Artist Profile: Frida Kahlo

Frida Kahlo (de Rivera) was born on July 6th 1907 in the village of Coyoacan, which is a small village on the outskirts of Mexico City. Her father was a German immigrant named Guillermo Kahlo who migrated to Mexico when he was 19. He spent his life as a well-established photographer and was married twice. His first wife died during the birth of his second child and not long after, he married Frida’s mother. Her name was Matilde Calderon y Gonzalez. She spent her life raising Frida and her other siblings, along with her two step-daughters. Frida attended Mexico’s premiere school which was called Escuela Nacional Preparatoria and was well known for being in cliques. She wanted to study medicine but after a Bus accident that left her bed ridden for months, she turned to art instead. The bus accident also left her unable to carry a pregnancy to full-term, which resulted in three miscarriages.  During Frida’s lifetime, 5 major historical events that occurred were: The Mexican Revolution, World War One, World War Two, The Prohibition Movement, and the Holocaust. Frida also struggled with a troubled marriage to Diego Rivera. The couple is known for having numerous affairs, but when Frida died, Diego said that is was the saddest day of his life because he was apparently in love with her. Psychological/emotional distress was one of the most prevalent struggles in Frida’s life and she often took her feelings and put it into her artwork. She is most well-known for her paintings and self-portraits. She once said that she painted herself because she was the only thing that she knew the most about. Frida is also mostly associated with surrealism and magic realism. One thing that people might not know about her is that she died from an overdose on July 13th 1954 at the age of 47 and it is not unclear as to whether or not her overdose was on purpose because she wrote “I hope the exit is joyful-and I hope to never return,” before she died.

 Despite her many struggles, she became a celebrated artist in Mexico and is still influential to many artists today. Three of her most famous works are: Two Fridas, Self Portrait with Thorn Necklace and Hummingbird, and Without Hope. However, my two personal favorites are Roots and Girl with Death Mask. Roots is a self-portrait of Frida lying sideways on the ground while vines grow all over and around her. Girl with Death Mask is a painting of a small girl who is holding a small flower. She is isolated and nothing is around her except mountains in the background. He girl is also wearing a mask that is white and has an expression of agony, while another mask sits on the ground but it has more of a demonic appearance that seems to be unsettling. Frida Kahlo has always been one of my favorite artists because her self-portraits often depict her without an emotion on her face, but she addresses her struggles in other parts of the picture.