Christine A. Elmore
To introduce Frida Kahlo I plan to show my students a number of her paintings, focusing primarily on her striking self-portraits. To offer a glimpse of her family we will look at the painting, My Grandparents, My Parents and I (Family Tree). We will then look at Kahlo’s painting of herself and her husband, Diego Rivera, entitled Frida and Diego Rivera. His influence on her early paintings was significant as can be seen in her painting called The Bus. Their relationship was a stormy one and we will gain some sense of this by examining the painting, The Two Fridas. In order to gain an appreciation of her feelings of conflict in belonging to two worlds, European and Mexican, we will look at three paintings, Roots, Self-Portrait on the Border Line Between Mexico and the United States, and My Dress Hangs Here. Her great pride in being Mexican is exemplified in The Frame and Self-Portrait As a Tehuana. A painting that expresses the physical pain she suffered but her hope in recovery is powerfully depicted in Tree of Hope. To show that Kahlo also painted beautiful still-life paintings we will look at Fruits of the Earth, Cuando te tengo a tí and Viva la Vida. By examining and discussing her paintings, we will get a better idea of all that Frida was, felt and valued.
Glossary
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Mesoamerican - Having to do with the people and the lands of Central America.
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amateur - one who is interested in a particular field but who is not an expert in it.
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mural - a wall painting.
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symbolic - serving as a symbol of something.
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unconventional - out of the ordinary and unlike most of its kind.
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surrealism - a style of painting that was popular among European artists that depicted a super-real world of dreams.
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self-portrait - a drawing or painting an artist does of himself/ herself.
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image - a picture of a person or a thing.
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easel - a framework made for holding a painting-in-progress.
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Tehuana - a native tribe in Mexico about whom there is much folklore, or a woman from this tribe.
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polio - a disease that can paralyze or cripple.
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pre-Columbian - the time period before the Spanish came to the New World and before Christopher Columbus landed.
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folklore - study of a people’s beliefs, customs and traditions passed down through the ages.
Time-line
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1907 Born Magdalena Carmen Frieda Kahlo y Calderón on July 6 in Coyoacán, Mexico.
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1913 Was stricken with polio at the age of six.
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1925 Seriously injured in a bus accident on Sept. 17.
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1926 Painted portraits of herself, her family and her friends during her recovery.
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1928 Falls in love with the artist, Diego Rivera.
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1929 Marries Rivera on August 21.
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1932-33 Lives in Detroit and New York but longs to return to Mexico.
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1938-40 Her paintings are exhibited in Mexico, New York and France.
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1944-49 Her health declines but she continues to paint.
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1050 Hospitalized for a year in Mexico City after a spinal operation.
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1953 Attends her first solo art show in Mexico.
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1954 Dies on July 13 at the age of 47.
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1958 Her Blue House is opened to the public and renamed The Frida Kahlo Museum.
Biography Text
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“Now, Frida, you must exercise that right leg if it is to get better. I know people think that boxing is just for men but they are wrong. Your mother and I want you to try it.”
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“Papa, already I am playing soccer, going swimming and bicycling every day. If I do all these activities, will the kids stop calling me, ‘Frida Peg Leg’?
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“Yes, they will, Frida. I promise.”
Why all this exercise for six-year-old Frida Kahlo? It is because she had gotten a serious crippling disease called polio and now her right leg was thin and weak and she needed to strengthen it. Unfortunately, nothing ever helped very much so Frida began to wear long dresses and pants to hide her leg. She didn’t want anyone to feel sorry for her.
WHAT ARE YOU PICTURING IN YOUR MIND?
Frida Kahlo was born on July 6, 1907 in Coyoacán, Mexico. Her father, Guillermo Kahlo, who was Jewish, was born in Germany but when he was nineteen he moved to Mexico. Matilda, her mother, was Mexican and she met Guillermo while working in the same jewelry shop. The Kahlos had four children but Frida was her father’s favorite. During the nine months when she was home recovering from polio, Frida became very close to her father. They shared an interest in nature and often took long walks together in nearby parks. Because Guillermo was very good at his job as a professional photographer and amateur artist, he was hired by the government of Mexico to take pictures of the country’s important buildings. He took Frida with him on his travels. Not only did she learn how to use a camera, develop and touch up photographs but she also learned about ancient Mexican art and architecture.
WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT USING A CAMERA?
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The earliest Mesoamerican culture was made up of the Olmecs who lived some 3000 years ago. They built magnificent stone pyramids and carved huge heads of stone. Following the Olmecs in history were the Mayans, who built marvelous temples and palaces in jungle areas. They also made up a system of mathematics and an alphabet. Some 700 years ago, the Aztecs lived and they created beautiful sculptures from stone. They loved nature and worshipped the sun as a god. Frida was especially inspired by the Aztecs but in a general sense it was the pre-Columbian art and traditions that she grew to love and which were later to inspire her work.
IN WHAT WAYS WOULD IT BE HARD TO CARVE SCULPTURES OUT OF STONE?
Interestingly, Frida was never much interested in art until she was in a terrible bus accident at the age of 18. She was sitting on the bus with her friend, Alejandro, riding home from school, when a trolley hit the bus. Some people were killed. Frida was horribly injured. Her spine was broken in three places and many of her bones were broken. Her friend was also injured but not as badly as she was. Because of this accident, Frida was to suffer a lot of pain and was to have more than 30 operations during her life.
WHAT ARE YOU THINKING ABOUT NOW?
During the months of her recovery, when she was forced to sit still in bed, Frida started to paint. Her mother had a special easel made so that she could paint while lying on her back. First, she painted portraits of her friends, family and later of herself. She studied her father’s art books and imitated the paintings of great European artists. Later, she became interested in the ancient folk art of her country and included many such images in her paintings. Painting helped Frida recover from her injuries and soon she was up and around. Frida promised herself she would never let the pain from her injuries stop her from doing what she wanted to do.
HOW DID PAINTING HELP FRIDA GET BETTER?
One day at a party, she met the great mural artist, Diego Rivera, a man who was later to become her husband. Rivera, like other Mexican mural artists, painted large scenes of important events in Mexico’s history on public buildings to inspire people to feel pride in their country. She showed him some of her art work and he was very impressed. Rivera, although not a very good husband, was a good teacher and encouraged Frida in her work. As a result, she became a more confident artist. Eventually Frida was to develop her own unique style. Everything in her paintings is symbolic. Every detail has a special meaning. For example, if she painted a blackbird (which Diego said reminded him of her eyebrows), it represented her while a doll stood for the baby that Frida wished she could have. Frida expressed her feelings of happiness, disappointment and yes, of pain in her art work. If she painted stormy skies, they symbolized her deep feelings of sadness. Many of her more than 200 paintings speak of the physical pain she experienced. In some of her numerous self-portraits she added thorn necklaces and nails to represent her pain.
WHY DO YOU THINK IT WAS SO IMPORTANT FOR FRIDA TO MAKE PAINTINGS OF HER PAIN?
By using Mexican colors and images she showed her love of her country. Some called Kahlo’s style surrealistic, a strange style that was popular among European artists. Their paintings often appeared to show the super-real world of dreams but Frida, being very unconventional, did not accept that label and told people that she painted her own reality and not dreams.
WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT PAINTING?
Although Frida traveled with Rivera while he painted murals in places like Detroit and New York, she was most happy in her own homeland. Frida continued to have to have operations and to spend long periods in the hospital as her health worsened. She died at the young age of 47 in 1954.
WHY DO YOU THINK FRIDA WAS MOST HAPPY AT HOME IN MEXICO?
As is true of so many artists and composers, Kahlo’s art work was appreciated more after her death, about 30 years later to be exact. Today she is considered to be one of Mexico’s greatest artists. Her unique and imaginative style speaks to all people who view her art. In some small but significant way they are able to share their same feelings of pride in their country, happiness, disappointment or pain with Kahlo when they view her very striking art work.
WHAT IS IT ABOUT FRIDA’S PAINTINGS THAT SO MANY PEOPLE LIKE?
Many travel to Mexico to Kahlo’s Blue House, the place where she lived, which is now a special museum housing many of her original paintings. What an experience it would be to go there and see, up close, some of her very memorable art work!
WHAT WOULD YOU SAY TO FRIDA IF YOU COULD TALK WITH HER ABOUT HER ART?
