Frida Kahlo

Born to the poverty stricken area of Coyoicoan near Mexico City, Frida Kahlo was not yet interested in art until her personal experiences allowed her to grow a passion for painting. Unfortunately, at the young age of only fifteen, Kahlo was in a streetcar accident, but during the painful recovery, she embarked on painting pieces and later sending them onto Diego Rivera. Upon meeting Rivera, Kahlo quickly fell in love and married him in 192. Their strong artistic tempers formed a unfortunate relationship ending up in divorce in 1939. In addition, Rivera committed several acts of infidelity, resulting in Kahlo living in her worst nightmare. However, she used her abundance of pain and anger from her marriage to paint multiple self portraits. Throughout her collection of paintings, Kahlo noticeably infuses the properties of pain and suffering to visually state her past. Another inspiration for Kahlo was Mexican folk art and her lover, Rivera’s sense of Realism. Even as her paintings can seem depressing, they state her inner dialogues and strong will in which she explains herself. Further exploring the possibilities of the artistic world, Kahlo painted several still lifes and visuals that depicted the typical Mexican life. Surprisingly, the reoccurring theme of monkeys within her work symbolism a sense of protection in the saddened artist’s life. Kahlo adored monkeys and displayed her fondness of them through her paintings. Andre Breton, known for Surrealism, describes Kahlo’s work as being “like a ribbon tied around a bomb!” Although the quote can be taken either way, personally through carefully reading this quote, a sense of unexpected pleasure is realized as bombs are never expected and the ribbon symbolizes delight. Truthfully, her work is almost considered under the genre of Surrealism as she blatantly reveals her emotions. After dying at only 47 years old due to long term health complications, she previously stated that “I have never pained dreams. I paint my reality.” Ultimately, Kahlo can be viewed as one of the most significant and well known icons of the twenty century of artistic capability.

Quotes from Kahlo:

"I leave you my portrait so that you will have my presence all the days and nights that I am away from you."

"I paint self-portraits because I am so often alone, because I am the person I know best."

"Painting completed my life."

There have been two great accidents in my life. One was the trolley, and the other was Diego. Diego was by far the worst."

"I paint my own reality. The only thing I know is that I paint because I need to, and I paint whatever passes through my head without any other consideration."