Frida Kahlo

Frida Kahlo was born in 1907 in Coyoacan, Mexico to a father who was a German Jew and a mother who was Spanish and indigenous (Guerilla Girls 78). Kahlo was always close to her father as a child then her mother. She eventually married the famous painter and muralist, Diego Rivera. Their marriage was filled with tempestuous turns (Guerilla Girls 78). When she turned eighteen, Kahlo become part of a horrific bus accident that left her immobilized for much of her life. The accident caused a great deal of pain for Kahlo, her pelvis was smashed, her spinal cord was mangled and she had a total of thirty-two operations in twenty-nine years (Guerilla Girls 78). After the accident, Kahlo turned her attention away from the study of medicine to begin a full time painting career (Frida Kahlo). Much of her work consists of self-portraits which depict her pain and suffering. Kahlo never fully recovered from the accident and suffered many miscarriages therefore never bore a child.

Merely three years after Kahlo’s birth was the outbreak of the Mexican Revolution. The Revolution was a time of political chaos and constant battles (The Life and Times of Frida Kahlo). The Mexican Revolution became recognized as the first major political, social and cultural revolution of the 20^th century (National Endowment for the Humanities). It was brought about by the Mexican people who became tired of the dictatorship of President Porfino Diaz. Under his rule, Diaz gave power to selected landowners which left the working class in great poverty. The working class was living impoverished conditions with low wages, inflation and deficient social services (The Mexican Revolution). During this time, Kahlo witnessed violent armed struggles in the streets of Mexico City as the Revolution continued (Frida Kahlo).

Kahlo’s paintings focus on her self-portraits which was symbolic of the traumatic experience from the accident. The duality of Kahlo’s life- an exterior persona constantly reinvented with costume and ornament, and an interior image nourished on the pain of a body crippled in a trolley accident when she was an adolescent-invests her painting with a haunting complexity and a narrative quality disturbing in its ambiguity (Chadwick 313). Painting was something that helped keep her preoccupied during her bed rest. Her mother made a special easel where she could paint in bed and her father gave her a box of oil paints and brushes. Kahlo states “I paint myself because I am often alone and I am the subject I know best” (Frida Kahlo). She used painting as a means of exploring the reality of her own body and her consciousness of its vulnerability (Chadwick 314). The symbolism that appeared in her portraits showed her pain was very physical and psychological.

The Broken Column, 1944

In the Broken Column, Kahlo paints what appears to be a tattered column that serves as the spine of her body. The column has many cracks on it which symbolizes the damage her spinal cord suffered due to the accident. There are nails all over her body show the constant pain she endured throughout her life. The biggest nail is placed where her heart is located and the tears flowing from her eyes indicate the much sadness she felt. Kahlo’s isolation is seen in the vast emptiness she is standing in. This piece definitely shows the intense emotions Kahlo became overcome with. In addition, Kahlo’s rocky relationship with Diego Rivera also had an impact on her emotional health. After her divorce with Rivera, Kahlo created the piece Two Fridas which shows her sadness in losing him. The Frida on the left shows the heart broken and damaged by Rivera. In her hand, she is holding scissors which has severed an artery and bleeding out. This shows her attempt to sever all emotional ties with Rivera. It is known Frida once said to Diego, “My blood is the miracle that travels in the veins of the air from my heart to yours” (The Life and Times of Frida Kahlo). The Frida on the right symbolizes the one that is still being loved by Rivera as signified by the heart that remains a whole. She is holding a miniature portrait of Diego connected to a long vein which shows Diego is not only her lover but her child as well. This is significant since Kahlo suffered multiple miscarriages throughout her life and never was able to bear a child. Kahlo was able to create powerful images but incorporating symbols into her self-portraits. 

Two Fridas, 1939

During a time of revolution and political battles, Kahlo's ability to establish herself as an artist is definitely of significance. Kahlo was unlike any other artist, she was powerful not only within her paintings but as an individual. The pain and suffering she experienced was unique in itself. By translating this into her paintings, Kahlo left behind a legacy that contemporary artists could learn from. She serves as the symbol of great strength being that she never gave up on life no matter the struggles.

Here is a link to a video that contains an archive of more that five thousand images which was part of a temporary exhibition. It reflects major the artist's major interests over the course of her turbulent life: her family, her love for Diego and her other loves, her damaged body, art, politics, and science.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrarwLecjVs

Works Cited

Chadwick, Whitney. Women, Art, and Society. 4th Edition. United Kingdom: Thames and Hudson Ltd., 1990.

The Guerrilla Girls. The Guerrilla Girls' Bedside Companion to the History of Western Art. New York: Penguin, 1998

The Life and Times of Frida Kahlo". PBS. November 19, 2012.  <http://www.pbs.org/weta/fridakahlo/life/index.html >

"Frida Kahlo". The Complete Works. November 19, 2012. < http://www.frida-kahlo-foundation.org>

"The Mexican Revolution".  National Endowment for the Humanities. <http://edsitement.neh.gov/feature/mexican-revolution-november-20th-1910>