Frida Kahlo-Paintings

Diego Rivera

Diego Rivera is best known for his distinctive murals of typical Latin American lifestyles and his sharp contrast in colors. Although he studied art in Mexico City, Rivera traveled abroad to Madrid and Paris where he met Picasso. Following his connection with Picasso, Rivera began to paint Cubist works, which are persuaded by both the influence of Gris and Braque. Upon deciding to travel abroad once again, Rivera found himself in Italy where he began studying the Renaissance Masters, who in reality impacted his imagination. Returning to his native city in Mexico in the early 1920’s, he focused his vision into massive murals which were done on the walls of industrial and public buildings. Similar to his wife, Frida Kahlo, Rivera depicted the history of Mexico and also the natives. Mexico at this time was dominated by left-wing, anti-clerical government, which impacted both Rivera and the citizens of Mexico. During this time period, Rivera became the leading artist of the revolution in society. In addition, Rivera worked in the United States of America paintings murals just as he had previously did in Mexico. However, the murals Rivera constructed in the states were different as they admired the industrial age and also social messages appeared frequently on his murals in America. Truthfully, Diego Rivera just like Frida Kahlo endowed their personal sense of folk art with the surprise of Aztec symbols and Byzantine symbols.

Quotes from Rivera:

"I did not know it then, but Frida had already become the most important fact in my life. And would continue to be, up to the moment she died, 27 years later."

"Through her paintings, she breaks all the taboos of the woman's body and of female sexuality."

"July 13, 1954 was the most tragic day of my life. I had lost my beloved Frida forever. To late now I realized that the most wonderful part of my life had been my love for Frida."

"Never before had a woman put such agonizing poetry on canvas as Frida did at this time in Detroit."

"If I ever loved a woman, the more I loved her, the more I wanted to hurt her. Frida was only the most obvious victim of this disgusting trait."

Diego Rivera Paintings

Gwen John

One of the greatest female artists of her time, Gwen John is known for her fondness of the European lifestyle, mainly Paris. Trained at the Slade School in London, John learned the many techniques of painting with her brother Augustus, another famous painter of this era. After graduating, John decided to explore Paris and began to work under Whistler, who gave her the inspiration to explore tonality and the encouragement to define her sense of art as a delicate image to the eye. In the early 1900’s, John had decided to walk to Rome, but only found herself back in her beloved city of Paris, France. Upon returning, John decided to settle in the city and started modeling couture on the runaway. Through her modeling career, John was introduced to Rodin a sculptor, who she feel deeply in love with. As an artist himself, Rodin urged his wife to paint more, but she only produced a few pieces due to a lack of imagination and motivation. However, through the generous input of John Quinn, an American lawyer, John was finally able to forget her career as a model and define her name as an artist in Paris. As John grew into her older age, she lived a quiet life alone in the country side of France where she grew as an artist. Although she never exhibited much of her work, she began to paint intimate scenes of small subject matter, which were most often female portraits. Another matter she painted often was the corner of her studio in distinctive muted colors representing a tranquility and simplistic ideal. Commonly viewed as a dull artist, there are strong emotions and strength within her soul that is present in each of her paintings. Ultimately, as a women, Gwen John worked harder to prove herself as an artist and therefore is known one of the most admired females in the history of art.

Quotes from John:

"When I was a child, I used to cry all the time."

"Aloneness is nearer God, nearer reality."

"In talking, shyness and timidity distort the very meaning of my words. I don't pretend to know anybody well. People are like shadows to me and I am like a shadow."

"To be reserved, secretive, with a passionate violence that causes suffering."

Gwen John Paintings

Edgar Degas

Edgar Degas, an unrelenting artist, worked extensively in the fields of oil, pastel, charcoal, sculpture and printmaking in his work. Degas can be fully taken in and understood by walking through the wide-range collection of his featured art located at the Yale Museum of Art. Although considered a true impressionists, he infused his own unique trademarks, subject matter, and his artistic sensibility created in his legendary style. While aspiring artists are able to attend schools including Pratt Institute, Rhode Island School of Design, or Corcoran College of Art and Design, in the early nineteenth century, artists were allowed to copy pieces composed by other artists. Through working off another talented artist, Degas was able to develop his own skills. At the young age of eighteen, he was allowed the honor of copying famous pieces at the Louvre in Paris. In 1854, Degas copied Raphael’s paintings featured at the Louvre, which allowed for him to not only study Raphael’s techniques used in painting, but also furthered his abilities in the art field. With the intention of experiencing a different style of art, mainly studying religious art, Degas traveled to Italy in the mid 1800’s to acquire a vast amount of knowledge not present to him in Paris, which would allow for him to build upon his career at a young age. Returning to Paris, he composed his first major piece known as A Woman Seated Beside a Vase of Flowers.

Quotes from Edgar Degas:

"A painting requires a little mystery, some vagueness, some fantasy. When you always make your meaning perfectly plain you end up boring people."

"Painting isn't so difficult when you don't know ... But when you do ... it's quite a different matter!"

"A painting is above all a product of the artist's imagination, it must never be a copy. If, at a later stage, he wants to add two or three touches from nature, of course it doesn't spoil anything. But the air one sees in the paintings of the masters is not the air one breathes."

"Drawing is not what one sees but what one can make others see."

"How awful it is not being able to see clearly any more! I have had to give up drawing and painting and for years now content myself with sculpture ... But if my eyesight continues to dim I won't even be able to model any more. What will I do with my days then?"

Edgar Degas Sketches