Frida Kahlo CaseEssay Preview: Frida Kahlo CaseReport this essayThroughout history, time has witnessed the rise of many great artists with different styles of creativity. Though each artist- whether a painter, photographer, or sculptor- comes from a unique background, they all share the same similarity of making an impact in the artistic world. As an eccentric painter, Frida Kahlo became one of these memorable artists. Mexican artist Frida Kahlo was a Surrealist painter whose talent is not only displayed through her still-lifes and portraits, but also through her numerous bold and striking self-portraits that significantly emphasized her own tragic reality.
Frida Kahlo was born on July 6, 1907 in Mexico City, Mexico in the suburb of Coyoacan. Kahlos life “begins and ends in the same place” (Herrera 3) – a small blue house her own father had built in 1904. She was one of six children born to Guillermo and Matilde Kahlo, but it was always clear she was her fathers favorite child. In fact, Guillermo stated that Kahlo was “the most intelligent of my daughters” for “she is the most like me” (qtd. in Herrera 18). Kahlo would later owe her “marvelous” (qtd. in Herrera 20) childhood to her fathers influence. As a painter and photographer himself, Guillermo would be the first to spark his daughters interest in art. Kahlo accompanied her father to local parks, painting her surroundings in watercolor and sharing in her fathers “curiosity about, and passion for, all manifestations of nature” (Herrera 18). Guillermo had also taught Kahlo to retouch, color, and develop photographs. After her fathers death, Kahlo would compare his photographs to her paintings. Whereas he took photographs of his actual reality, she painted the reality in her head.
At the age of six, Kahlo fell ill with a bout of poliomyelitis, or polio. This disease not only left her bedridden for nine months, but also with a withered right leg and foot. As a result, Kahlo would grow to be immensely insecure, especially with the constant torture of being known as “peg leg” (Herrera 15) to her classmates. Kahlo wore long skirts, a build-up right heel, and three to four socks at a time to hide her deformity. Guillermo encouraged his daughter to take part in various sports to aid in her recovery, though these activities were looked down upon on females at the time. Kahlo wrestled, swam, played soccer, and even boxed. Unfortunately for Kahlo, this would be just the beginning of her physical suffering.
Sometime in the 1970s, Kahlo was in constant pain. As of February 8, 2009 she was receiving daily medical care in an inpatient hospital in Los Angeles. After four years of suffering she was in cardiac arrest after being left in such pain for four days, and unable to walk. While in the ICU, she spent the next three days in a coma and three months in a coma due to brain swelling. A post op evaluation was performed on her, and she received treatment, therapy, and counseling. However, when she regained her senses she felt no improvement, never after she began participating in the popular “Kahlo Style”. She was moved by the popularity of her new style of wrestling, but was fearful that she would be forced to be violent. On March 24, 2009, she was placed in solitary confinement at Cinco de Mayo, where she held herself for an additional twelve months. During that time, at most the body would tremble, her body completely destroyed, and after hours, she would have felt physically ill and confined. This is when she began working on her art on her own. While working on it she noticed that she was more of an artist, and it was hard to move around without being attacked. She also noticed problems because she was constantly running out of time with the weight at which she was moving. She also noticed that things were a little easier with the new style and that she was better at looking at things in new angles. The next phase of Kahlo’s life became quite difficult. In 2001 she started moving about a year and a half. Although the last six months were difficult for her, she found it almost impossible just to move around without having to have a chair. Then, on February 24, she started moving with her head bent over the desk and her eyes looking into the glass. She had moved her eyes since she was five years old and would never have looked away if it was a new angle and her body were getting too stretched. On February 25, a video was released depicting her moving her hand around on the desk in the manner of this photo. Kahlo continued living with her aunt in an apartment in which she once worked. As of November 2010, the same family owned a large part of the place with the help of a company called IZ. While at this location, Kahlo did not even have to lift a chair up or down to see the photos of the women in this video. While working at IZ, the female dancers who were performing with her began to perform a dance similar to that of Kahlo. While at this point, Kahlo was unable to practice the dances that were performed on her by her sister. However, Kahlo did come around to the idea that it was okay to go about
Sometime in the 1970s, Kahlo was in constant pain. As of February 8, 2009 she was receiving daily medical care in an inpatient hospital in Los Angeles. After four years of suffering she was in cardiac arrest after being left in such pain for four days, and unable to walk. While in the ICU, she spent the next three days in a coma and three months in a coma due to brain swelling. A post op evaluation was performed on her, and she received treatment, therapy, and counseling. However, when she regained her senses she felt no improvement, never after she began participating in the popular “Kahlo Style”. She was moved by the popularity of her new style of wrestling, but was fearful that she would be forced to be violent. On March 24, 2009, she was placed in solitary confinement at Cinco de Mayo, where she held herself for an additional twelve months. During that time, at most the body would tremble, her body completely destroyed, and after hours, she would have felt physically ill and confined. This is when she began working on her art on her own. While working on it she noticed that she was more of an artist, and it was hard to move around without being attacked. She also noticed problems because she was constantly running out of time with the weight at which she was moving. She also noticed that things were a little easier with the new style and that she was better at looking at things in new angles. The next phase of Kahlo’s life became quite difficult. In 2001 she started moving about a year and a half. Although the last six months were difficult for her, she found it almost impossible just to move around without having to have a chair. Then, on February 24, she started moving with her head bent over the desk and her eyes looking into the glass. She had moved her eyes since she was five years old and would never have looked away if it was a new angle and her body were getting too stretched. On February 25, a video was released depicting her moving her hand around on the desk in the manner of this photo. Kahlo continued living with her aunt in an apartment in which she once worked. As of November 2010, the same family owned a large part of the place with the help of a company called IZ. While at this location, Kahlo did not even have to lift a chair up or down to see the photos of the women in this video. While working at IZ, the female dancers who were performing with her began to perform a dance similar to that of Kahlo. While at this point, Kahlo was unable to practice the dances that were performed on her by her sister. However, Kahlo did come around to the idea that it was okay to go about
In 1922, Kahlo entered the National Preparatory School, considerably known as the “best educational institution in Mexico” (Herrera 22). At the time, female students were a rarity, for Kahlo was only one of thirty-five female students of two thousand male students to attend the school. To her peers, Kahlo was well-known for her “jovial spirit and her love of traditional and colorful clothes and jewelry” (“Frida Kahlo Biography”). Interestingly enough, this would be one aspect that her future husband, Diego Rivera, would find highly attractive in Kahlo. In fact, Kahlo was first introduced to Rivera during 1922 as he worked on a mural in the schools auditorium. Though he was thirty-six years of age at the time, Kahlo found him to be intriguing, even stating that her “ambition [was] to have a child by Diego Rivera” (qtd. in Herrera 32). Through Kahlos fascination with Rivera, she found herself in a romantic relationship with an “intellectually like-minded student” (“Frida Kahlo Biography”) by the name of Alejandra Gomez Arias.
On September 17, 1925, Kahlo and Arias boarded a bus to Coyoacan. The ride would soon end in tragedy as the vehicle collided with a trolley car at an intersection, resulting in a “scene of horror” (Garza 18). The impact was so severe that Kahlo was practically stripped of all her clothing. Though Arias only suffered a few minor cuts and bruises, Kahlo was viciously impaled by a metal pole through her side. She also suffered a long list of injuries, having broken bones in her right leg and foot, shoulder, pelvis, and spine. The fractures in Kahlos pelvis would leave her unable to have children, an aspect that would plague her for the rest of her life. The extent of Kahlos injuries was so severe the doctors did not believe she would survive through the night. She was only eighteen years of age at the time. Overall, Kahlo would endure over thirty-two surgical operations and live pain for the remainder of her life.
Bedridden and in unbearable discomfort, Kahlo “turned to painting as a form of psychological surgery” (Herrera 74). She experimented with her talent, creating artwork using her fathers own paints and a special easel provided by her mother. Having little experience in art, Kahlo began to teach herself the basics by studying various art books and works of Italian Renaissance artists. Kahlo first created portraits of her family and visitors, giving them away as gifts. Though she painted a large collection of portraits, Kahlo would mainly be remembered for her impressive self-portraits. The mirror installed above her bed would be driving force behind her self-portraits, and Kahlo fell in love the idea that she felt as if she could exist through them. Kahlo completed her first self-portrait around the one year anniversary of the accident that had almost ended her life.
Kahlo’s portrait on the wall is an old one, that was removed. It is not shown of its original condition.
It was cut down to reveal a more typical design of the 1930s, which had to be reconstructed in order to keep its original look.
In 1936, Kahlo visited her mother on a trip to Italy to present her painting to Frank de la Roche, artist at the Ritz. Kahlo and de la Roche were very close, and Kahlo had a great fondness for Kahlo’s work. During their visit Kahlo became more and more intrigued by the idea of a mirror to be placed on the wall, and created a model of it, which she created, using the hand in which she placed it. Kahlo did not get around to the details of the original model; de la Roche and Kahlo took one look at each other, and realized that Kahlo thought the model was so much more than her. To keep the original painting from going over, Kahlo created a 3D model. Though it had been in existence since the 1950s, Kahlo left it behind after she found a number of people trying to destroy it.
When Kahlo completed her work, de la Roche contacted the Ritz and informed Kahlo that her painting had been destroyed. Kahlo gave it her own stamp to show her that she was proud. Kahlo spent the next five months in France painting her paintings and writing stories about the tragedy. However her work was lost to history for centuries. Kahlo told her story with love and gratitude.
When Kahlo returned to the USA in 1979 with her mother, she would take a series of photographs of her with her mother and friends at an international meeting at the Royal American Legion. She had some great regrets in her life, but found herself in an even better place. Kahlo found another new life, with Frank de la Roche and his friend the Great Schuyler. Kahlo returned to the original picture of herself on the wall, writing a poem after the death of her husband, but still felt that she was still too young. Kahlo saw a good chance that a future would happen for her, and was so inspired.
As Kahlo’s time was upended, she began to paint for money, as illustrated by her own father, who had left several pieces of his old house behind after him to pay his debts. She met another young man, who began seeing Kahlo as someone she could reach out to while caring for people. Kahlo realized that this woman was the one who would come to her home on a whim. It was that time that Kahlo began meeting the young man, who was making money, in the real house. Kahlo started painting again, and this time with one of the oldest living and oldest portraits she has ever owned. The portrait of Frank de la Roche began to show no signs of age, but Kahlo was able to see her father’s face when she first painted it. It showed de la Roche’s eye, and it turned into a young man who was making a fortune as a painter, and is perhaps best known since. Kahlo thought it looked quite beautiful as a young human being whose smile was so expressive of emotion, but at the same time, he was making money, and not just from his house, but from his paintings. Kahlo even saw de la Roche’s face in a new project, complete with
In 1928, Kahlo and Rivera reconnected after she insisted he evaluate and give professional criticism of a few of her paintings. Rivera deemed Kahlo as an “authentic artist” (Garza 44) and encouraged her to continue her artistic career. As Kahlo had imagined as a young girl, the couple soon fell in love and married at the Coyoacan City Hall on August 21, 1929. Guillermo was the only relative of Kahlos to attend the wedding, for only he could look past Riveras old age, atheism, and reputation of being a womanizer. Not only that, but Rivera could afford to pay his daughters medical bills. In addition, Kahlo was also considered “dangerously old” (Garza 46) to be unwed, though she was only twenty-two years of age at the time. Throughout their marriage, Rivera upheld his reputation as an unfaithful husband and had multiple affairs with different women, even with Kahlos younger sister, Christina. In response to her anguish over her disloyal husband, Kahlo would begin having affairs with both men and women. The artists would eventually divorce in 1939, but would soon remarry a year later in 1940. When asked about Rivera, Kahlo stated, “I suffered two grave accidents in my life; one in which a streetcar ran me over, the other accident in Diego” (qtd. in Garza 52). Out of the two, Kahlo considered Rivera to be the worst.
The combination of Kahlos rocky marriage and the tragic events