Mexico's 500-peso bills to feature Frida, Diego

[August 31, 2010]  MEXICO CITY (AP) -- Mexico's new 500-peso bills will bear the images of Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera, two of the country's best-known painters.

The Bank of Mexico says the bills will go into circulation Monday and are a tribute to the artists, who were married twice and worked in the early- and mid-20th century.

The bills will be coffee-colored and have on the front a self-portrait of Rivera, who along with Jose Clemente Orozco and David Alfaro Siqueiros were Mexico's top muralists in the previous century.

The back will have a self-portrait by Kahlo, who was known for her tortured subjects.

Federico Rubi, the bank's director of external relations, called them Mexico's most prestigious artists.

Five hundred pesos are worth a bit less than $50.

[Associated Press]

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