicted by an unfaithful partner. By placing her most famous, mythologised paintings within personal contexts, the show is persuasive in arguing that it is more meaningful to view Kahlo as a real, vulnerable person who boldly communicated the painful, everyday truths of her existence — rather than as a transcendent genius.
Alongside discussions of trauma, we’re given a sense of Kahlo’s independent spirit, staunch communist convictions and fluid sexuality. Some of her former students movingly recall her wit and warmth. There are also fascinating digressions about the Mexican sociopolitical landscape and Kahlo’s contemporaries, but scant mention of how critics received her in her own time, or indeed why her work came to be so heralded and popular after her death in 1954.
But a compelling explanation for why Frida Kahlo endures can be found in the paintings themselves. While the episodes are full of erudite (and jargon-free) readings of her work, the series also presents her arresting self-portraits — at once open and enigmatic — in striking definition, with slow zooms that tease out details and showcase her craft. Between lingering shots and rich psychological analysis, we’re left seeing these familiar works with fresh eyes.
★★★★☆
On BBC2 from March 10 at 9pm
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