Frida Kahlo

Frida Kahlo was a Mexican painter who is known for her self-portraits and for the exploration of the identity, the body, and the suffering. She is one of the most celebrated artists of the twentieth century.

Early Life and Education

Kahlo was born in Coyoacán, a district of Mexico City, in 1907. Her father was a German photographer and her mother was of the Mexican and the Spanish descent.

She contracted polio as a child, which left her with a damaged right leg. She was a vivacious student and was educated at the National Preparatory School in Mexico City.

She was involved in a serious bus accident in 1925 that left her with the injuries that troubled her for the rest of her life. She began to paint during her long convalescence.

The Painting and the Identity

Kahlo painted the self-portraits that explored her physical and the psychological pain. The Two Fridas and the Broken Column are among her most famous works.

She used the symbols of the Mexican culture and the mythology in her work. She dressed in the traditional Mexican costume and adopted the identity of the Mexicanidad movement.

She explored the themes of the gender, the sexuality, and the identity. The work anticipated the concerns of the feminist art of the later decades.

She painted the portraits of her family and her friends and the scenes of the Mexican life. The work combines the personal and the political.

The Relationship with Diego Rivera

Kahlo married the muralist Diego Rivera in 1929. The marriage was turbulent and the couple divorced in 1939 and remarried in 1940.

Rivera encouraged her work and she accompanied him on his commissions in the United States. The couple lived in San Francisco, New York, and Detroit.

The relationship inspired many of her paintings, including the two portraits of the self and the double portrait of the couple. The work explores the love and the jealousy and the pain.

The house that she shared with Rivera, the Casa Azul in Coyoacán, is now a museum devoted to her life and work. She was the first Mexican artist to have a work acquired by the Louvre.

The Later Years and the Legacy

Kahlo suffered from the chronic pain and the ill health throughout her life. She underwent many operations on her back and her leg.

She made her first solo exhibition in 1953 in Mexico City and attended it in her bed. The exhibition was a great success.

She died in 1954 in Coyoacán at the age of forty-seven. The cause of the death was reported as a pulmonary embolism.

Her work has become a symbol of the Mexican culture and of the feminist movement. The Casa Azul attracts the visitors from throughout the world.

The Accident and the Painting

Kahlo was involved in a bus accident in 1925 that left her with the injuries. She suffered the fractures of the spine and the pelvis and the leg.

She began to paint during the long months of the convalescence. Her mother arranged a mirror above the bed so that she could see herself.

The self-portraits were the result of the isolation and the pain. The works explore the themes of the identity and the suffering.

The Works and the Recognition

Kahlo produced about fifty-five of the self-portraits and many other works. The paintings are now among the most valuable of the Mexican art.

She had her first solo exhibition in 1953 in Mexico City. The critics and the public admired the work.

The Casa Azul in Coyoacán is now a museum. It attracts the visitors from throughout the world.

The Honours and the Memory

Kahlo was the first Mexican artist to have a work acquired by the Louvre. The painting The Frame was bought by the museum in 1939.

The Casa Azul in Coyoacán is now a museum devoted to her life and work. It attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors each year.

Her work has become a symbol of the Mexican culture and of the feminist movement. The image of her face appears on the banknotes and the merchandise.

The Style and the Symbols

Kahlo combined the influences of the Mexican folk art and the European modernism. She used the symbols of the Mexican culture and the mythology.

She painted the monkeys and the parrots and the flowers. The animals and the plants carry the personal and the symbolic meanings.

The work is characterised by the direct and the unsentimental depiction of the pain. The palette is bright and the composition is simple.

The Health and the Operations

Kahlo suffered from the chronic pain throughout her life. She underwent more than thirty operations on her back and her leg.

She was treated with the corsets and the medicines. The pain is reflected in the works of her last years.

She died in 1954 in Coyoacán. The cause of the death was reported as a pulmonary embolism.

See also

• Self-portrait
• Mexicanidad
• Diego Rivera
• Feminist art