Frida Kahlo, one of the most iconic artists of the 20th century, was a masterful weaver of identity, culture, and, art. Her vibrant and expressive works continue to capacitate audiences worldwide offering a glimpse into her complex anti-faceted exploration of Mexican culture.
“I hope the exit is joyful — and I hope never to return”
-Frida Kahlo
“I paint myself because I am so often alone and because I am the subject I know best.”
-Frida Kahlo
Kahlo was close to her father, a professional photographer, and she frequently helped and assisted him in his studio, where she acquired a sharp eye for detail. Kahlo took drawing classes, she was more interested in science, and in 1922 she entered the National Preparatory School in Mexico City to study medicine. While there she met Rivera, who was working on a mural for the school’s auditorium.
In 1925, Kahlo was seriously injured in a bus accident. During her slow recovery, she taught herself to paint and read frequently, studying the art of the Old Masters.
Kahlo joined the Mexican Communist Party (PCM), where she again met Rivera. She showed him some of her work, and he encouraged her to continue to paint.
After marrying Rivera in 1929, Kahlo changed her personal and painting style. She began to wear the traditional Tehuana dress that became her trademark. Her painting Frieda and Diego Rivera (1931) shows her new attire and her new interest in Mexican Folk art.
After suffering a miscarriage in Detroit and later the death of her mother, Kahlo painted some Harrowing work In Henry Ford Hospital, Kahlo depicted herself hemorrhaging on a hospital bed amid a barren landscape, and in My Birth (1932) she painted a rather taboo scene of a woman giving birth.
In 1939 Kahlo painted some of her most famous works, including The Two Frida’s.
Frida was both a feminist and a socialist. She was a trailblazer not just for women, but for LGBTQIA+ people and also people with disabilities.
In 1943 she was appointed as a professor of painting at La Esmeralda, the Education Ministry’s School of Fine Arts.
She painted numerous self-portraits with varying hairstyles, clothing, and iconography, always showing herself with an impassive, steadfast gaze, for which she became famous.
Kahlo underwent several surgeries in the late 1940s and early ’50s, often with prolonged hospital stays. Toward the end of her life, she required assistance with walking. She appears in Self-Portrait with Portrait of Dr. Farill (1951) seated in a wheelchair
Frida’s paintings reflected the idea that the personal is political. Artwork such as hers was mostly unheard of in her time, especially by a woman. Her paintings showed her frustration at the unjustness of the world and the pressures placed upon her simply because she was a woman. Her paintings feature themes surrounding femininity and what it means to be a woman, including graphic depictions of miscarriage and suicide.
“I paint self-portraits because I am the person I know best. I paint my own reality. The only thing I know is that I paint because I need to and I paint whatever passes through my head without any consideration.”
This statement captures Frida Kahlo’s work.
The Dream(The bed) painting has a surreal feel to it as well. The painting shows Frida lying in a bed that looks almost like a grave with the plant growing on her. Many times in her life, Frida wished to be dead, which this painting may very well try to show. The figure above the bed represents Judas. The Judas figures are usually seen in the streets of Mexico on Holy Saturday before Easter, since it is believed that the traitor will only find release in suicide. The skeleton wires and explosives represent that at any moment they will explode, making her dream of death a reality. Her preoccupation of death can be seen in her paintings and in her house because she had skeletons and dead children hanging on the walls.
The Broken Column was painted after she underwent surgery. She felt a feeling of paralysis because her vertebral column was broken and she was forced to replace it with a steel corset and an Ionic column that takes the place of her damaged spine. The nails driven into her naked body demonstrate her frustration and anguish. Once again, Frida uses the horizon as a background and utilizes very soft and dull colors in the background. The fact that the background is very empty again shows that she may feel very isolated and lonely.
After Kahlo’s death, Rivera had La Casa Azul redesigned as a museum dedicated to her life. Her posthumous reputation steadily grew from the 1970s and reached what some critics called “Fridamania” by the 21st century. She is perhaps one of the best-known artists of the 20th century.
