Author Guide · Diary, Letters & Biography
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In 1953, after surgeons amputated her right leg, Frida Kahlo wrote in her diary: “Pies para qué los quiero si tengo alas pa’ volar.” She was a painter, not a writer, and published no book in her lifetime. But for the last decade of her life she kept an illustrated diary in coloured inks, and she wrote letters from 1924 on: from her hospital bed after the 1925 bus accident, to Diego Rivera, to her lovers. The diary appeared in full in 1995, four decades after her death, and the letters the same year. Since Hayden Herrera’s biography of 1983, the books about her have done the rest. This guide covers 7 key books by and about her, in order, and where to begin.
By Lisanne Swart · 7 key books · 1983–2021 · Updated October 2026
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Quick answer
Frida Kahlo wrote one book-length work, her illustrated diary, published as The Diary of Frida Kahlo: An Intimate Self-Portrait (1995). Her correspondence appeared as The Letters of Frida Kahlo (1995), and the standard life is Hayden Herrera’s Frida (1983), the basis of the 2002 film. Start with the diary; the biographies show what it leaves out.
Where to Start with Frida Kahlo
If you want her in her own hand
→ The Diary of Frida Kahlo (1995) — the diary of her last ten years, in full colour facsimile.
If you want the whole life
→ Frida (1983) — the biography the 2002 film was based on.
If you want her letters
→ The Letters of Frida Kahlo (1995) — from the 1925 accident to her divorce and remarriage.
If you want every painting
→ Frida Kahlo (2021) — 152 works in one catalogue.
7 Frida Kahlo Books, in Order
Frida
The first full biography of Kahlo, published by Harper & Row, which grew out of the art historian Hayden Herrera’s doctoral thesis on her. It runs from her childhood in Coyoacán through the accident, the two marriages to Diego Rivera and her years of illness to her death in 1954. It was the source for the 2002 film Frida, for which Salma Hayek was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress.
Frida Kahlo
Herrera’s second book on Kahlo turns from the life to the work, with her paintings reproduced and discussed. It is a companion to the biography rather than a repeat of it.
Frida Kahlo
The English edition of the book by the art critic Raquel Tibol, who worked in Mexico. It is one of the standard studies of Kahlo’s life cited alongside Herrera’s, and draws on Kahlo’s own words.
The Diary of Frida Kahlo
A full-colour facsimile of the diary Kahlo kept in the last decade of her life, until her death in 1954, published by Harry N. Abrams with an introduction by the Mexican novelist Carlos Fuentes and an essay and commentaries by Sarah M. Lowe. Its pages mix handwriting in coloured inks with drawings and watercolours, on pain, politics, colour and Diego Rivera. After the amputation of her leg in 1953 she wrote: “I am DISINTEGRATION.”
The Letters of Frida Kahlo
Her letters from 1924 to 1948, compiled by Martha Zamora and published by Chronicle Books. They cover her time in hospital after the 1925 bus accident, her separation from Rivera in 1935 and reconciliation, her affair with the photographer Nickolas Muray, and her 1939 divorce and remarriage a year later. The book also prints poems, a talk on her painting Moses and her portrait of Rivera. Publishers Weekly called the letters articulate and witty.
Frida Kahlo
The art historian Salomon Grimberg presents a long interview the psychologist Olga Campos recorded with Kahlo near the end of her life, arranged by subject: her parents, painting, her body, love, sex, children, politics and death. Published by Merrell, it adds a foreword by Hayden Herrera, Campos’s memoir of Kahlo, a medical history and a psychological assessment.
Frida Kahlo
Taschen’s 624-page catalogue of all 152 of her paintings, edited by Luis-Martín Lozano, including works in private collections that had not been shown in more than 80 years. Alongside the plates it reproduces diary pages, letters and photographs, with an illustrated biography.
In What Order to Read Frida Kahlo
There is no series here. The diary and the letters are her own words and can be read in either order; the diary is mostly images, the letters mostly talk. Both make more sense if you know the paintings, so keep a catalogue or Herrera’s The Paintings nearby.
A useful sequence is the diary first, then Herrera’s biography for the life it assumes you know, then the letters and Song of Herself to hear her talk about it directly.
A reading path
1. The Diary of Frida Kahlo (1995)
2. Frida: A Biography of Frida Kahlo (1983)
3. The Letters of Frida Kahlo (1995)
4. Frida Kahlo: Song of Herself (2008)
The years · 1907–1995
Quick facts about Frida Kahlo
- Known for
- She was the Mexican painter whose brilliantly coloured self-portraits turned her own body, pain and identity into the subject of her art.
- 1907
- Born in Coyoacán, Mexico City
- 1929
- Marries Diego Rivera
- 1938
- First solo exhibition, in New York
- 1954
- Dies in Coyoacán, aged 47
- Born
- 6 July 1907, Coyoacán, Mexico City
- Died
- 13 July 1954, Coyoacán, aged 47
- Injuries
- Polio at six; a bus accident in 1925 broke her spine, pelvis and right leg
- Married
- The muralist Diego Rivera in 1929; divorced 1939, remarried 1940
- Exhibitions
- New York 1938; Paris 1939, where the Louvre bought a self-portrait; Mexico City 1953
- Teaching
- La Esmeralda art school, where her students were called los Fridos
- Paintings
- 152 in Taschen’s complete catalogue, more than 55 of them self-portraits
The red mark is 1995: The Diary of Frida Kahlo, the first time her own book reached readers.
How Frida Kahlo Writes: Words as Part of the Picture
Kahlo did not write for publication. Her diary treats words as another material: lines in different coloured inks, words that run into drawings, pages that are only images. After her leg was amputated in 1953 she wrote “I am DISINTEGRATION” on one page and, on another, the line about not needing feet if she has wings to fly.
Her letters are a different voice: fast, slangy, funny and sometimes desperate. Publishers Weekly described them moving between touching, playful, desperate and mystical, and they show how much of her life ran through correspondence, from the hospital in 1925 to her divorce from Rivera and the remarriage that followed.
Much of what readers know of her comes through others: Herrera’s biography, Tibol’s study, Olga Campos’s interview. For writers who turned their own lives into their material in the same way, see Authors like Frida Kahlo.
Frequently asked questions about Frida Kahlo’s books
How many books has Frida Kahlo written?
One book-length work: her illustrated diary, published after her death as The Diary of Frida Kahlo: An Intimate Self-Portrait (1995). Her letters were collected the same year in The Letters of Frida Kahlo: Cartas Apasionadas. This page lists 7 key books by and about her.
What are Frida Kahlo’s books in order?
Of her own writing: The Diary of Frida Kahlo (1995) and The Letters of Frida Kahlo (1995). With the key books about her: Herrera’s Frida (1983) and Frida Kahlo: The Paintings (1991), Tibol’s Frida Kahlo: An Open Life (1993), Grimberg’s Frida Kahlo: Song of Herself (2008) and Taschen’s Frida Kahlo: The Complete Paintings (2021).
Where should I start with Frida Kahlo?
With The Diary of Frida Kahlo (1995), the facsimile of the diary she kept in her last ten years. For the life around it, follow it with Hayden Herrera’s Frida: A Biography of Frida Kahlo (1983).
What is Frida Kahlo’s most famous book?
The Diary of Frida Kahlo: An Intimate Self-Portrait (1995), with an introduction by Carlos Fuentes. Of the books about her, Hayden Herrera’s Frida (1983) is the best known, because the 2002 film was based on it.
Who is Frida Kahlo?
A Mexican painter (1907–1954), known for her brilliantly coloured self-portraits about identity, the body and death. She was married to the muralist Diego Rivera and is often associated with Surrealism.
What is The Diary of Frida Kahlo about?
It is a facsimile of the illustrated diary Kahlo kept in the last decade of her life, published by Abrams in 1995 with an introduction by Carlos Fuentes and commentary by Sarah M. Lowe. It mixes handwriting in coloured inks with drawings and watercolours about her pain, her politics, colour and Diego Rivera. She did not write it for publication.
What happened to Frida Kahlo in the bus accident?
In 1925 a trolley crushed the bus she was riding in. Her spine was broken in three places, and her pelvis, right leg and foot were badly injured. She had already had polio at six, which left her right leg weaker. The injuries led to many operations, including spinal surgery in 1950, and in 1953 her right leg was amputated.
Was Frida Kahlo married to Diego Rivera?
Yes. They married in a civil ceremony in 1929, divorced in 1939 and remarried in San Francisco in late 1940, and stayed married until her death in 1954. Her letters cover their separation in 1935, the divorce and the remarriage.
How did Frida Kahlo die?
She died at home in Coyoacán on 13 July 1954, aged 47. The recorded cause was a pulmonary embolism. No autopsy was carried out, and some biographers have suggested she may have taken her own life; this has never been confirmed.
Is Frida Kahlo still alive?
No. She was born on 6 July 1907 and died on 13 July 1954 in Coyoacán, Mexico City, where she was born.
What is Frida Kahlo’s most famous painting?
The Two Fridas (1939) is the most widely recognised. Other well-known works include Frieda and Diego Rivera (1931), Henry Ford Hospital and My Birth. All 152 paintings are reproduced in Taschen’s Frida Kahlo: The Complete Paintings (2021).
Is there a recording of Frida Kahlo’s voice?
No confirmed one. In June 2019 Mexico’s national sound library, the Fonoteca Nacional, released a recording believed to come from a pilot of the 1950s radio programme El Bachiller, in which a woman reads from Kahlo’s 1949 text Portrait of Diego. It has not been confirmed to be her. There is no film of her speaking.
Which book was the film Frida based on?
Hayden Herrera’s Frida: A Biography of Frida Kahlo (1983). The film came out in 2002, with Salma Hayek as Kahlo; she was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress.
Did Frida Kahlo write any other books?
No. The diary is her only book-length work. Her letters, poems and short texts were gathered after her death in The Letters of Frida Kahlo (1995), and her long interview with the psychologist Olga Campos is printed in Frida Kahlo: Song of Herself (2008).
Footnotes
- Frida Kahlo — Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Kahlo, Frida (1907–1954) — Encyclopedia.com
- Frida: A Biography of Frida Kahlo — Wikipedia
- The Letters of Frida Kahlo — Publishers Weekly, 1995
- Frida Kahlo. The Complete Paintings — Taschen
- Is this Frida Kahlo’s voice? — NBC News, 2019
Bibliography last verified 9 October 2026. Where sources give different first-publication years, this page uses the year in library catalogues or the publisher’s own record.
This list was not put together by a machine.
The notes are all mine,
and the books are all his.
Lisanne x
Written by Lisanne Swart, who has curated reading lists and author guides at lisanneswart.com since 2021.
See more on her personal bookshelf.
“Feet, what do I need them for if I have wings to fly?”
— Frida Kahlo, diary entry, 1953 (“Pies para qué los quiero si tengo alas pa’ volar”), The Diary of Frida Kahlo (1995)
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