Symbolism In My Nurse And I, By Frida Kahlo

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

Recognized for her eccentric, vivid paintings, Frida Kahlo was one of Mexico’s most notable artists. While observers may find themselves mesmerized by her work, some may not realize the intimacy and profound emotion behind each painting. Kahlo was an artist who utilized painting as an outlet for the physical and emotional suffering she endured throughout her life. From health complications to a troublesome marriage, these adversities would influence Frida’s painting style and content. Decades after her death, her expressive artwork continues to illustrate the vigor and beauty of emotion.

Throughout her career, Frida had shown many different themes of her life through her paintings. It seems clear, through analyzation of her paintings, that Frida lived something of a double life. Frida paints herself in distinctly different ways at times, sometimes she is a beautiful woman with strength like iron, and sometimes she is a frail damsel who has been broken already and will be broken again. Contrasting paintings include Self Portrait with Monkeys (Kahlo, 1) and Self-Portrait with Thorn Necklace, Diego and I (Kahlo, 1) and The Love Embrace of the Universe, the Earth (Mexico), Me, Diego, and Mr. Xolotl (Kahlo, 1). All of these paintings show that not only is there a contrast in her personality, in fact, Frida’s is actually two different people, as she paints it.

As an artist, Frida Kahlo impacted her home country of Mexico but also other parts of the world. Kahlo was looked up to because of her artwork and her attitude. Her paintings reflected her Mexican-Aztec and German roots. She also painted an underlying truthful grittiness. Kahlo portrayed surrealism in her paintings in an extremely creative

Frida Kahlo´s image has been exploited for several years, now a days it is quite easy to find: rings, phone cases, t-shirts, among several other products, all with images of Frida´s art. As a result, this got me wondering on, what made this Mexican artist worthy of such success? What did she do that was considered so important? There are many answers to those questions because Frida Kahlo made a significant impact in the world not only because of her artistic style but also, with her way of living.

Frida Kahlo once said“At the end of the day, we can endure much more than we think we can.” There is no better person to say this than Kahlo, whose life was filled with pain and sadness. She was one of the most influential artists of her time, especially in the Mexican community.. The most important aspects of her life were her multicultural background, her tragic accident she survived as a teen, her relationship with Diego Rivera, her death, and her face as a product.

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.

Frida Kahlo was an amazing woman whose many tragedies influenced her to put her stories into her paintings. She was born in July 6th 1907 to a Mexican Roman Catholic mother who was of Indian and Spanish decent and a German photographer father. Frida had three sisters, Mitilde and Adriana, who were older and Christina who was younger. She learned about Mexican history, art and architecture by looking at her father’s photography. When Frida was six she got polio and it was a long time before she would heal completely. After surviving polio, Frida’s right leg became weak and thin, so her father encouraged her to play sports to help her.

She expressed her physical and emotional pain, passion, and sorrow through her paintings. She painted her own reality rather than dreams and nightmares. Kahlo’s paintings are the story of her life. She was famous for painting surrealism, cubism, symbolism, modern art, and magical realism. According to the article Frida Kahlo and her paintings, “She has approximately 143 paintings and 55 of them consist of self-portraits” (FridaKahlo.org.).

More than 60 years have passed since the death of Frida Kahlo, a Surrealist Mexican painter. Frida Kahlo’s many talents were overshadowed by her husband’s fame during the course of her life. Yet, it wasn’t until her death and the early 1970’s where Frida’s artistic effort started to surpass that of her political and creative husband. Her biography is both depressive and particularly interesting. Many of her private moments and experiences are shared in her greatest pieces of art. Some of those valuable masterpieces contain her cherished possessions, in addition to them being the things that established her popularity and appreciation among distinct genders, cultures and ages around the world. Knowing this, it was in my interest to devote some quality time and effort to this woman whose life immediately captivated my attention and inspired me to understand and endure life as a woman.

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.

Before her life as an artist, Frida Kahlo would suffer traumatic experiences that will lead her to taking her first steps into the world of art. She would experience pain in her childhood that will lead into her early adulthood. As an adult, Frida would then suffer a fatal accident as well as the infidelity of her husband. In addition to the personal issues she endured, she also dealt with the questioning of her national identity. Kahlo’s artistic abilities later led her to create self-portraits which often showed herself suffering. Using her personal tragedies, Frida Kahlo was able to render paintings that resembled pain and suffering.

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

Frida Kahlo is a world-renowned Mexican painter known for her shocking self-portaits filled with painful imagery. Her artwork was seen by many as surrealist and socialist, but she refused the labels put on herself. Until today, her works have been able to exude the same playful and wild feel as before (Fisher n.p). Her legacy as a painter has attracted prominent people like Madonna who has confessed her admiration for the painter. Not only that but fashion designers are frequently inspired by her iconic Tijuana dresses while her paintings have been priced at more than three million dollars (Bauer 115).

The article I chose is titled “How Frida Kahlo's Miscarriage Put Her On The Path To Becoming An Iconic Artist”. I have always felt her miscarriage was an important turning point in her career. I became very excited when I saw the title of the article. It`s nice knowing that a respected art critic agrees with me.