Portrait in Four Movements

Nahui Olin was a celebrated artist, writer and muse during the cultural renaissance of Mexico City in the 1920s, who died impoverished and alone. In this captivating essay, Chloe Aridjis explores the artist’s shifting fortunes and seismic passions through her relationships with the men who tried to capture her. Taking her name from the Aztec sign of cosmic movement, Nahui Olin’s life was one of fire and tempest, gunpower and great heights, revolution and alchemy. An essential read for anyone interested in the lives of female artists. Chloe Aridjis is a Mexican writer based in London. She is the author of three novels, Book of Clouds, which won the Prix du Premier Roman Etranger in France, Asunder, set in London’s National Gallery, and Sea Monsters, which was awarded the 2020 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction. Chloe has written for various art journals and was guest curator of the Leonora Carrington exhibition at Tate Liverpool. She was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2014 and the Eccles Centre & Hay Festival Writers Award for 2020. Chloe is a member of XR Writers Rebel, a group of writers who focus on addressing the climate emergency. This is the fifth book in the Words for Portraits series, which also features titles from Claire-Louise Bennett, Joanna Walsh and Will Ashon. Words for Portraits invites authors to write about a portrait of their choice.