2-548-291 - © Fine Art Images/Heritage Images

Leon Trotsky with his wife Natalia Sedova and Mexican artist Frida Kahlo, 1937. Trotsky (1879-1940) was one of the leading figures of the Russian Revolution and in the Soviet government afterwards. He lost out to Joseph Stalin in the power struggle that took place at the top of the Communist Party after the death of Lenin and was expelled from the Party on 12 November 1927. In January 1928 he was exiled to Alma Ata, today in Kazakhstan, and the following year was banished from the Soviet Union altogether. Trotsky married Natalia Sedova (1882-1962) in 1903. She accompanied him into exile. In 1937, after periods living in Turkey, France and Norway, the couple moved to Mexico, where they initially moved in with Kahlo (1907-1954) and her husband, Diego Rivera. During this period Trotsky had an affair with Kahlo. In 1940 he was assassinated by a Soviet agent. From a private collection.