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Frida Kahlo’s art, image and legacy.

Frida Kahlo was born on July 6th, 1907 in Coyoacan, Mexico.  Her life evolved during a historic time in Mexico when the struggle for social change began to gain significance.

The Mexican Revolution began when Frida was three years old in 1910; Frida always gave the year of her birth as 1910 in order for people to associate her directly with the revolution.

From her early childhood, Frida started to show great personality and devotion to life by overcoming a severe case of polio. She fought for her life and for her emotional wellbeing, as she had to continue her life with the physical effects from the decease.

Frida was admitted to the National Preparatory School. Frida represented one of the thirty five women of the first generation who attended that institution. During her time at this school, she joined a group known as “Los Cachuchas”. The leader of “Los Cachuchas” was Alejandro Gomez Arias who became Frida’s first boyfriend On September 17, 1925 Frida and Alejandro were traveling on a bus together when it crashed into a tramcar. This catastrophe severely affected Frida’s life, and it was the second time that she almost died.

Frida’s road to physical recuperation was not an easy one.  She spent several months with limited mobility and learned to cope with the boredom of recovery process.  This led her to start painting with the water-colors of her father Guillermo Kahlo.  Frida soon began to decorate her corsets and also paint her ideas on small canvases.  Then Frida’s mother, Matilde Calderon, had a special easel created for Frida to be able to paint while lying in bed and using a mirror placed on the ceiling.

Being the daughter of a talented photographer also added to Frida’s artistic vision. Guillermo Kahlo’s influence helped Frida to learn to express herself in a peculiar way with the camera from a young age. Frida was able to transfer these artistic ideas she had with the camera to the mirror above her bed where she was literally reflected.

Frida’s true talent, skill and ingenuity was her ability to convey her inner world and deepest feelings, emotions and thoughts through her paintings as if she was a photographer. In her own words:

“I paint my own reality. The only thing I know is that I paint because I need to, and I paint whatever passes through my head without any other consideration.”

Two years after Frida’s life threatening accident, she had regained most of her mobility and strength. One day Frida decided to visit the Ministry of Public Education with three of her pieces of art.

It was at the Ministry where Diego Rivera was painting a mural and where Frida asked Diego to critique her work.  Diego Rivera discovered an extraordinary and unique talent in Frida and he encouraged her to continue following her artistic path in life. From this point on, Frida and Diego continued seeing each other and with time they soon developed a loving relationship. They were married on August 21, 1929 and this marked the beginning of one of the most well known and extravagant love stories known to humankind.

The loving couple soon became iconic throughout the world. At first, Frida accompanied Diego throughout the United States as he was commissioned to paint frescos in cities such as San Francisco, Detroit and New York.

Little by little, Frida started to establish her own prestige and fame and soon became world renowned for her own work, personality, and authenticity.

Frida broke the artistic mold and demonstrated her unique expression through hard work and by creating her own peculiar style. In 1938, Frida met Andre Breton. He described her artwork as “surrealism of the highest level.” Frida responded by saying:

“I do not paint dreams…. I paint my reality…”

Andre Breton then introduced Frida to Julian Levy, who helped her set up an exhibition in New York City in 1939, and subsequently in France.  Frida became the first Mexican artist to exhibit her own work at the Louvre Museum in Paris.

It is undeniable that Frida experienced tremendous physical and emotional pain and that it played a major role in her life; however, it is clear that the principal elements of Frida’s artistic expression are considered to be love, joy, passion and creativity.  Frida showed great perseverance for achieving her dreams and also showed her happiness, love and passion for life despite all the adversities she overcame.  Frida was able to redefine her life through her art and she fulfilled one more dream when she had her first exhibition in Mexico City in 1953.

Frida lived life to its fullest in the most passionate of ways. Her iconic existence, unique expression and extraordinary artwork have provided humanity with continuing optimism, strength and courage for the future. She died on July 13, 1954, and left behind a legacy that will forever impact and influence the world regardless of age, gender, nationality, and ethnicity:

Pasion Por La Vida ® · Passion for Life ®

Quotes:

Feet, what do I need you for when I have wings to fly?

I leave you my portrait so that you will have my presence all the days and nights that I am away from you.

I love you more than my own skin.

I never paint dreams or nightmares. I paint my own reality.

I paint my own reality. The only thing I know is that I paint because I need to, and I paint whatever passes through my head without any other consideration.

I paint self-portraits because I am so often alone, because I am the person I know best.

People in general are scared to death of the war and all the exhibition have been a failure, because the rich – don’t want to buy anything.

They thought I was a Surrealist, but I wasn’t. I never painted dreams. I painted my own reality.

I had two big accidents in my life Diego, the trolley and you Diego are by far the worse.

Painting completed my life.

I cannot speak of Diego as my husband because that term, when applied to him, is an absurdity. He never has been, nor will he ever be, anybody’s husband.

The most interesting thing about the so-called lies of Diego is that, sooner or later, the ones involved in the imaginary tale get angry, not because of the lies, but because of the truth contained in the lies, which always comes forth.

They are so damn ‘intellectual’ and rotten that I can’t stand them anymore….I [would] rather sit on the floor in the market of Toluca and sell tortillas, than have anything to do with those ‘artistic’ bitches of Paris.

I never knew I was a surrealist till Andre Breton came to Mexico and told me I was.

Passion for Life!