In many craft markets in the cities of Mexico, it is certain to come across a face with penetrating dark eyes, framed by a bushy unibrow; a thin nose and almost pursed lips. As if enclosing a silent cry of pain: body pain, soul pain. Undoubtedly, these features belong to a rare Mexican beauty. One of Mexico’s most famous painters: Frida Kahlo (1907-1954). Today we will talk about life and paintings of Frida Kahlo.
With her characteristic hairstyle and clothing, the face of this painter has become one of the most famous in the history of art. And is not for less. His life was a work of art in which he reflected his desire to live and the pain that became an enemy and a companion.
“I am a product of the Mexican Revolution. I am, all the women who fought and who fight to be someone in their homeland”. (1)
Why is the Mexican Frida Kahlo so famous? Frida Kahlo’s paintings
For many connoisseurs of Mexican and surrealist painting (2) Kahlo did not reach the skill or aesthetics of other painters. Of course! After all, in Mexico we have more surreal artists and for all tastes. like the enigmatic Leonora Carrington; the extraordinary Varus remedies; or the sadly forgotten mary left.
What makes her so different from other artists is perhaps the fact that with a few brushstrokes could express the «Mexicanness” (3) of his country, the mestizo history of Mexico. Such a colorful and complex past, a mixture of Spanish, indigenous, African and Arab roots that are still reflected in the daily life of Mexicans. Before we get into Frida Kahlo’s paintings, let’s quickly talk about her life.
Born for pain – Frida’s not easy origins
Born in 1907, the daughter of a Jewish photographer of Hungarian origin and a Oaxacan woman of Spanish descent, throughout her life she felt linked to a great historical event, the Mexican Revolution (4). She highlighted the importance of the most vulnerable classes: indigenous people, peasants and workers. That is why Kahlo’s work contains cultural elements of these groups, although forgotten in the legal and political sphere, they have formed the backbone of the mexican multiculturalism.
“I suffered two serious accidents in my life, one in which a bus knocked me to the ground… the other accident was Diego.”
The pain caused by a polio (5) at the age of six. And by a terrible accident, at the age of 18, they marked his life. Forcing her to wear heavy corsets, she was confined to bed for years and later, undergoing painful surgeries. Thirty-two in all! During the last years of his life, he consumed alcohol and pills to stop the pain of “a spine broken in three places, the head of the femur broken, three fractures in the pelvis, eleven in the legs, and the crushed right foot (the bad foot of the polio)” (6). And not only that, a damaged uterus that caused three miscarriages. (7)
“I paint myself because I am what I know best.”
Loneliness and heartbreak – Painting as an escape route
To mitigate the loneliness and at her mother’s idea, the first months of her convalescence they installed a mirror on the ceiling of her bed. So that she could fix herself and then as a tool to paint herself. And so, by chance of fate, painting offered him a means of escape.
His second accident was an unconditional and constant love that marked his life (from the age of 22 until the day of his death, at the age of 47) for the also famous painter and muralist (8) Diego Rivera. Is stormy and even toxic relationship it was as fruitful in cultural as sentimental aspects. Rivera was Kahlo’s patron, her most faithful admirer, the bridge between Kahlo and other artists who helped spread Frida Kahlo’s paintings. Thus Frida managed to be both international and Mexican. His sexuality so open, for the time, allowed him to form great love ties with various characters such as the Russian communist, Leon Trotsky; the Mexican singer Chabela Vargas; the surrealist painter Jacqueline Lamba, wife of a famous painter, the initiator of surrealism André Breton.
“The color was a real discovery, an absolute joy. The world lit up.”
Bedridden, Frida began to paint and write. It could be said that her diaries were a combination of letters and paintings.
Frida Kahlo’s paintings
The Truck (1929)
Painting that refers to the accident that turned her into another, in this painting Frida shows the cultural and social diversity of her country. After the Mexican revolution, Mexico began to open its borders to other countries, industrialization and land distribution began to take on greater force, causing the movement of people, goods and money to make Mexico a more alive country. For this reason, Frida brings together in this public space a group as diverse as it is heterogeneous. An indigenous woman with her son, an American, a housewife, a worker, and a middle-class woman, Frida herself, make up this painting.
A Few Little Picks (1935)
A story in the newspapers inspired this picture. A man had murdered his wife out of jealousy. His defense before the judge: I gave him a few bites. He had stabbed her twenty times. Frida describes the reason for this painting as if she felt like that woman, and her murderer had been Diego, who had betrayed her countless times.
Frida used a well-known technique among the Mexican lower classes: that of ex-votos, paintings of Spanish origin. The ex-votos (9) are offerings given in gratitude for a favor done by a Virgin or a Saint. Generally they were ordered to be made by a mother worried about her children, a man in distress saved by divine intercession. Any problem that had been solved was exposed in these somewhat crude paintings by Frida Kahlo, with strong colors and a very brief explanatory text, and almost always with bad spelling.
Diego in my thoughts (1943)
Although the main theme in this painting revolves around theDiego’s infidelities. Frida captured her clothing and how proud she felt when wearing the Tehuana costume. Since she began her relationship with Diego, she began to dress in traditional clothing, especially that of the Zapotec women of the isthmus of Tehuantepec, Oaxaca.
Tehuana costume (10)
It is the most complex and expensive garment in Mexico for having hand embroidery with silk thread, gold accessories: the fringe (shawl type), the earrings and the choker (necklace type). Worn with pride by Oaxacan women, it consists of two pieces “the blouse called ‘huipil’ and a long skirt with white lace frills. Both pieces are made of satin or velvet that can be in black, red, purple and have embroidered flowers of different types and colors.” All this represents the matriarchy, strong and independent women From Oaxaca.
Live life! A tribute to its roots
Frida Kahlo She wanted to be a doctor but the first accident she suffered in her life prevented her dream from coming true. She was unable to have an academic background like that of Remedios Varo, who studied at the San Fernando Academy in Spain. Or like María Izquierdo who studied at the National School of Fine Arts in Mexico City. She was a self-taught. Her interest in human anatomy, combined with the long hours in front of a mirror, made her take up her brushes and capture what she knew best: her face, her daily life in a multicultural Mexico and later, her great love for Diego. The latter encouraged her to paint and made her immerse herself in the intellectual movement of the moment, post-revolutionary Mexico that highlighted her indigenous and mestizo roots.
Popular culture – beyond Frida Kahlo’s paintings
It is said that the most tormented lives are those that form the most brilliant intellectuals and the most original artists. For this reason, through the hands of Kahlo, something as abstract and complex as popular culture and the historical past of Mexico found form in colors and strokes on canvases that have transcended the borders of time and space. He also proudly wore indigenous clothing. He painted the most emblematic colors of Mexico, the daily life of the lower classes and showed the customs and traditions of a country as cosmopolitan as his. He took art beyond paintingto live it in your day to day.
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