American Hospital of Paris

English-speaking hospital in Neuilly-sur-Seine, on the western edge of Paris. In Hayden Herrera’s Frida Frida is taken here by ambulance with a kidney infection in February 1939, her low point in Paris.

At a glance

Source	Author	Role	In one line
Frida	Hayden Herrera	turning point	Bedridden with a kidney infection, Frida writes furious letters and is then taken in by Mary Reynolds.

Frida — Hayden Herrera (1983)

Source: Frida - A Biography of Frida Kahlo · Original · Readwise highlight

But when I found myself in the American Hospital where I could “bark” in English and explain my situation, I began to feel a little better.

• Role: turning point
• In the book: In Chapter 15 Frida, who “couldn’t even walk”, is taken by ambulance from the Hotel Regina with a colibacterial inflammation of the kidneys. From her hospital bed she writes angry letters to Nickolas Muray and the Wolfes about Paris and the Surrealists. On leaving, she goes not back to the hotel but to Mary Reynolds’s home.
• Why it matters: It is her lowest point in Paris and colors her loathing of the city; it also brings Mary Reynolds and Marcel Duchamp in as her helpers.