FRIDA KAHLO'S FLOWER CROWN

Flowery language traces the broad roots of Frida Kahlo’s life.

The renowned Mexican artist’s life is retold from nascent bud to full bloom, with particular attention to her self-mythologized harmonious bond with nature and struggles against lifelong illnesses. Vibrant imagery marks her beginning: “Like a seed, / Frida sprouted / and burst through the earth / where / the coyotl once foraged.” Kahlo’s beatific childhood and her young adulthood in Coyoacán together shape the bulk of this biographic narrative, which briefly touches on her bout with polio. A burgeoning interest in flowers and plants blossoms as she visits a nearby park, as does Kahlo’s eventual devotion to painting as she remains in bed recovering from a near-fatal streetcar accident. “Frida flourished / through painting and reconnecting / with nature, / with her ancestral soil.” Referencing a litany of flora, Armendia-Sánchez moves on to the painter’s garden, a site of inspiration and communion. At times, the emphasis on the featured plants and flowers threatens to overwhelm the otherwise delicate, opulent text. Still, Kahlo’s remarkable artistic and personal triumphs keep it all intact. Lora’s gouache artwork, a kaleidoscopic series of vignettes, emerges as an inspired highlight from page to page, bookended by fun, illustrated guides to all the flowers and plants included.

A rosy view of an iconic artist.