Magdalena Carmen Frida Kahlo Calderón, known worldwide as Frida Kahlo, was born on July 6, 1907 in Coyoacán, Mexico to a German-Mexican father and a Spanish and indigenous descent mother. Although she was considered “mixed,” she identified closely with her indigenous heritage and loved the Mexican people.
For many, Kahlo is considered an artist ahead of her time, a visionary who revolutionized culture, not only through her paintings, but also with her foray into politics, her sexual freedom, and her representation of her experiences with chronic pain through her art. She always moved in the environment of the great Mexican muralists of his time and shared their ideals. However, Frida Kahlo created an absolutely personal and deeply metaphorical painting style that made her stand out and differentiate herself from the trends at the time. Her greatest muse was probably herself; throughout her life she painted a large number of self-portraits depicting deeply personal experiences in stark detail. This personal style led her to become one of the most famous painters in history, as well as a social and cultural reference inside and outside Mexico.
Frida was a voice and image in art and in Latin American society, dedicated to the representation of women in modernity and aiming to elevate the Mexican identity. A woman who used her life experiences to create beauty and works that made her the most recognized Latin American painter and most influential in Latin American art.
At eighteen, Frida Kahlo suffered a very serious accident that forced her to a long convalescence, during which she learned to paint, and that influenced the complex psychological world that is reflected in her work. In 1929 she married the muralist Diego Rivera; three years later she suffered an abortion that deeply affected delicate sensibility and inspired two of her most valued works: “Hospital Henry Ford” and “Frida y el aborto”.
In 1938, Frida had her first solo exhibition at the Julien Levy Gallery in New York. The curatorial statement was written by the French surrealist writer, André Breton. A year later, the Louvre Museum bought her self-portrait The Frame, which became the first work by a twentieth-century Mexican artist purchased by the museum.
In 1940, she was part of an exhibition for surrealist artists at the International Exhibition of Surrealism at the Mexican Art Gallery GAM. She was also featured in exhibitions at the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston, which included the exhibition “Modern Mexican Painters” in 1941. In 1942 she also participated in two exhibitions at the Museum of Art in New York and in 1943 her work was included in the exhibition Arte Mexicano de Hoy at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
Kahlo made herself a mythical character that does justice to the magical realism with which her art was branded, a product of the singular person who encompasses the image of Mexican femininity during the time. Being a figure that stood out among the women of her time, Frida changed paradigms in society opposing the standards of modernity. During her life and artistic career, Frida Kahlo rescued the roots of Mexican folk art, through her work, clothing, and ideologies. As a renowned portraitist, who reflected in her works the influence of nature and the artifacts of Mexico, she reinvigorated a Mexican artistic identity.
Kahlo passed away in 1954 after many painful months following the amputation of her leg due to gangrene. Her ashes are exhibited in her birthplace, the Blue House, among some of her most recognized works like “Las dos Fridas”, “La columna rota”, “Hospital Henry Ford”, “Unos muchos piquetitos”, “El venado herido”, and “Diego y yo”.
Frida Kahlo was an influential woman who transformed her life through art. Her pieces vividly and imaginatively illustrated each stage of her life and served as a reflection of what the world was like at the time she lived. Frida witnessed and was part of some of the most important social and art events in history. Her individual identity and unique attitude contributed significantly to the representation of Latina women in a male-dominated society, using her art to change hearts and minds.
Kahlo’s influence hasn’t ended and is speaking to more and more people. A vitally important artist in Latin America, she is a pillar in the history of twentieth-century art. Frida Kahlo is an inspirational and revolutionary figure for Latinos worldwide.
References:
https://historia.nationalgeographic.com.es/a/nacimiento-frida-kahlo-mito-siglo-xx_14468
https://www.vogue.mx/estilo-de-vida/articulo/frida-kahlo-biografia-frases-y-peliculas
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