30
30
Netflix is turning the controversial story of Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera into a series
The story of Frida Kahlo, the polymorphous Mexican painter, keeps fascinating audiences today. Her relationship with Diego Rivera, both tumultuous and creatively fertile, still fuels the collective imagination. With a retrospective at MoMA, a production at the Metropolitan Opera and a new Netflix series adaptation, her story is an inspiration for many cultural productions. Numéro takes stock.
By Ambra Flora.
Published on 19 March 2026. Updated on 30 April 2026.
A Netflix series about Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera
More than twenty years after Julie Taymor’s film Frida (2002), in which Salma Hayek delivered an outstanding performance as the artist, a new adaptation of the artist’s life is in the works. This time, her story will be told in form of a series.
Developed by Netflix, the project is directed by Patricia Riggen (Lemonade Mouth) and Gabriel Ripstein (Narcos). Mónica Lozano (Alebrije Producciones) produces it, while María Renée Prudencio (Club Sandwich) takes care of the script writing. The story draws on the novel Nothing Is Black (1994) by French author Claire Berest, which offers an intimate dive into the life of the Mexican painter Frida Kahlo (1907–1954).
In it, the author explores the life of an artist driven by an intense creative force, turning pain and the ordeals of her life into artistic material. Illness, accident, miscarriages, trauma, but also cultural heritage and political commitment all shape this moving narrative.
A controversial relationship
Although the title of the series remains unknown for now, we know that the story will delve into Frida Kahlo‘s and Diego Rivera‘s relationship. The latter was a leading figure of Mexican muralism and twenty-one years her senior. They first met in 1928, when the young woman joined the Mexican Communist Party. They married a year later, giving rise to an intense and unstable relationship. Nicknamed “the dove and the elephant,” the couple embodied both fusion and conflict, and their relationship appeared extremely toxic.
Repeated infidelities, psychological violence, control, Diego Rivera’s affair with Frida Kahlo’s sister… Their story is peppered with painful episodes that would eventually lead to their divorce, before they remarried. In spite of everything, she continued to maintain a strong bond with him, reflected in a steady correspondence that lasted until her death.
This relationship profoundly nourished Frida Kahlo’s work. She painted Diego Rivera on several occasions, sometimes in symbolic or critical ways. In A Few Small Nips (1935), she illustrates domestic violence through a bloody scene. In other paintings, she also plays with identity, going so far as to depict herself wearing her lover’s clothes, blurring the boundaries between genders.
An endless source of inspiration
Yet, this new series still raises a question: what is left to say about Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera? Their story has already been the topic of numerous films, documentaries and books. Carolina Leconte, Content VP at Netflix Mexico, nevertheless justifies the project to Variety: “It’s a daring proposal that takes us into the most intimate spaces of two figures we feel have been exhausted by myth, but whose true story we have not yet dared to face directly.”
“The ambition of this project is unprecedented. We want to show a real Frida – a Frida who seems to step out of the screen and take you by the hand so you can live her story alongside her, during one of the most significant eras in this country: a Mexico that Frida and Diego placed on the world map,” she adds.
A retrospective in New York
At the same time, Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera are at the center of a major retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York. Along with the exhibition, a production is presented at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. The exhibition places the works of the two artists in resonance, inside a setting created by Jon Bausor, who is also involved in the creation of the performance. This dual artistic proposition aims to explore the links between their personal lives and artistic work.
Frida Kahlo‘s legacy thus extends far beyond the realm of painting. Several decades after her death in 1954, she remains a highly influential figure. Her image circulates through exhibitions, merchandising and a wide range of cultural references. Today, it permeates fashion, music and contemporary issues.
“Frida and Diego: The Last Dream,” exhibition from March 29th, 2026, to September 12th, 2027, at the Museum of Modern Art – MoMA, 11 W 53rd St, New York. The Netflix series on Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera by Patricia Riggen and Gabriel Ripstein does not have a release date yet.
