SCENE III: Time - 1927
MUSIC
DIEGO: The first paintings I saw by her, I knew, she had potential. She lacked discipline, but she had talent. (pause) I had to take her by the hand and guide her, cultivate her. But, how to attract her? How to get her attention? (pause) I planted myself in places where she could see me. I left easy to find tracks. I let her discover where my studio was. She used to spy on me. I thought she was spying on me to learn my technique of painting. That was not it. She spied on me with my models, you know, not just painting but making love with them. I knew she was watching. I let her. It kept her interested in me. (pause) She knew I was married and had children. It didn't bother her. My models didn't bother her. That's how I knew that she was an artist at heart. Dedicated to art and not concerned with trivial things like marriage, family, or my afternoon flings. Soon after we got married, she made a dual claim. She said, "I was born a bitch; I was born a painter." The world came to know her as a great painter; I got to know both her claims were true…. I say it in the nicest possible way. She has left a space here in my heart that will never be filled. I will always miss her. For me, if you love someone once, you love them forever. Even if you can't stand them, you still love them. Loved her, I did. Desired her? you bet. I had dreams about her that would make most people blush. (pause) She was pure like the first flowers in the spring; she was like the smell of earth with the first few drops of rain after a long dry spell. (as if speaking to someone off stage)
DIEGO: The only reason I seduced you was because I thought you were a virgin.
FRIDA: (off stage) Don't flatter yourself; I would have still been a virgin after you seduced me.
DIEGO: I don't think she needed to get married. I felt that I needed to marry her. Make her my wife. Both times. I made her happy, but I also caused her pain. I asked her, not too long before she died, if she had gotten over me. She said she was still forgetting me.
(DIEGO exits)
(Lights go down)