Trotsky and Frida Kahlo: Love, Art, and Death in Mexico

Josh Ireland's new book, 'The Death of Trotsky,' examines Leon Trotsky's final years in exile in Mexico and his relationship with Frida Kahlo.

Trotsky, born Lev Davidovich Bronstein, was a revolutionary who found himself in exile after his defeat by Stalin. In Mexico, he was hosted by Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo, with whom he developed a brief affair.

Author Josh Ireland describes Trotsky as a 'myopic dandy' who could rouse the masses. His relationship with Stalin was strained, marked by mutual antipathy.

Trotsky's affair with Kahlo was passionate but short-lived. Kahlo teasingly called him 'piotsitas'. The relationship ended, and Trotsky was assassinated in 1940 by Ramón Mercader, a Spanish agent of Stalin.

Mercader managed to infiltrate Trotsky's circle and murdered him with an ice axe. Trotsky was 60 years old.

Sources: thetimes.com, airmail.news