Frida Kahlo
Born in 1907, Magdalena Carmen Frieda Kahlo y Calderón, she became one of Mexico’s greatest painters. Today, Frieda and her likeness have become a symbol of many movements - boho, feminism, Mexican nationalism and even LGBTQ (thanks to her affairs with both men and women). Through her dress and politics she aligned herself with Central America’s indigent populations. All these factors have contributed to her becoming “a politically correct heroine for every wounded minority.” (Vanity Fair)
It is with admiration, fascination and respect that I have gravitated to Frida’s image and ultimate life story. For me, she represents the pain every woman on earth is going through—be it physical, or emotional. Frida has proved to us how strong we can be and how much we can endure. Kahlo embraced her disabilities and used them to empower her art and her image. A childhood attack of polio left her with one leg significantly shorter and thinner than the other, and at the age of 18, Kahlo was impaled in a devastating accident when the tram she was traveling in collided with a school bus. The long, romantic Tehuana skirts hid her leg, and the loose, un-waisted blouses disguised the surgical corsets that she was obliged to wear to support her damaged spine, allowing her to work in her full aesthetic glory. Following Kahlo’s accident, her mother installed a mirror under the canopy of her bed, allowing Kahlo to paint her first self-portraits.
“At the end of the day, we can endure much more than we think we can. ”
“Las Dos Fridas” (The Two Fridas)
“I paint self-portraits because I am so often alone, because I am the person I know best.”
At 21, Frida married Diego Riveiera, a self-confessed serial womanizer, social activist and was one of Mexico’s most successful artists. It was this obsessive, abiding relationship that affects Kahlo and her works most powerfully. Their passion combined sex, spirituality, and painting –and guided their relationship through countless infidelities and altercations.
“The Broken Column,” Frida Kahlo, 1944
Flamboyant, irreverent, and unforgettable, Frida Kahlo created arresting, and at times disturbing, works of art. Fifty-five of her 143 paintings are self-portraits, which speak of her vivaciousness and personal tragedies.
Frida’s hauntingly beautiful face, broken body, and bright Tehuana costumes have become the trademark of Mexican femininity. Images of her bat-wing brows, mustache, and clunky ethnic jewelry are as familiar in Mexico as Marilyn’s pout and puffed up white-dress are in the US.
Fridamania is now rampant in America, with her likeness found on everything from apparel to nail polish to even shower curtains. It is interesting and somewhat ironic that the artist who painted so many self-portraits has become a folk hero to the “selfie” generation. Hopefully with this over-commercialization comes knowledge and insight into who Frida was as a person, activist and artist.
Frida Kahlo with Olmec figurine, 1939. Photograph Nickolas Muray. © Nickolas Muray Photo Archives
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