Barbizon-Plaza Hotel
Hotel on Central Park South at Sixth Avenue in Manhattan, now the Trump Parc apartments. In Hayden Herrera’s Frida it is Frida and Diego Rivera’s base on both of their New York stays, in 1931 and 1933.
At a glance
| Source | Author | Role | In one line |
|---|---|---|---|
| Frida | Hayden Herrera | setting | The couple’s high-floor suite in 1933, where Frida reads, shops and teases reporters while Diego paints the RCA mural. |
Frida — Hayden Herrera (1983)
Source: Frida - A Biography of Frida Kahlo · Original · Readwise highlight
In less than two days, the Riveras had installed themselves in a two-bedroom suite on a high floor of the Barbizon-Plaza, and Diego was at work in the RCA Building.
- Role: setting
- In the book: On their first New York stay (Chapter 9, from November 1931) the Riveras take an apartment here; Lucienne Bloch recalls that Frida could not stand the hotel because the elevator boys snubbed her as not rich. Back in March 1933 (Chapter 11) they take a two-bedroom suite on a high floor, and Frida spends her days reading, shopping, playing cadavre exquis and teasing reporters, once giving an interview from her bed.
- Why it matters: It is Frida’s New York base, a place of little painting where her irritation with American class snobbery shows and the strain with Diego builds; after the Rockefeller Center firing the couple leave it for a cheaper flat at 8 West Thirteenth Street.