Essay about Frida Kahlo

The monkey in the Mexican mythology, it is a symbol of lust and pervasion, but she didn’t use it like that. Instead, she used it to symbolize protection and tenderness. When she was merely eleven she was diagnosed with polio, resulting in the crippling of her right leg leaving it a bit shorter and thinner than the left leg. Considering she was a survivor of polio she originally wanted to attend pre-med school, becoming an artist was nothing she ever planned to do. Frida simply became an artist by default when she was 18 due to a freak accident that left her immobilized for long periods of time. Unfortunately many surgeries followed and she began painting more and more to keep herself busy while she couldn’t move around much. At the age of 18 Frida had already experienced a great deal of pain in life and challenging health issues. Frida is known for painting an abundance of self-portraits which wasn’t the norm at that time. Frida was before her time in many ways making her exceptionally different from other women, she enjoyed telling dirty jokes, smoking, and slamming down tequila. This was intriguing to many and she was often questioned as to why she did this. Frida was so comfortable in doing so because she spent so much time alone, in

1. Frida Kahlo is one not only Mexico's most iconic artists, but one of the world's most iconic artists as well. She was born on July 6, 1907 in Coyocoan Mexico City, Mexico. Her father was of German descent and migrated to Mexico where he met her mother, who was half Spanish and half AmerIndian. She also had three sisters. Frida was always very close to her father, and was very proud of her Mexican heritage. During her childhood, she contracted a disease called Polio. She was very ill and had to stay in bed for a whole 9 months. The disease caused her right leg to become much skinnier and weaker than the left one. She had a permanent limp because of it and always wore long skirts to hide it. She met her future husband, Diego Rivera, when she was in preparatory school. One day in 1922, she was on a Bus and got in a horrific accident. She was severely injured, as a steel rail impaled her through the hip. During her period of recovery is when she began to paint her famous self-portraits. Frida and Diego reconnected in 1928 and them married in 1929. Their marriage, however, wasn't a healthy one. Diego cheated on Frida many times and they lived in separate houses. Frida, given her condition was always very depressed. She sadly passed away in 1954. Her death was reported to be caused by a pulmonary embolism, but many suspect her death may not have been accidental.

Throughout her career, Frida had shown many different themes of her life through her paintings. It seems clear, through analyzation of her paintings, that Frida lived something of a double life. Frida paints herself in distinctly different ways at times, sometimes she is a beautiful woman with strength like iron, and sometimes she is a frail damsel who has been broken already and will be broken again. Contrasting paintings include Self Portrait with Monkeys (Kahlo, 1) and Self-Portrait with Thorn Necklace, Diego and I (Kahlo, 1) and The Love Embrace of the Universe, the Earth (Mexico), Me, Diego, and Mr. Xolotl (Kahlo, 1). All of these paintings show that not only is there a contrast in her personality, in fact, Frida’s is actually two different people, as she paints it.

Frida Kahlo was married to the famous Mexican muralist Diego Rivera. While married to Rivera, Frida gave up painting. She loved Diego Rivera very much and wanted to be important to him. Frida knew that his murals were the number one in his life. Once she saw the reality that she would always come after Diego’s art, she became obsessed with trying to be number one, and devoted her life to being with him.

Diego was an important factor in Frida´s Art, he was her husband and as a result he impacted aspects of her life, for example: positive emotions, as well as negative emotions, travels, abortions, support and infidelities. All these topics where expressed on Frida´s masterpiece paintings, without Diego her paintings would have not been the same. Here is a look back on Frida and Diego´s troublous relationship:

Her symbolic painting is depicting that she refers to Rivera her lover and her child. When Amy Schaefer writes, “The stormy sky in the background, and the artist's bleeding heart - a fundamental symbol of Catholicism and also symbolic of Aztec ritual sacrifice - accentuate Kahlo's personal tribulation and physical pain”(Schaefer). Kahlo began to take more interest in traditional clothings of Mexico. With this portrait, The Two Fridas, Kahlo expresses her loneliness and desperation of her separation from

To have to change and adapt to new lifestyles is a very difficult task which is why many immigrants would favor their own cultures. This can be shown in Frida Kahlo’s Self Portrait Along the Boarder Line Between Mexico and the United States. In this painting, it shows the United States as dark and vacant of life while Mexico is filled with flowers and sunlight. Within the painting is Frida Kahlo holding a Mexican flag representing her loyalty to her native country. The painting also shows Frida standing on the border of Mexico and America.

Frida attended a National Preparatory School in 1922 hoping to become a doctor. At the same school, she saw Diego Rivera, painting “The Creation” (“Biography.com”). Frida was inspired and approached Diego with her compliments. He told her to go home and return with a painting in one week for him to judge. When she did as he asked, he was very impressed with her artistic ability and they became close (“Frida Kahlo: Biography”). Their relationship progressed and then Frida got into her terrible bus accident.

They both were members of the Communist party as well as up and coming artists, this chance meeting would eventually lead to a union like no other. On August 21, 1929, Diego and Frida were married. There marriage consisted of love, artistic interest, hate, and a divorce in 1940, however they would be remarried again in one short year. They both loved each other very much he was quoted saying that Frida was the only real love of his life, though he had many torrid affairs. Frida also had many lovers both men and women, such as Leon Trotsky and Georgia O?Keefe, but Diego was her true lover her comrade and artistic counterpart. Most of Frida?s works depict her personal saga, her struggle with the disabilities she suffered as a result of her accident and her turbulent marriage to Diego, her involvement with the Communist party and the Mexican Revolution. Frida?s art was influenced by a surge of nationalism known as Mexicandad.

Frida grew up looking at her father’s photographs. They helped her learn about the Mexico history, art, and architecture. Frida wasnt learn about history and art she want to learn about the nature and the science. Frida always was bringing home rock, insects,plants and even small animals. Frida mother did not alway like it but her father think it was fantastic because he want her to learn more thing as much as she can.

During this persecution Frida encountered the love of her life, Diego Rivera. He was also a very famous painter at that time also of Mexican descent. At the age of 22, Frida Kahlo married Diego Rivera thus the beginning of another treacherous chapter in Frida’s life. Their relationship was often criticized because of the huge age difference between the two. Not only that, but Diego was known to be a womanizer which led to problems with their relationship.¹ Frida wasn’t the most faithful person either; she had a share of infidelities as well which is one of the major reasons that they both split and divorced in 1939 when Frida found out that her sister Cristina was one of the many women Diego cheated on her with. Soon after the couple was remarried in 1940 and remained with one another till Frida’s death. Another factor that played a role in their dreadful marriage was a miscarriage that Frida suffered. Frida wasn’t able to have any children due to the cause of the bus incident she suffered which was something that really affected

The painting doesn’t have a main focus, but rather has various symbolic representations of events in Frida's life. Many scenes from her previous paintings are included in this one along with others which would appear in her later paintings.

Throughout Frida’s journey and development as an artist, she beings an adventurous yet dysfunctional relationship with the famous muralist Diego Riviera. Riviera’s political battles also correlate with many of the discussions in our culture Spanish course. Throughout the film, Riviera expressed his views as a communist which shaped his political views and paintings. His mural at Rockefeller Center was removed due to its communist theme/message. He was fighting for his paintings to be shown and celebrated among society by representing his

During the 1930’s and 1940’s, women of the world held virtually one role and one role only…homemaker. This was no different for the women of Mexico, except for one woman in particular, Frida Kahlo. Frida refused to accept the current ideals of society and the accepted social norms by engaging in things that few women in history ever had. Frida was involved in politics, she was promiscuous with men and women, she painted pictures of herself in ways that had never been done before, and she wore the clothes of her indigenous people as opposed to the current fashions of the world. The movie Frida showcases all of these qualities. The director, Julie Taymor, uses the symbolism of these things to show how Frida

Frida Kahlo’s “The Two Fridas” is a manifestation of heartbreak, inner human pain, rejection of colonialism, and emotional journey. An oil on canvas made in 1939 in the midst of Frida Kahlo’s divorce from Diego Rivera, this painting embodied Frida Kahlo’s progression at this time in her life, dealing with what she is and what she wishes to be; as well as setting out how she wishes to do it. An ode to melancholy and overcoming adversity, “The Two Fridas” is a universal, eternal reminder of human capability.