Frida Kahlo
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You might recognize her by her signature bold unibrow and mustache, but there is much more to her beneath the surface of what most people would call taboo. Frida was all about liberation and identifying herself with Mexico and art, being both a revolutionary artist born during political chaos that she involved herself in to try and make a change. Instead of “preserving youthful beauty”, Frida was very focused on the political role she played in her community, changing the perception of La Mexicanas and their roles, as well as the perception of art.
Even from the beginning, Frida wasn’t brought up like the other girls in her town. She was born on July 6, 1907 in Coyocoán, Mexico City, Mexico (“Frida”, Biography.com). Her father, Wilhelm, was a German photographer, and her mother Matilde was a humble Mexican woman who took care of Frida and her three other siblings (“Frida”, Biography.com). She had 2 older sisters, Matilde and Adriana, and 1 younger sister, Cristina (“Frida”, Biography.com). Because of her being mixed race, Frida had many self-identification problems early on. She had contracted polio at 6 years old, and to help aid in her recovery, her Father advised her to play soccer, swim, even wrestle (“Frida”, Biography.com). Back then, this was considered quite irregular. Even if she had recovered from her illness, “she limped when she walked because the disease damaged her right leg and foot,” (“Frida” Biography.com). In her later schooling days, she had decided to join the Young Communist League and the Mexican Communist Party (“Frida”, Biography.com). Even in her teens she was extremely politically active. But on September 17th, 1925, Frida was on the bus as it got into a major accident (“Frida”, Biography.com). She was impaled by a street pole, going into one side of her hip and coming out the other. She suffered severe injuries as well as a fractured pelvis and spine (“Frida”, Biography.com). She stayed in the hospital for weeks, but after she had returned home to recuperate her injuries, she began painting and finished her first self portrait a year later (“Frida”, Biography.com). The overall early stages of quite unlucky childhood shaped her and led her down a path she knew she wanted to follow.
Later on, Frida reconnected with a painter by the name of Diego Rivera in 1928 (“Frida”, Biography.com). He was a very well known artist at the time, and Frida had always asked him if he liked her art. “He deeply encouraged her art and they both respected each others work immensely,” (“Frida”Biography.com). Together, they attended many art exhibits featuring their work, and this is when her art started to blossom, starting to incorporate more graphic and surreal elements to her work. Even if she was classified as a “surrealist”, Frida eschewed labels and prefered to be plainly called an artist (Yakutchik). She yearned for children her entire life, but her health complications made it very difficult (Yakutchik). She had never been able to give birth, and had lost 2 children on separate occasions (Yakutchik). She had projected her maternal instincts on Diego, calling him her child, her love, her universe. Yet, Diego and her, though married, had extremely seperate lives. He had many affairs with women, including Frida’s own sister (Yakutchik). Frida had even committed many infidelities during her time with Diego, both with male, and female partners. It was also rumored that Frida had slept with some of the women Rivera had cheated on her with, just out of spite. You may think, “why stay together if both parties are out with other people?” Well, they did divorce in 1939, but still got remarried in 1940, still continuing to lead quite separate lives (Yakutchik).
Next, her obvious display of courage and determination begin to display themselves later in her life. Frida loved dancing and crowds and flirtation yet she was often miserably lonely (Yakutchik).