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copy of letter from Frida Kahlo (wife of Diego Rivera) to Emmy Lou Packard. Frida had gone to New York to testify. Guadalupe Marin, Diego's former wife, was suing him for various things including royalties from the book Bertram Wolfe had just published about Diego.

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88 Central Park West
New York City
Oct. 24, 1940

[[handwritten]] Tues 10:00 [[image: arrow pointed at the time]] [[/handwritten]]

Emmy Lou my darling,
Please forgive for writing you in pencil - can't find any fountain pen or ink in this house.

I am terribly worried about Diego's eyes. Please tell me the exact truth about it. If he is not feeling better I will scram from here at once. Some doctor here told me that the sulphanilamid sometimes is dangerous. Please darling ask Dr. Eloesser about it. Tell him all the simptoms Diego has after taking those pills. He will know because he knows about Diego's condition in general. [[crossed out]] I am so happy he is near you. I can't tell you how much I love you for being so good to him and being so kind to me. [[/crossed out]] I am not happy at all when I am away from him and if you were not there I wouldn't leave San Francisco. I am just waiting to finish one or two paintings and I'll be back. Please darling, make any effort you can to make him work less.

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[[crossed out]] That affair with Guadalupe is something that makes me vomit. She is absolutely a son of a bitch. She is furious because I will marry Diego again, but everything she does is so low and dirty that sometimes I feel like going back to Mexico and kill her. I don't care if I pass my last days in a prison. It is so disgusting to feel that a woman can sell every bit of her convictions or feelings just for the desire for money and scandal. I can't stand her any more. She divorced me from Diego just in the same dirty way she is trying to get some dough from Knopf and Wolfe. She really doesn't care what she does as long as she is in a front page of the papers. Sometimes I wonder why Diego could stand that type of wench for seven years. He says it was only because she cooked well. Perhaps it was true, but my God, what kind of an excuse is that? I don't know. Maybe I am getting cookoo. But the fact is that I can't stand any more the phony life those people live. I would like to go to the end of the world and never come back to any thing which means publicity or lousy gossip. That Guadalupe is the worst louse I ever met, and even the damn law helps her to get away with her rotten tricks. This world is "somethin", kid!

The letter Donald wrote is beautiful. I am sorry I didn't see the spitting business between Philip and him. Tell him I would have done the same thing in his case. His "charro" dress will be ready soon and Christina will sent it to you. Darling, Julien Levy liked very much your drawings but he can't give you an exhibition because he says he shows only surrealists. I will talk to Pierre Matisse about it and I am sure I can arrange something here for you next year. I still like the first one you made of me better than the others.

Give my love to Donald and to your mother and father. Kiss Diego for me and tell him I love him more than my own life. [[/crossed out]]

[[handwritten over typed text]] Here is a kiss to you and one for Diego and one for Donald. Please write to me whenever you have time about Diego's eyes. Mi cariño - Frida