Frida Kahlo, Research Paper Example

Introduction

Even to those who are unaware of many components of the art world, Frida Kahlo is a name and face that they are likely to recognize. She is one of very few female painters that became famous during the early 1900s, during a time period in which women were expected only to contribute to their household by raising children and other womanly affairs. Kahlo is best known for her self-portraits, which emphasize an aspect of her personality that many were shocked that she was willing to advertise.

Frida’s Early Childhood

Frida Kahlo was born on July 6, 1907 at her parents’ house in a small town outside of Mexico City. She grew up in a somewhat unhappy household, which derived from the fact that her parents married quickly. This was emphasized by the fact that, despite this, they had four children. Therefore, Frida grew up in a household full of women; three of her own sisters and two of her half-sisters occupied this living space, along with their mother.

One of the major events that influence Kahlo’s life was the timing of the Mexican Revolution, which began in 1910. The sounds of gun fire and violence on the streets were familiar to her, and she poetically wished she was born in 1910 so that her birth would somehow have something to do with the social change that the revolution was supposed to bring about.

Another major event that influenced Kahlo’s life is that she contracted polio when she was six years of age. To disguise the awkward appearance of her legs as a consequence of this disease, she decided to wear long colorful skirts throughout her life. Furthermore, she continued to participate in physical activity despite the injury, so that no one would come to notice her condition.

Frida’s Parents Ethnicity and How it Influenced her Adult Life

 For a child that grew up in Mexico, Frida Kahlo was considered to have a diverse ethnicity. Her father, Guillermo Kahlo, was not born with his name, and simply changed it so that he would sound more Mexican and be accepted by individuals living in his new home. Rather, he was raised in Germany, which was suffering much political turmoil in the early 1900s. His religious background was Lutheran. Meanwhile Kahlo’s mother was half Native American and half Spanish. Her mother was Roman Catholic.

As a consequence of her primary upbringing by her mother, Kahlo became fascinated by the life of the indigenous Mexican population, and this is reflected in her art. Specifically, she uses bright colors and dramatic symbols, such as the monkey, which typically represents lust. However, she decided to reassign the meaning of this symbol to mean something more peaceful. Since her parents had close ties with the Jewish and Catholic faiths, much of her work includes elements from these religions as well. Ultimately, her upbringing influenced her to combine traditional Mexican painting with aspects of surrealism.

Bus Accident and Her Painting

Frida Kahlo was severely injured on September 17, 1925 when she got into a bus accident. She had been riding a bus that collided with a trolley car. According to reports, this left her severely injured; she suffered a broken spinal column, broken collarbone, broken ribs, a broken pelvis, eleven fractures in her right leg, a crushed and dislocated right foot, and a dislocated shoulder. Most importantly, an iron handrail pierced her abdomen and her uterus, meaning that she would not be biologically able to bear a child. Even though the event was clearly physically traumatizing to Kahlo, it also left a lot of mental damage, of which is reflected in her paintings. In some works, it is clear that she uses her art as a method by which she could cope with her misery and come to accept what had happened had changed her.

Unfortunately, Frida’s recovery time was very long, and she was forced to spend three full months in a body case. Since the injuries were so severe, she continued to have pain after she was released from the hospital throughout the remainder of her life. Sometimes, this pain required her to return back to the hospital for treatment, or to remain in bed until it would pass. Kahlo volunteered to participate in many different surgeries in an attempt to return her body to normal, but the effects of these interventions were minimal. To add to her psychological pain, Kahlo could never be sure that she would feel normal one day and be able to go about her usual activities, or if her pain would prevent her from doing so. Furthermore, her specific condition meant that she would be able to conceive children, but the pregnancies would have to be terminated because they would never have the potential to come to term. Thus, Kahlo received three abortions during her lifetime, addition to her emotional distress.

Career as a Painter and Her Self-Portraits

Kahlo’s career as a painter began when she recognized that she wanted to spend time doing something during her periods of immobilization. Her self-portraits represented her loneliness, and she believed that during these periods, herself was the only topic that she reliably knew. Kahlo’s parents had a special easel made for her so that it would be possible to accomplish this painting while bedridden. Therefore, they played a major role in her ability to get started as an artist.

The topic of Kahlo’s paintings primarily derived from her want and need to express herself during her hospitalizations. Since there were few people to talk to, and even when people were present, she couldn’t represent herself with facial expressions or hand gestures, she drew her feelings onto the face of herself in her portraits. However, the bus accident was reflected in her work in more ways that just this. Kahlo was very depressed that she would be unable to have children, so she brings this theme up in her pieces as well. For example, one of her self-portraits is her just after she had miscarried, which included the blood that had realistically escaped her during the process.

Diego Rivera was a significant influence on Kahlo’s work as well, who provided her with much encouragement during their communications. In all, Kahlo created at least 140 paintings, 55 of which were self-portraits. Their frustration and love towards one another contributed to their ability to produce great works.

Marriage to Diego Rivera

While Kahlo’s interactions with Diego Rivera were initially that of interest due to her enjoyment for his art, the two quickly became good friends. They then entered a sexual relationship and were married several years later, despite the fact that Kahlo did not receive approval from her family. Although the relationship was happy initially because the two had much in common in terms of their art, it started to fall apart because both members of the couple had extramarital affairs and their tempers were often in disagreement. Rivera was particular annoyed when Kahlo would have affairs with other men, even though he was somewhat accepting of her bisexuality.

The breaking point was when Kahlo learned that Rivera had an affair with one of her sisters, and the two divorced in 1939, but remarried a year later. When they remarried, they decided to live in separate rooms. There was little explanation for the remarriage, as it appeared to be just as detrimental to them as their first one.

Frida’s marriage to Rivera was bittersweet. The couple had many things in common, but even these commonalities led to fighting. What is important to consider was that the couple inspired each other and led to each other’s ability to contribute to great work that the world continues to admire today. Many of their interactions together and common beliefs contributed to their involvement in the communist party in Mexico.

Frida’s Involvement in the Communist Party in Mexico

Frida and Rivera considered themselves to be communists and became highly involved with the Communist Party in Mexico in order for their views to be heard and supported. One of the major aspects of their interaction with communism was the couple’s support for a man by the name of Leon Trotsky, who had fled Norway to Mexico in order to receive political asylum from the Soviet Union. He had been sentenced to death by Joseph Stalin and wished to escape this fate. During this time, Kahlo’s dedication to the Communist Party was expressed in her art. This was highly interesting because the government allowed it despite the fact that it directly disagreed with their actions.

Interestingly, Kahlo and Rivera’s involvement in the Communist Party sometimes meant that they would be ostracized and threatened. As a consequence, they were forced to flee to the United States for a period of time until the chances of violence were reduced. However, doing so did not significantly detract from their lifestyle, and they were often able to return back to Mexico within a small period of time.

When the couple took Trotsky into their home, there was an uproar because he was a revolutionary who led the opposition against Stalin. This brought the couple even more trouble when Kahlo entered an affair with Trotsky. However, Trotsky had relocated to another area in which he and his wife would feel safer. There, he was assassinated. Soon follow these events, both Kahlo and Rivera denounced Trotskyism and became supporters of Stalin. This relationship indicated the tight connection that existed between art and politics during the time period.

Frida’s Diary, Her Death

Frida Kahlo died on July 13, 1954 and was cremated. In her diary she wrote “I hope the exit is joyful — and I hope never to return”, which makes it seem that she believes in an afterlife or reincarnation but would not want to participate in it. Furthermore, she knew she was dying, and her death may have been on purpose. The formal diagnosis for cause of death was pulmonary embolism, even though some believe that she died of a drug overdose that had been taken on purpose. Since an autopsy was never performed, these beliefs can never be confirmed or denied. It is possible that she wanted to end her own life due to her present medical state. Her pain symptoms that were residual from the bus accident were becoming increasingly worse, and likely more and more difficult to bear. Furthermore, her right leg had been amputated at the knee as a consequence of gangrene. To add to her distress, she was also experiencing bronchopneumonia.

After Kahlo’s death, her ashes had been placed in the house that she was born in, which became a museum dedicated to her life. During Kahlo’s life, one of her paintings had been accepted by the Louvre, but her death allowed an interest to be sparked in her work by other art lovers as well. It was in this way that she acquired the fame that she is commonly associated with today. This was bolstered by the many galleries that opened up across the world showing her work. The 1980’s brought her to an even greater degree of fame, as many books and films had been written about her life. This solidified her place as an art icon in history. Many people today appreciate the way that Kahlo expressed herself and are even more interested in her tendency to rebel against social norms, making her a feministic icon as well. Her death was significant because it was an end to the misery and pain that she lived through.

Frida’s Frame After Her Death

After Kahlo’s death, she was portrayed as a legend of sorts. Almost everyone recognizes her face when they see her self-portraits, even though they cannot think of where the paintings were first introduced to them. For example, I was always aware of who Frida Kahlo was without knowing about her background in depth. Kahlo’s life ultimately became more important to the world after her passing. Rivera noted that her death made him recognize how much he appreciated her, and it appears that the same opinion is generally held of members of the Mexican art community.

Even though Kahlo had died in the 1950’s, it wasn’t until several decades later that her art became recognized. In the 1970’s, an art style called Neomexicanismo began, and these artists were able to relate well with her work. For the first time, Kahlo’s work was shown outside of Mexico in an exhibition that began in London and then travelled around Europe. A movie about her life called Frida, naturaleza viva was released in 1983. Her art became such as great success after her life because the public enjoyed hearing her unique story and how this inspired her to express herself by painting. While Kahlo’s story was not necessarily a happy one, it was certainly compelling and unique. Kahlo continues to be an inspirational figure because she is considered to be the greatest female artist of her time.

Conclusion

It is likely that Kahlo’s life will inspire many other artistic ventures in the future. Her work is highly prevalent in society around the world, and this will continue to be the case. People’s familiarity with her will increase as time goes on.

Bibliography

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http://www.frida-kahlo-foundation.org/biography.html. “Frida Kahlo Biography”. Unknown. November 27 2014.

Herrera H. Frida: A Biography of Frida Kahlo. Harper Perennial, 2002.

Jackson KT, Keller L, Flood N. The Encyclopedia of New York City. New York, 2010.

Kahlo F. The Diary of Frida Kahlo: An Intimate Self-Portrait. Abrams, 2005.

Kettenmann A. Frida Kahlo, 1907-1954: Pain and Passion. Taschen, 2009.

http://www.fridakahlo.com/, “Frida Kahlo”. Unknown. November 27 2014.