Frida Khalo

Early Life

Born in Coyoacan Mexico. In the year 1907 on July 6, she was born Magdalena Carmen Frida Kahlo. She claimed 1910 as her birth year to coincide with the outbreak of the Mexican Revolution and the overthrow of President Porfirio Diaz. Frida was born to a Mexican indigenous mother, and her father, a German Jew. Frida was her fathers favorite daughter. They were both disabled. Frida was diagnosed with polio at 6 years old, and her father- suffered epilepsy. Her relationship with her mother was rocky and Frida describes her mother as a cruel, cold, and calculating religious fanatic.

In 1922, Kahlo was accepted to the elite National Preparatory School. "She was 1 of 35 women in a student body of 2,000." In 1925 Frida suffered a debilitating trolley accident. "Her spine was fractured in three places, her pelvis was crushed and her right leg an foot were severely broken." She endured over 30 surgeries in her lifetime. This left her in bed rest, plaster casts for the majority of her life. She also suffered and amputation in her leg due to gangrene infection later on.

Diego

Frida Kahlo and Diego River wed in 1929. Her mother called it a marriage between an elephant and a dove. Diego weighed 300 pounds and Frida 98. Diego was a famous muralist with strong political views- a dedicated communist who was commissioned internationally. Frida and Diego met at her school where he painted murals and where Frida and her "Cachuchas"- young political group- played pranks on him. Their marriage was unconventional and problematic due to numerous affairs on both sides. One of Diego's affairs included Frida's sister Cristina. One of Frida's affairs included communist exile Leon Trotsky. Another factor of turmoil was Frida's series of miscarriages and therapeutic abortions due to her trolley injuries.

Artwork

Janet Landy says "Kahlo made personal women's experiences serious subject for art, but because of their intense emotional content, her paintings transcend gender boundaries. Intimate and powerful, they demand that viewers- men and women- be moved by them." Her collection largely consists of self-portraits with elements of surrealism that are described as "haunting, sensual, and stunning." As she traveled more frequently with Diego, her art became more narrative. Her pain and desolation are clearly depicted in her works. Pablo Picasso was one of Frida's works admirers. "Picasso wrote to Rivera 'Neither Derain, nor I, nor you, are capable of painting a head like those of Frida Kahlo." "Her S*elf-Portrait with Monkey and Parrot* sold at Sotheby's for 3.2 million. This is the highest price ever paid for Latin-American work of art- the second highest for a woman artist."

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Politics

Frida was a Revolutionary artist. She fought for a more democratic national government, and helped her government ran school- The National Preparatory School- which promoted *indigenismo* (a political ideology that called for a dominant social and political role for Indians) achieve autonomy. Though her art works depicted the pain of her personal life mainly through self-portraits, she included Marx and Stalin in her work. Eight days before her death- in a wheelchair, she protested the CIA's overthrow of Guatemalan president.

Why is Frida an emblem of Feminism?

Frida was always dressed in elaborate Tehuana costumes of Indian maidens. The style was embroidered tops and colorful, floor-length skirts which were associated with the matriarchal society. In México, Kahlo is known as la heroina del dolor, "the heroine of pain" the artist is like the Virgin of Guadalupe- a national idol. "In a poignant interview entitled 'My Body' Frida said "The most powerful part of the body is the brain.. Of the opposite sex I have the moustache and in general the face' (Lucienne Block says Frida always carefully groomed her mustache and unibrow with a little comb)." In the mid 1940'2 Frida came to teach her artistry to a group later coined "Los Fridos." She taught them about the love for art and having very strict self-discipline for it.

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Fridamania

Forty years after her death Frida has become a global Icon. The "Frida Phenomenom" correlates with the "odd, androgynous hormonal chemistry of out particular epoch." Frida is a politically correct heroine for a laundry list of oppressed groups. "Lesbians, gays, feminists, the handicapped, Chicanos, Communists, hypochondriacs, substance abusers, and even Jews."

P. Tuchman (November 2002) Frida Kahlo. Retrieved from.

☀https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/frida-kahlo-70745811/

D. Falini. A Short Biography. Retrieved from.

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/frida-kahlo-70745811/

A. Collins. (September 3, 2013) Diary of a Mad Artist. Retrieved from.

https://www.vanityfair.com/culture/1995/09/frida-kahlo-diego-rivera-art-diary

Frida. Dir Julie Taymor. 2015. Film.

William Earwood. "The Life and Times of Frida Kahlo" Online Video Clip. *YouTube.*

Frida Kahlo and her Paintings. 2011. Retrieved from

https://www.fridakahlo.org/