Description
Portrait of Diego Rivera is a work Frida Kahlo painted in 1937: a head-and-shoulders portrait of her husband, the Mexican muralist, with dark wavy hair, a broad face in warm orange tones and a dark shirt with a grey-blue collar. The original, oil on wood, is 46 cm high and 32 cm wide and belongs to the Jacques and Natasha Gelman Collection in Mexico City. Our painter paints it for you by hand in oil colours on canvas, in one of 8 portrait sizes from 38 x 55 to 128 x 191 cm or made to measure; before the portrait ships, we send you a photograph of the finished painting.
| Title: | Portrait of Diego Rivera |
| Other titles: | Retrato de Diego Rivera · Porträt von Diego Rivera |
| Painter: | Frida Kahlo (1907–1954) |
| Year painted: | 1937 |
| Original size: | 46 cm x 32 cm (height x width) |
| Original technique: | Oil on wood |
| Painting style: | Mexican modernism |
| Located at: | Jacques and Natasha Gelman Collection, Mexico City |
| Our reproduction: | Hand-painted oil on canvas, 8 sizes or made to measure |
Portrait of Diego Rivera – Frida Kahlo
What does Portrait of Diego Rivera show?
Diego Rivera is painted from the chest up, so close that his head and shoulders fill almost the whole upright format. His face is turned slightly, broad and heavy, with full cheeks and full, closed lips. Two small dark moles show on his cheek and beside his nose.
Thick dark hair rises above his forehead in restless waves and falls over his ears. Under heavy lids sit large dark eyes, and his gaze is calm.
The skin is painted in warm orange, ochre and pink, turning a greenish grey in the shadows around the eyes and under the chin. He wears a dark, almost black shirt open at the neck, its collar edged in grey-blue.
The background is even, a grey with a pinkish cast and a slightly mottled surface, with no objects and no landscape.
Who was Diego Rivera to Frida Kahlo?
Diego Rivera was a Mexican painter known for his large murals, and 21 years older than Kahlo. They first met in 1922, when he was painting a mural in the auditorium of her school. In 1928 she asked him to judge whether her work showed enough talent for a career as a painter.
They married on 21 August 1929 at the town hall of Coyoacán, and from then on the Mexican press wrote about them simply as “Diego and Frida”.
The marriage was not a calm one. In 1935 Rivera began an affair with her younger sister Cristina, which hurt her deeply; they were reconciled later that year. In 1937, the year of this portrait, the couple persuaded the Mexican government to grant asylum to Leon Trotsky, who then lived with his wife Natalia Sedova at the Blue House (La Casa Azul).
For the artist, 1937 and 1938 were exceptionally productive years: she painted more than in all eight previous years of her marriage. She and Rivera divorced in 1939 and remarried in December 1940.
Why is this portrait special?
Most of Kahlo’s work consists of fairly small self-portraits, so a portrait of another person is less common in her output. Rivera appears in her work several times, often beside her or as a thought that occupies her; here he is alone, with no symbols and no ornament.
That plainness shows how she saw the man she shared her life with: heavy lids, bags under the eyes, full lips and unruly hair, painted without flattery.
Wikipedia has no separate article on this painting; the article on Frida Kahlo (in English) tells more about her life and her marriage to Rivera.
Where is the original kept?
The original is in the Jacques and Natasha Gelman Collection, which the list of Kahlo’s works on the English Wikipedia places in Mexico City.
It is painted in oil on wood, a wooden panel rather than canvas, and measures just 46 cm high by 32 cm wide: a small, intimate work.
Since the original cannot hang in your home, a hand-painted copy is the most direct way to have this face on your own wall.
Portrait of Diego Rivera or another Kahlo work?
This canvas painting is quiet and warm: the orange skin tones and the dark shirt sit well with bookshelves, leather and wood.
Rivera is at the centre of several of her works. Frieda and Diego Rivera of 1931 shows the couple together, and in Diego in My Thoughts the artist carries him in her mind. Their bond is also the theme of Diego and I.
From the same year, 1937, comes Self-Portrait Dedicated to Leon Trotsky, painted while Trotsky was living at the Blue House. If you are weighing several famous Frida Kahlo paintings for your home, our Frida Kahlo page brings together every one we paint to order.
How does our painter paint Rivera’s face?
Frida Kahlo painted this portrait on a wooden panel; we paint it in oil colours on canvas.
The painter first sketches the outline of the head, shoulders and collar and lays in the mottled grey-pink background. The face is then built up in thin layers: first the warm orange and ochre areas, then the pinkish transitions on the cheeks and the grey-green shadows around the eyes and under the chin.
The hair is made of dark, almost black masses enlivened by a few lighter strokes; the shirt stays flat and dark so that the face glows all the more.
Last comes what gives the portrait its gaze: the light in the pupils, the edge of the lids, the two small moles and the dark line between the lips. The result is a Frida Kahlo reproduction built from real layers of paint, not printed dots. Every copy is an oil painting reproduction made for you alone.
Which size for which wall?
In short: 38 x 55 or 45 x 65 cm above a bedside table, on a narrow wall or in a hallway, 50 x 75 or 65 x 92 cm above a desk or a chest of drawers, 80 x 120 or 90 x 135 cm above a sofa or a bed, and 114 x 169 or 128 x 191 cm for tall walls.
There are 8 upright sizes to choose from, given as width x height: 38 x 55, 45 x 65, 50 x 75, 65 x 92, 80 x 120, 90 x 135, 114 x 169 and 128 x 191 cm. All of them are larger than the original; the closest is 38 x 55 cm, which is 6 cm wider and 9 cm taller.
For a painting for the living room above a three-seater sofa, choose 80 x 120 or 90 x 135 cm.
Is a custom size or a frame possible?
The original is roughly 7 : 10 in proportion, so we can also paint it in a size that is not on the list without cropping the hair or the collar. Send us the width and height you need, and we reply with a price and a delivery time.
The portrait ships rolled, stretched on a stretcher bar or framed. Our workshop in Slovenia does the stretching and framing for every painting that leaves us that way. Our 3D app lets you choose the frame for this portrait and nothing more; a view of the painting on your own wall is offered separately.
When will it arrive, and how does it travel?
Once you confirm the order, the painter starts; within 15 to 45 working days the portrait is ready to ship. Before that we send you a photograph of the finished painting, and if needed the painter corrects something.
Parcels within Slovenia and to the rest of the EU travel with no customs, and our returns policy applies to every order.
The portrait is a thoughtful gift for lovers of Mexican art, for a couple drawn to the story of Frida and Diego, or for someone who collects portraits. If you are unsure which size will suit, give a wall art voucher.
Frequently asked questions
Where can the original be seen?
It belongs to the Jacques and Natasha Gelman Collection, which our source places in Mexico City.
Who is the man in the portrait?
Diego Rivera, the Mexican muralist whom Frida Kahlo married in 1929.
Is it printed?
No. Every portrait is made with our painter’s brush, in oil colours on canvas.
How big is the original?
It is 46 cm high and 32 cm wide, so smaller than any of our sizes.
Can I have a size that is not listed?
Yes, give us the width and height; you learn the price and delivery time before you order.
How long will I wait for it?
Painting takes 15 to 45 working days, and there are no customs on delivery within the EU.
Does it work as a gift or in a home office?
Yes, the calm face and warm tones suit a home office, a library or a bedroom, and as a gift it pleases anyone who loves Mexican art.
Why did she paint him?
Rivera was her husband; our source gives no specific reading of this portrait, but it was painted in one of her most productive years.
- Subject: Diego Rivera, head and shoulders, with dark wavy hair, in a dark shirt against a pinkish-grey ground.
- Original: 1937, oil on wood, 46 x 32 cm, Jacques and Natasha Gelman Collection, Mexico City.
- Ours: oil on canvas, hand-painted to your order, in 8 portrait sizes (38 x 55 to 128 x 191 cm) or made to measure.
- Worth knowing: The original is on a wooden panel; our portrait is on canvas, which we can stretch or frame.
