Marc Petitjean - The Heart: Frida Kahlo in Paris

The author would like to give a special mention to his daughter Camille, and his brothers and sisters.

He would like to thank

Jaime Moreno Villarreal and Nancy Deffebach,

As well as

Aube Breton, Michle Chomette, Ethel Hammer,

Salomon Grimberg,

Martine Monteau, Dominique Rabourdin, Ruth

Thorne-Thomsen,

Judith Thurman, Hilda Trujillo, Rachel Vin,

Victoria Combalia, Lucie Lesvenan, and ditions Christian Bourgois.

TO,

Freydelyne Charles

Copyright Arla, 2018

English translation copyright Other Press, 2020

Originally published in 2018 as Le Coeur: Frida Kahlo Paris by Arla, Paris

Production editor: Yvonne E. Crdenas

Text designer: Jennifer Daddio / Bookmark Design & Media Inc.

Alpha Design & Composition of Pittsfield, NH.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from Other Press LLC, except in the case of brief quotations in reviews for inclusion in a magazine, newspaper, or broadcast. For information write to Other Press LLC, 267 Fifth Avenue, 6th Floor, New York, NY 10016.

Or visit our Web site: www.otherpress.com

The Library of Congress has cataloged the printed edition as follows:

Names: Petitjean, Marc, author. | Hunter, Adriana, translator. | Petitjean, Marc. Coeur.

Title: The heart : Frida Kahlo in Paris / Marc Petitjean; translated from the French by Adriana Hunter.

Other titles: Coeur. English

Description: New York : Other Press, [2020] | Originally published in 2018 as Le Coeur: Frida Kahlo Paris by Arla, Paris. |

Includes bibliographical references.

Identifiers: LCCN 2019035162 (print) | LCCN 2019035163 (ebook) | ISBN 9781590519905 (hardcover) | ISBN 9781590519912 (ebook)

Subjects: LCSH: Kahlo, Frida. | Kahlo, FridaFriends and associates. | PaintersMexicoBiography. | Expatriate paintersFranceParisBiography.

Classification: LCC ND259.K33 P4813 2020 (print) | LCC ND259.K33 (ebook) | DDC 759.972 [B]dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019035162

LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019035163

Ebook ISBN9781590519912

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MARC PETITJEAN is a writer, filmmaker, and photographer. He has directed several documentaries, including From Hiroshima to Fukushima, about Dr. Shuntaro Hida, a survivor of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima; Tresor Vivant, about a Japanese kimono painter; and Zones grises, on his own search for information about the life of his father, Michel Petitjean, after his death.

ADRIANA HUNTER studied French and Drama at the University of London. She has translated more than eighty books, including Veronique Olmis Bakhita and Herve Le Telliers Elctrico W, winner of the French-American Foundations 2013 Translation Prize in Fiction. She lives in Kent, England.

Praise for

THE HEART: FRIDA KAHLO IN PARIS

An intimate, unforgettable portrait of a brief but transformative time in Kahlos life and of the turbulent beginnings of Frances Surrealist Movement.

Foreword Reviews (starred review)

A breezy bit of art history about a 1939 affair between the authors father and Frida Kahlo in Paristhe story is transportive and dreamy.

Kirkus Reviews

Incredibly lively and sensitivea book that takes an important place in the bibliography of this modern Mexican heroine.

Connaissance des Arts

Superb[Petitjean] enables us to discover the artistic Paris of the interwar period.

La Presse de la Manche

[Petitjean] paints a portrait as personal as it is perceptive of the intrepid Mexican [artist], while reviving the colors of the ebullient interwar art scene. Captivating.

Paris Match

Marc Petitjean grew up in Paris with a haunting picture by Frida Kahlo on the walls of his familys modest apartment. Decades later, a stranger asked him about his fathers love affair with Frida. This revelation, out of the blue, spurred him to investigate what had happened between them. The result is an intimate portrait, beautifully written, not only of the two lovers, but of bohemian Paris and its most influential figures, at a turning point in history: the eve of war, in 1939. The Heart: Frida Kahlo in Paris beats suspensefully with real life.

Judith Thurman, author of Secrets of the Flesh: A Life of Colette

This book gives a poignant picturepart imagined and part trueof Frida Kahlos days in Paris among other surrealists during a show of her paintings. Its told by the son of a French lover to whom she gave her powerful painting, The Heart, who was searching to understand his father better.

Laurie Lisle, author of Portrait of an Artist: A Biography of Georgia OKeeffe and Louise Nevelson: A Passionate Life

My wound existed before me,

I was born to embody it.

JO BOUSQUET