FRIDA KAHLO

For my artist, I chose Frida Kahlo, who is widely recognized for her self portraits. She didn't choose to be a painter, but painting more or less chose her. I favored Frida's paintings because it was one of the ways she could express herself and all the pain she was going through, as well as having great, bold, color.

I love the symbolism behind this piece and the saturation of color she has with the black monkey and feline against the greenness of the leaves. In her biography it was said she incorporated monkeys in her work because she wanted to depict them as symbols of tenderness and being  protective, where as Mexican culture usually described them as symbols of lust. Here in this painting, you can see how simple and innocent the monkey looks with her and that she wants the protect and comfort it has to offer in life.  Over all, I love that she shows both an innocent side and menacing side in the same painting.

 

 

To the left, this self portraits jumped out at me because of the earthly palate she has throughout the piece. It all looks very green and natural. At first glance, it looked very average but taking a closer look I noticed the necklace of thorns around her neck with drops of blood which again, signifies the pain she has. Plus her earring, which looks like a human hand, is strange to see but cool looking. These two things make this painting look out of the ordinary, which is why I favored it.

 

 

 

 

 Frida Kahlo - The Broken Column

Another of Frida's piece that had a big impact on me would be her painting, The Broken Column. I didn't put it on the blog since I suppose it's it may be a little inappropriate for school, but it has such great meaning that describes all her pain and how she releases it into her paintings. There's a lot of detail and very neutral colors throughout it, as to not take away from the over all imagine. 

 

 

 

Background information:

Frida Kahlo was born July 6, 1907, but she told people her birth date was July 7, 1910. She wanted her birth date to coincide with the Mexican revolution so her life  would begin with the birth of modern Mexico. She was born in Coyoacan, a suburb of Mexico City and at the age of six contracted Polio which left her with the nickname "Peg-leg Frida" due to the deformation of her right leg. She battled life long health problems, but the biggest of all came when she was eighteen years old and was involved in a horrific trolly car incident. Frida was riding in a car that collided with a trolly and left her seriously injured. Several of her injuries included broken  spinal column, a broken collarbone, broken ribs, a broken pelvis, eleven fractures in her right leg, a crushed and dislocated right foot, and a dislocated shoulder. So needless to say, she was in pretty bad condition. It took her three months to recover in a full body cast and even after her recovery, she suffered from relapses of pain that were so bad she would be hospitalized for days. This accident changed the course of her life, because Frida never intended to become a painter; she wanted to be a doctor, but since she could no longer pursue that profession she took up painting instead.

As a young artist, she began communicating with famous painter, Diego Rivera, whose work she admired and often asked for guidance in her own work. Diego recognized her talent and soon began intimate relations with her. They married in 1929, despite the disapproval of Frida's mother. Their marriage had always been troubled, with both of them having irritable temperaments and numerous affairs. Diego began his affairs with Frida's sister, Cristina, and in order to get back at him, Frida began her own affairs with both men and women. Their turbulent relationship continued till the divorced in November 1939, but they later remarried in December 1940.

Frida's most famous works were her self portraits.  She began painting when she was temperamentally immobilized, and her father lent her his oil paints and brushes. Frida once said, "I paint myself because I am so often alone and because I am the subject I know best." Her paintings often described her ordeals with physical and psychological pain. 

Frida in a hospital bed, drawing 

a corset on.

 Interesting facts:

•  She was unable to have kids due to her Trolley accident where an iron handrail pierced her abdomen and her uterus which severally damaged he reproductive system. She did get pregnant twice but both pregnancies were terminated due to her condition.
•  This made her paintings show more about loss, infertility, pain, and alienation.
•   She died in the summer of 1945 due to pneumonia
•  Her right leg had been amputated due to gangrene 
•  When she did portraits of other people they were unlike her own portraits and more abstract 

     Frida and Diego Rivera's wedding photo