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| Frida Kahlo's self-portrait with loose hair |
Frida
Kahlo, or as in her birth certificate, Magdalena Carmen Frida Khalo y Calderon
was born in Coyoacan, Mexico in July 6, 1907. Although her birth date was 1907,
Kahlo claimed she was born in 1910, the year the Mexican revolution started.
She was an advocate of the Mexican Revolution to end dictatorship in Mexico,
which lasted for 30 years. Frida was a revolutionary artist whose work arose
from political chaos in her homeland as well as in her personal life. Her
paintings were not surrealistic or based on her dreams; in fact, these
portrayed her life both in tragedy and happiness. She is most famous for her
self-portraits in which she depicted herself in the reality she was living and
expressed her states of mind. Her paintings were not only the product of her
emotions but also an expression of her cultural and political beliefs.
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| Self-portrait at the border between Mexico and US |
One
of her portraits “Self-portrait at the border between Mexico and the US”,
addresses her cultural beliefs and provides entry to an understanding of what
culture means to her. In the painting she stands in the middle of the
borderline holding a Mexican flag, in the left side she depicts Mexico with
vibrant colors, nature, and the representation of the Aztec culture. In the
right side, she portrays the United States with buildings, industry and
technology. Frida expressed her discontentment with living in the United States,
and in her painting “My dress hangs there” she compares her views and those of
her husband Diego on the United States. Frida’s view on the United States was
very dim, as opposed to Diego’s, which was bright and promising because of the
industrial progress. I believe her work also addressed cultural issues because
of her views on US and Mexico and this could make immigrants feel identified as
many of us miss our countries and cherish their cultures.
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| "My dress hangs there" painting by Frida kahlo expressing her views and discontent with USA |
Frida
Kahlo was a very passionate woman in both life and in her paintings. 55 out of
143 paintings are self-portraits; she declared that she painted herself because
she knew herself best. Her portraits tell
the story of her tragedies such as an accident where a bus hit her leaving her
bed-ridden for months and undergoing several surgeries. La columna rota, “the
broken column” shows Frida wearing a steel brace to support her body and an
opening running vertically exposing the broken spine, as well as several nails
inserted in her body and a bigger her one in her heart. The nail in her heart symbolized the damage
she felt because of her romantic relationship with her husband Diego Rivera who
had several affairs. Some of her paintings also represented her inability to
procreate, which was another tragedy she faced after suffering from a natural
abortion in Henry Ford Hospital. Frida Kahlo’s work was not about beauty or
vanity, portraying herself in her paintings represented the frankest states of
emotion that life produced in her and addresses social, cultural and political
views she held.
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| Frida's self portrait of her broken spine caused by a bus accident, nails embedded in her body and heart |
“Biography of Frida Kahlo.” Frida Kahlo - The Complete Works - Biography, www.frida-kahlo-foundation.org/biography.html.
PBS, Public Broadcasting Service, www.pbs.org/weta/fridakahlo/life/index.html.
“The Story behind 10 Frida Kahlo Paintings.” Matador Network, matadornetwork.com/life/story-behind-10-frida-kahlo-paintings/.
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