My Husband's Back By Frida Kahlo Essay

The fact that Kahlo is in the center of the painting does not suggest any common ground, but rather speaks, it would seem, of some internal struggle within Kahlo as she sees her nation influenced and perhaps destroyed by the United States. She is clearly

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

Frida Kahlo is one of the most famous female painters to originate from the twentieth century, and for good reason. Her art is filled with beauty and creativity, but Frida’s main source of fame comes from the emotions that these paintings invoke, rather than the actual paintings. This is because Frida put herself into every painting she did, leaving traces of her presence all throughout this world and these traces remain long after her physical departure. Frida was a very peculiar and unique individual, hence, Frida’s definition of what a person is, or rather, what a self is, follows accordingly. The self is the reality that one conceives, and this self will live long after the physical body dies, continuing on as long as their

Kahlo carefully considers all elements of her work, including the colours used. This is evident in her choice of symbols to convey a very intricate meaning. In this particular painting the natural elements are heavily integrated into the composition; surrounding Kahlo are vines linking her to nature itself. Kahlo was unable to bear children and her link here to nature, especially with the presence of so many monkeys (a traditional symbol of fertility), may represent her desire to be a part of this aspect of nature. Fertility has a huge presence in this painting as the flower, the white of her shirt, and the lush green vines all symbolise health, fertility and purity, none of which Kahlo herself possessed. Through her symbolism Kahlo created meaning and added emphasis on particular aspects of her life. Critics have likened her tendency to do this to a method of self-creation rather than self-expression. She places herself within a scenario she wishes to be in or a person she recreates herself as, in this painting for example, she would be using her engulfment in fertility symbols as a way of showing herself as fertile. Either way, the painting speaks very strongly of Kahlo's link to motherhood, through the local, Mexican symbols.

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

Frida Kahlo, she never intended to become a painter. Kahlo was aspired to become a doctor as a young woman, but after a horrible accident at the age of 18, it left her mentally, as well as physically scared for life. This event had totally changed her life forever. The theme in almost all of Frida’s painting was her own life. Her paintings were based on events took place during her lifetime. As we can see in many of Frida’s paintings, especially in her self-portraits, it expresses her own personal emotions along with feelings about an event that happened in her life, such as her physical condition, her lack of ability to conceive children of her own, her ideology of life and nature, and most important of all, it was her unstable relationship with her husband Diego. Somewhere between the movement of surrealism, realism and symbolism in the art of Frida Kahlo, she was able to bring out tenderness, femininity, reality, cruelty and suffering within her paintings.

”Image in a self portrait generally communicates to the viewer information about the identity, character, environment, feelings and interests of the artist.” In the case if “Between the Borderline of Mexico and The United States” Frida Kahlo expresses her feeling that she holds towards hr alien environment, and her cultural identity. This will now be proven through analyzing the portrait to prove the above quote.

In Anne Bradstreet’s poem “To My Dear and Loving Husband”, the word “love” seems to be a recurring word. The word love has countless definitions, making it hard to define because of its abstract meaning. As the term occurs throughout the poem, the term appears to gain a new meaning. As Bradstreet reveals her definition of the word “love” throughout this poem, it comes to a conclusion that Bradstreet does not know the true meaning of love.

Self-portrait with Cropped Hair 1940, Here Kahlo explores the social construct of a "woman". With this painting she is challenging and interpreting the cultural definition of femininity. This self portrait Kahlo eliminates all the social norms of being a woman in society. She does this by cropping all her hair which is one of the defining elements of a female, looses the Mexican dresses for which many of her paintings hold and loosing the modest posture instead taking a stern stance. Transgression is seemed even till this day a very daring act even though cross dressing dates back to biblical scripture (Deuteronomy 22:5).The way a person dresses places them in different social classes and enables people to differentiate the gender split.

In this painting, Kahlo represents herself as being torn between the two countries geographically, but it suggests her loyalty to her native country, Mexico. Kahlo also represents her feelings about the United States as being a cold, industrial place. Kahlo depicts both life and death in her representation on the Mexican side.

Frida Kahlo is a world-renowned Mexican painter known for her shocking self-portaits filled with painful imagery. Her artwork was seen by many as surrealist and socialist, but she refused the labels put on herself. Until today, her works have been able to exude the same playful and wild feel as before (Fisher n.p). Her legacy as a painter has attracted prominent people like Madonna who has confessed her admiration for the painter. Not only that but fashion designers are frequently inspired by her iconic Tijuana dresses while her paintings have been priced at more than three million dollars (Bauer 115).

4. Frida Kahlo essentially became an international cultural icon, honored by many people, especially in Mexico. Her artwork withholds visual symbolism of all kinds of emotional and physical pain and most importantly she incorporated indigenous culture and her depiction of the female experience. Including illustrating the feelings of death, loneliness, pain, including the pain of miscarriages, failed marriage, and the aftermath of tragic accidents. Through her imagery, she was able to portray her life experiences. She would include specific elements that symbolized something greater. Throughout the process of analyzing all different aspects of Frida Kahlo’s paintings, it provided a deeper understanding to each painting.

Suffering is a consistent and main theme of Kahlo’s paintings. She chose to reveal her inner side through a number of self-portraits. As such, the fundamental theme was herself, and the primary reason for painting them was to record the reality in which she lived. As she said, “I paint self-portraits because I am so often alone, because I am the subject I know best.” She probably could perform an in-depth self-analysis through a mirror as she spent several of her time alone lying in bed (Kettenmann Andrea, 2002). Except for a few still lifes she painted before her death, most of Kahlo’s paintings were portraits of herself and her family and friends. Among her 200 or so pieces of work, 55 pieces were her portraits. Her portraits have various

Destino tells a love story. One scene in particular shows that the woman cares about the man, that he is on her mind. The woman comes across a statue of a man. She gets very close to it, with her face nearly touching the statue’s, the woman then pulls away, and the face of the statue melts off. She is in shock, with her hands on her cheeks. Her expression is grim, and there is a sad look in her eyes. Her reaction to the man disappearing shows that she cares about him, whoever it was a statue of, and that he was on her mind. Likewise, in the painting, Self-Portrait as a Tehuana by Frida Kahlo, the same idea is portrayed. In the portrait, Diego Rivera is pictured on Frida Kahlo's forehead, symbolizing that he is on her mind. Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo were married, and had their ups and downs. Despite their struggles, Kahlo did not stop loving Rivera, with him always being on her mind. Both pieces of art, the film Destino and the Self-Portrait as a Tehuana both show that the male in the relationship is on the female’s mind.

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.