Love as a Major Muse: Analyzing Frida Kahlo's Relationship With Diego Rivera

Two mexican-Americans both in distress.Frida Kahlo, a crippled painter born in Mexico, but eventually migrated to America with her husband Diego. Pat Mora, a poet born in texas but grew up in mexican culture.Kahlo and Mora both torn between Mexico and America. Both also expressed how they felt through different variations of art.Kahlo and Mora are more similar than they are different because of setting,mood, and conflict.

Frida Kahlo was a very talented Mexican artist that revolutionized art at a very young age. Her work is still idolized and celebrated today and is studied by many artists, institutes of higher education, museums, and fans. Kahlo was born in the town of Coyoacan, Mexico on July the sixth in the year of 1907 (Kettenmann 3). She made around 143 paintings, and out of those 143 paintings, 55 were self-portraits that included symbolism of her physical and emotion pain. Furthermore, in her portraits she used symbolism to express her wounds and sexuality. She use to say: “I never painted dreams. I painted my own reality” (Fuentes 41). Her paintings style include of vibrant colors and was heavily influenced

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 and Diego Rivera's relationship did not start off immediately with love. Frida, happy with her new art talents, came to Rivera wanting his opinion on her artwork. Frida even told Rivera. "I have not come to flirt, and even if you are a woman chaser,I have come to show you my paintings." Diego was shocked and curious to know the confident young women who spoke to him in such a way.

Frida Khalo was born in Mexico City, has a young woman she was in a bus accident causing her to have life long injuries and pain. The time spent bedridden recovering, allowed her to develop her painting skill. Khalo had deep connection to her culture and heritage using symbols within her work. In 1928 Khalo married Diego Rivera a fellow artist their relationship was turbulent. Diego cheated on her with many other women that effect Khalo and her Art. Due to her injuries, Khalo could never carry a child to full term, this was

The couple's 10-year marriage was turbulent; Kahlo and Rivera became well-known for their fighting and frequent infidelity. 'Self Portrait with Thorn Necklace and Hummingbird’ was a painting she did while separated from Diego, It's believed the thorn necklace piercing Kahlo's neck reflects the pain she was experiencing over this

During their travel the street car they were riding in was hit by a bus and a steel handrail went straight through her hip, fracturing her pelvis and spine. She endured a long painful recovery and coped by painting. Frida said “I paint myself because I am often alone and I am the subject I know best.” After painting a few pieces she met back up with Diego to view her work. They clicked immediately and go married only a year later. They had a very rough relationship. They would travel around everywhere and Diego would have affairs which left Frida heartbroken, but she always stayed. Due to her fractured pelvis she was unable to have children and encountered 2 miscarriages which killed her emotionally. (Frida Kahlo Biography 2)

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:

One of my most favorite artists is the Mexican painter, Frida Kahlo. She was born Magdalena Carmen Frida Kahlo y Calderon in Coyoacan, Mexico, July 6, 1907 and died July 13, 1954. She was one of four daughters born to a Hungarian-Jewish father and a mother of Spanish and Mexican Indian descent. Frida Kahlo is the most famous Mexican woman artist on the contemporary art scene. In 1922, Kahlo hung out with a group of politically and intellectually like-minded students. The Mexican mural movement begins. Frida first learns of Diego Rivera, who is painting his mural "Creation" at the school 's lecture hall. Kahlo becoming a painter, was not a part of Frida 's career goals. Her goal in life was to become a doctor but a tragic accident at age 18 left her mentally and physically scared for life. It changed the course of her life forever. It was during her months of convalescence that Frida began to take painting seriously…"to combat the boredom and pain". she said. "I felt I still had enough energy to do something other than studying to become a doctor. Without giving it any particular thought, I started painting." It was the beginning of a life-long career for Frida.

Rivera held commited views against the censorship of his work and was not silent about it at all. Some of his most famous painting included Man at the Crossroads, The Flower Carrier, and The History of Mexico. Through his life he continued his dream of becoming artist . In 1928, Frida Kahlo meet Diego rivera in hopes of getting his opinion of her art work. Frida Kahlo first met Diego Rivera when she was an art student hoping to get advice on her career from the famous Mexican muralist. Although Rivera was married, a courtship ensued. They wed in 1929 , despite the 20 year between the two and disapproval of Frida's parents, who referred to the couple as "the elephant and the dove." With the tempers and countless infidelities, the marriage was notoriously uproarious. The couple divorced in 1939 only to remarry a year later, though the second marriage was just as turbulent as the first. Both have long been recognized as important painters who achieved great international popularity during their lifetimes. When it comes to Diego Rivera and his work, no one stopped him from sharing his beliefs religiously, politically, and other beliefs he

Frida Kahlo once said“At the end of the day, we can endure much more than we think we can.” There is no better person to say this than Kahlo, whose life was filled with pain and sadness. She was one of the most influential artists of her time, especially in the Mexican community.. The most important aspects of her life were her multicultural background, her tragic accident she survived as a teen, her relationship with Diego Rivera, her death, and her face as a product.

She had grown a crush for the artist. Rivera was annoyed by her at the time and didn’t pay much attention to her. Throughout the years, Kahlo’s crush on Rivera faded and she moved on with her life, growing a love for art. When she was 21, she set out for Mexico City, trying to sell her paintings. She knew that Rivera was working on a fresco there, so she set out on a mission to ask for his advice. He still occasionally saw Frida to give her advice on her paintings. They soon started to fall in love and got married. He was 42 on his third marriage and she was 22 on her first marriage. Throughout his life in Madrid, he had many different relationships, but there is very few information about his previous marriages. Kahlo

Later on, she took a job to lift the financial burdens of her family and was the paid apprentice of Fernando Fernandez who employed her to copy prints and drawings. He was surprised by her innate talent in art and praised Kahlo's work under him. Despite this, she felt no need to be a professional artist and saw art as a mere hobby (Souter 19). On September 17 1925, there was a collision between a bus and a streetcar. This accident left Frida Kahlo bed-ridden for several months because of her many fractures and dislocated legs. To end her boredom she started painting, borrowing oil paint from her father and asking for an easel from her mother (Kettenmann 17 and 18). Her paintings like Self-portrait in a Velvet Dress and Portait of My Sister Cristina were mainly influenced by European art unlike her later works (Kettenmann 21). This was because of the art books she studied mainly focused on the Italian Renaissance. Her friends even nicknamed her early works as her 'Boticelli' because of its similarities to Boticelli's females (Bauer

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.