Netflix aims to paint a masterpiece with drama about life of iconic Mexican artist Frida Kahlo

Patricia Riggen, left, and Gabriel Ripstein

Global streamer Netflix is developing a scripted series about the Mexican painter Frida Kahlo’s passionate and turbulent marriage to fellow artist Diego Rivera.

To be produced by Alebrije Producciones, it explores how their enduring love, betrayals and work were shaped by political, social and artistic forces from the late 1920s onwards.

Rivera was 21 years older than Kahlo, whose mother described their marriage as being between “an elephant and a dove.”  Their relationship was marked by frequent infidelity, as depicted in the 2002 biographical film Frida, which starred Salma Hayek as the eponymous character.

The upcoming Netflix series will be directed by Patricia Riggen and Gabriel Ripstein, with María Renée Prudencio as head writer. It is the latest Latin American premium drama from the streamer, following 2024’s adaptation of Colombian writer Gabriel José García Márquez’s novel One Hundred Years of Solitude.