The essay looks at Frida Kahlo's work and her choice of media for her artworks. The purpose is to assess one of the most important artists of the twentieth century and how her artwork reflects on the painful experiences in her life.
Frida Kahlo was brought up in a male-dominated Mexican society, but she was a free-thinking spirit, ready to take on the world. However, disaster struck, and she was left with a shattered spine and life because of a horrific traffic accident. Those long hospital stays and pain cast life long shadows in her life which was marred by disability and isolation (Watt 646). She took up painting and went on to become the most famous female painter of all time that has inspired many. Frida became an internationally recognized artist, and her pain accompanied her throughout her life. Her turbulent relationship with the renowned muralist Diego brought her the worst suffering, according to the artist. Her life revolved around art and sufferings, and her work has been organized in different sections such as "The ‘origins’ of Frida, The First Accident, The Second Accident and the Martyrdom of Frustrated Motherhood (Siqueira-Batista et al. 139).
Frida’s paintings are primarily about herself, her pain and how she felt and carry great details. They display a brutal frankness and coded messages as the artist paints life as she sees and feels it. A common feature that can be seen in her work is of duality, the body she has and the body she lost. Frida’s physical injuries not only damaged her body but her self-confidence as well. The majority of the body of work done by her focus on herself and are self-portraits. However, Frida was not afraid of her pain and even glorified it in her paintings. For example. In “The Two Fridas (1939)”, one sees two versions of her sitting side by side and the hearts visible (Frida Kahlo Biography 2016). One figure is dressed in white and has a damaged heart. There are blood spots on the white clothing. The other Frida has a sound heart and wears bold-colored clothes. The figures represent “unloved” and “loved” versions of Frida. Her two 'selves' are different and yet connected as they share the same heart. The rich, lustrous colors make a stiff contrast to the white purity. Her heart and head are in conflict at once here. Despite her personal challenges and chronic health problems, Frida continued to paint and grew in popularity.
Another example can be taken from “The Broken Column” that was done in 1944. Here, Frida paints a nearly nude Frida with a shattered decorative column. Her skin is dotted with nails, and she wears a surgical brace. In the painting, she shows herself as in a steel corset and thus expresses the severe pain she felt. Her column is broken in several places and symbolizes her damaged spine. Those nails all over her body represent pain that she is going through. One can see the isolation and solitude in the suffering of her condition. During that time, she had undergone several surgeries and was wearing special corsets. The crippling accident, pain and a bad marriage impacted her physically and psychologically. Her works are often looked upon as Surrealist because of her bizarre and disturbing themes. However, what makes Frida different from Surrealists is that she did not base her work on dreams and subconscious (Frida Kahlo 2016). Her artwork was autobiographical in nature and reflected the pain in her life that she had learned to live with. Her subject matter was deeply personal rather than being intellectual. She was not interested in the topic of the subconscious and dreams.
Frida’s work intrudes on both Surrealist and Magical Realist world in her self-portraits. A deep analysis of her narrative images reveal the conflicts between duality and plurality as asserted by Haynes (1).Her racial and sexual heterogeneity added to her struggles with life and the pain. Bed-ridden for months, and with just a mirror in front of her, it is no wonder that she painted only herself and in pain. After all, this was the subject that she was well familiar with. She painted the reality she saw in the mirror (Haynes 3). Frida’s self-portraits were bold and compelled by oppositional rationale as she embraced political standpoint as well as an innovative personal imperative. What is most compelling of all in her work is her arresting gaze that holds the viewer. Her artwork negotiates the intricate tensions between identity and marginality and places her 'in between' (Haynes 16).
As stated by Watt (647), it seemed there were several Fridas, and all of them were struggling. Her canvases displayed her physical and psychological pain. The final straw came when her leg had to be amputated due to gangrene and that broke her will to live. Still, the pain of her body did not dampen her spirit. She used her pain and expressed it in artistic terms. Her artworks displayed bleeding bodies with scars, blood spots, and exposed organs. She expresses the pain in its multiple shades and in a way her art is her biography marked by remarkable episodes and life experiences. Perhaps art was the only comfort factor in her life, and she often used bright colors to bring cheer to her life and cope with pain.
An exhibition of her artworks would introduce to the viewers a great painter who refused to let go of life despite her crippling pains. Her artwork would be a good medium to display her biography and help make a better understanding the artist and her work. Each of her paintings reflects her evolving persona and are an irrefutable evidence of her life. The majority of her paintings are self-portraits while the rest are still-life paintings and organic material. Whether her work is a surrealist or not is often debated, but they carry the frankest expression of herself. Her subjects have always been her states of mind and sensations that she portrays in the objectified figures of herself.
Works Cited
"Frida Kahlo Biography." biography. 2016. Web. 27 April. 2016.
"Frida Kahlo." theartstory. 2016. Web. 27 April. 2016.
Haynes, Anna. "Frida Kahlo: An Artist 'In Between." eSharp1.1 (n.d.): 1-18. Print
Siqueira-Batista, Rodrigo, Mendes, Plínio D., Fonseca, Julia de O., Macie, Marina de S. "Art and pain in Frida Kahlo." Federal University of Viçosa15.2 (2014):139-143. Print
Watt, Graham. “Frida Kahlo.” The British Journal of General Practice 55.517 (2005): 646–647. Print.
