The recording has been discovered by the National Sound Library of Mexico, taken from a pilot of radio show El Bachiller (on Televisa Radio), which was subject to a test broadcast in 1955 (which was a year after Kahlo’s death, with the recording thought to have been made in 1953). In the recording Kahlo apparently discusses the work of her husband, and fellow artist, Diego Rivera. An exhibition titled Portrait of Diego took place in 1949 exhibition at the Palace of Fine Arts, showcasing 50 years of Rivera’s work.
Frida Kahlo has one of the most recognizable and, ironically for someone who was a Trotskyist, commodified faces in the world. However, no recordings of her voice have previously existed.
The video below contains the recording:
In the recording, according to The Guardian, ‘Kahlo’ says of Rivera: “His high, dark, extremely intelligent and big eyes rarely hold still. They almost come out of their sockets because of their swollen and protuberant eyelids – like a toad’s. They allow his gaze to take in a much wider visual field, as if they were built especially for a painter of large spaces and crowds.”
Frida Kahlo was a Mexican artist who painted many portraits, self-portraits and works inspired by the nature and artifacts of Mexico. Much of her work was a development of folk art, mixing realism with fantasy. Issues of gender, ethnicity and class dominate her works.
The recording was unearthed from the archives of late radio personality Alvaro “The Bachelor” Galvez y Fuentes. Commenting on the recording, national library director Pavel Granados said: “Frida’s voice has always been a great enigma, a never-ending search…Until now, there had never been a recording of Frida Kahlo.”
While the recording may well be that of Kahlo, historians along with the Mexican government are working to determine whether the recording is absolutely that of Kahlo.
