Frida Kahlo: The Woman Behind The Artwork

The beautiful Mexican artist, Frida Kahlo produced dynamic artwork in the 20th century. Her pieces depict a raw blend of vulnerability, passion, and aggressiveness. Through her work she expressed pain, heartbreak, and abandonment unlike other artists of her time. She painted self-portraits of herself because she spent a lot of time alone and felt she was her best subject. Creating self-portraits began as a way for Kahlo to pass time. Overtime her painting process became an extremely cathartic experience. Her personal style reached beyond fashion; she was strikingly unique. She embraced her “flaws,” allowing her unified eyebrows to live in their natural un-tweezed state. Kahlo had the exceptional gift of translating physical and emotional pain into incredible art. People from all walks of life connected to her story and embraced her as an artistic leader of their time.

Kahlo was born in 1910. She grew up in Coyoacán, Mexico, then suburbs of Mexico City. She lived in the same house her entire life. Where she was born is where she would eventually die. The infamous blue house would later become known as the Frida Kahlo Museum. The museum housed her personal diaries, paintings, poems, drawings, and personal belongings. Kahlo was biracial. Her father was a German Jew, and her mother was Mexican. As a young child she was infected with polio; this is “a serious disease that affects the nerves of the spine and often makes a person permanently unable to move particular muscles” (Merriam Webster) She grew up as a tomboy and a member of the young communist league. During the initial stages of her life, she did not plan on being an artist. She studied medicine and wanted to become a doctor.

As a teenage young girl in 1925 while en route home from school, she was involved in a horrific accident. A local trolley hit the bus she was riding. Langer states, “Medical reports detailed in the Frida Kahlo Retrospective book indicate that the accident fractured both her third and fourth lumbar vertebrae, caused three fractures to the pelvis and eleven to the right foot, a luxation of the left elbow, and a penetrating wound to the abdomen produced by an iron pipe that entered the left limb and exited through the genitalia.” (qtd. in Langer 36) This tragedy made one of the biggest impressions on her entire life. She was reduced to bed rest for an entire year. She spent a lot of time alone and bored. She began developing her hand technique by sketching on her body cast. Once there was no more room left on her cast, her parents purchased her an easel and paintbrushes to paint. She taught herself to paint with the easel strapped to her bed. At that moment, Frida Kahlo the artist was born.

Once she finished a small collection of pieces and learned to walk again, she sought mentorship from Diego Rivera, a well-known artist in her town. He was famous for his communist murals. They both shared the same political outlook, he also enjoyed her work, Rivera describes her artistry as “Acid and tender, hard as steel and delicate and fine as a butterfly’s wing, adorable as a beautiful smile and as profound and cruel as the bitterness of life.” (qtd. in Langer 36) During his mentorship he decided to include her in one of his murals. As a result they became very close. Rivera was 24years her senior, but that did not stop either of them from developing strong and intoxicating feelings towards each other. They fell in love, and eventually married. She was his third wife, and he was her only husband. Their relationship was branded as much by love as it was by struggle. Rivera did not believe in monogamy. Initially, Kahlo thought she could handle his womanizing ways by exploring her sexuality with women. She often shared relations with his mistresses. This changed when she found out he had an affair with her sister Christina. That particular betrayal was too tough for her to bear. It tore her apart and broke her heart. They eventually divorced. However, they remarried one year later.

Kahlo experienced an immense amount of suffering throughout her life, and she revealed it all inside of her artwork. Ironically, her creations are all exceptionally beautiful, yet, extremely tragic. Her biracial ancestry was often publicized in her paintings. Its most present moment is in The Two Frida’s self-portrait. This piece was created following her divorce from Rivera. Unlike most of her other works this particular one is very large and physically striking. Kahlo is shown duplicated representing her dual racial background. Both of the images are seated holding hands with a very stern, stubborn and rebellious expression on their face. However, to the left is the lighter European version of Kahlo. This version is displayed very well dressed, but with her heart ripped out. To the right is the darker Mexican part of herself who is dressed very poorly, but her heart remains in tact.

Another powerful self-portrait is her 1940’s piece, Cropped Hair. This painting is heartbreaking in many ways. At the top it reads musical notes the words of a popular song, “You see, if I loved you, it was for your hair. Now that you’ve cut it off, I don’t love you anymore.” She sits awkwardly and masculine-like in a drab yellow chair. Her head, hands, and feet are pathetically tiny. She is wearing oversized men’s clothes. And, her beautiful luxurious locks are chopped up lying all over the floor as she sits alone in a room, holding scissors in her hand. This self-portrait is reminiscent of an emotional time she experienced with Rivera during one of his awful moments of infidelity. He left her alone in a motel room in Los Angels, California. She was sick in a foreign country, and felt rejected and unloved while he ran off on to have relations with a famous American Actress. The Cropped Hair portrait symbolized a rejection of her sexuality and beauty because Rivera made her feel extremely abandoned as his wife.

Kahlo’s most fragile and unsettling creation is the Henry Ford Hospital of 1932. This painting vividly depicts the sadness she felt after suffering from a miscarriage. She had been pregnant once before but was instructed to have a miscarriage. She strongly desired to become a mother and yearned to create a family of her own with Rivera. However, her body did not have the ability nor the strength to produce healthy children. She was barren. In the painting Kahlo depicts herself, “Stranded on a blood-spattered bed, the weeping artist clasps her stomach and mourns her loss. The fetus floats above her, cross-legged and helpless. The loss of a second pregnancy may have made Kahlo lament her infertility, but it liberated her as a painter.” (qtd. in Cork 44)

Throughout her life she survived 20+ operations and an increasing loss of her muscle function. As a result of those traumatic experiences, Kahlo always felt in her heart that she existed on the brink of death and often expressed mortality throughout her artwork. However, through her painting process she became vindicated by her reality. Painting self-portraits was a liberating experience for her. Kahlo was forever wounded in her body. At times wounded emotionally from her tumultuous relationship with Rivera, and all of the suffering it brought into her life. Nevertheless, her personality was fierce. She was a survivor, and a fighter. Her paintings have been exhibited and praised by critics in London, New York City and Paris throughout her lifetime. Kahlo was a self taught artist, and an incredible woman! She was committed to communism and a bisexual before it was strongly recognized throughout society. Towards the end of her life she became very ill. In 1953, her toe on her injured leg began to decay, and her leg was eventually amputated. By 1954, she died at the tender age of 44. She was a petite woman who never reached the age of 50, but produced a renowned body of work. She was honored with a state funeral that became a grand spectacle.

Kahlo’s artwork transformed her into a celebrity. She had no fear to use her platform to touch the hearts of many by displaying her inner thoughts and darkest reality. She displayed how someone can overcome horrendous experiences throughout their life but learn to persevere and reach their highest potential. She is recognized for linking pain to her work. However, she will always be remembered as an artist with an authentic personality, flamboyant sense of style, and a generous heart.

Works Cited

Cork, Richard. "See My Pain." New Statesman 134.4748 (2005): 44. Humanities International Complete. Web. 27 Apr. 2015.

Kahlo, Frida, Helga Prignitz-Poda, and Peter Von Becker. Frida Kahlo: Retrospective. Munich: Prestel, 2010. Print.

Kozloff, Joyce. "Frida Kahlo." Women's Studies 6.1 (1978): 43. Academic Search Complete. Web. 27 Apr. 2015.

Langer, Cassandra. "Moods Flowing On Canvas." Gay & Lesbian Review Worldwide 18.2 (2011): 36. Humanities International Complete. Web. 27 Apr. 2015.

Merriam-Webster. Merriam-Webster, n.d. Web. 27 Apr. 2015.

Reisen, Harriet Rose. "My Frida." Provincetown Arts 18.(2003): 64-66. Humanities International Complete. Web. 27 Apr. 2015.

ROBERTA, JEAN. "Frida's Wounded Body And Soul." Gay & Lesbian Review Worldwide 21.6 (2014): 38. Humanities International Complete. Web. 27 Apr. 2015.