Frida Kahlo: Artist, Feminist, Rebel Essay

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

Following a tragic bus accident that left Kahlo severely injured and bedridden for a period of time, she was introduced to painting by her father. He

Kahlo was an important figure of her time; she opened barriers for women in the art world, as well as with women who felt like they had to conform to society’s gender roles. It is amazing how Frida continues to impact generations, and will continue to do

Frida Kahlo was a half-mexican, half-hungarian painter of the 20th century born Magdalena Carmen Frida Kahlo y Calderón in Coyoacán, Mexico City on July 6, 1907. During her short lived life, she had many accomplishments. She was a surrealist artist whos paintings reflected her thoughts and feelings. Her creative style was always amazing but confusing. Unfortunately, she lived most of her artistic life in the shadow of her husband, Diego Rivera, and her work was not truly recognized until after her death.

Frida Kahlo, a Mexican woman of many struggles displayed throughout her lifetime, is well-known for her intriguing self-portraits. Kahlo was born in Coyoacan, Mexico, July 6, 1907. She spent 47 years of unfortunate events before succumbing to injuries. At the young age of six, Kahlo was diagnosed with polio during the time it was an epidemic, leaving her right leg shorter and thinner than her other. She was encountered with a freak accident at the age of 18, completely changing her life.

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.

"It is impossible to separate the life and work of this extraordinary person, her paintings are her biography." This was announces in 1953 by a local critic after her one and only solo exhibition in Mexico (www.fridakahlo.com). Frida Kahlo was not only a magnificent painter, but also a representation of her birth country Mexico, through her meaningful paintings. While in the midst of nobody but herself, Frida found great inspiration to paint during the early to mid 1900’s. Her passion for painting came from her traffic accident as a teenager, which left her paralyzed due to fractures in her spine and pelvis. Even before the traffic accident, she contracted polio at the age of six in the suburbs of Mexico City where she grew up. Her image

Tragedy, a crippling experience many people endure in life, yet some give up and the courageous few fight back. Frida Kahlo exemplifies the strength required to express oneself openly and boldly, sharing her painful life through paintings. Kahlo is one of the most famous female painters from Mexico and is known for her mutilating, heartbreaking and courageous self-portraits of her life. Through her various paintings and self portraits, she has created a journal and self-biography of her life that will give her immortality and inspire future generations of artists. Frida Kahlo has become an icon of female creativity from her emotionally charged paintings of her life, unfortunate tragedies and battle of survival. Kahlo was never a woman of conventional ways. She was bold with her art and views of politics as well as being eccentric from what was expected of a female in Mexico.

One day her and her boyfriend at the time, Alejandro, were riding on a bus, and then all of a sudden the bus crashed into a streetcar. Kahlo had a number of serious injuries, as a result of the crash. Because of this she was hospitalized for numerous weeks. While she recovered from the crash more so at home, she started painting her first self-portrait whom she gave to her boyfriend, Alejandro. Frida Kahlo started becoming more interested in politics; in result she joined the Young Communist League, and the Mexican Communist Party. At the age of 21 she and Rivera met each other again, and he loved her artwork. After a year of dating they got married. Frida Kahlo started adding some more intense and real looking pieces into her artwork, mostly because of a recent miscarriage. Kahlo and her husband moved to New York, because Rivera painted a mural in the Rockefeller Center, then when he finished they quickly returned to their new home in San Angel, Mexico. Kahlo and Rivera’s marriage didn’t work out that well he cheated on her with her younger sister Christina. Because of her devastation, she cut off most of her long thick beautiful black

Magdalena Carmen Frida Kahlo y Calderón later known as Frida Kahlo, was an artist known for her paintings. Kahlo born in a village on the outskirts of Mexico City on July 06, 1907 but later on she would change it to 1910 when the revolution began because she wanted everyone to think she was born in the revolution.. Born to a German photographer father and Indigenous heritage mother and had three siblings, Matilde, Adriana, and Cristina. Frida Kahlo lived an eccentric yet tragic life. At the age of 6yrs old Frida Kahlo, contracted polio which was on restriction and got her isolated from everyone around her. It left Frida with a leg smaller than the other which got her bullied.

Frida Kahlo achieved celebrity even through her brief years of life. It extended far beyond the mexican borders, although nothing like the cult status that would eventually make her the mother of the selfie, her memorable image recognizable

Frida Kahlo was one of the most influential female artists in the twentieth century. Being a woman in a misogynistic career, Kahlo did not experience the fame she has today while she was still alive. Through her captivating paintings she reveals the dark side of life, relating to her own experiences. Many articles, bibliographies, movies, and even Frida Kahlo’s diary have been published for scholars, artists, and feminists to discuss the influence Kahlo had on art and society. Although the movie Frida was released forty-eight years after Frida Kahlo’s death, the movie accurately depicts her dismal life and her connection to her artwork.

Frida Kahlo is considered to be one of Mexico’s greatest artists. Frida Kahlo is mostly remembered for her self-portraits. She once said, “I paint myself because I am so often alone and because I am the subject I know best.” Frida Kahlo had an exotic look that was captivating.

Frida Kahlo's influence still lingers around the world. Even with Frida dead for almost two decades, she is still celebrated and thought of as an idol. Frida Kahlo was an artist in many different ways. Besides Frida's incredible talent to paint surrealist thoughts and emotions on canvas, she also was and artist in her mind and body. Frida's attire of traditional Mexican clothing, which consisted of long, colorful dresses and exotic jewelry, and her thick connection eyebrows, became her trademark. To the public, Frida Kahlo appeared to be full of spirit and joy. She walked through life happily, with a smile glued to her face. However, her feelings of anguish, anger, unhappiness of her painful miscarriages, and

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.