A Mexican artist, most famous for her unusual self-portraits, as well as for her human stoicism and ability to create outrage. For Frida Kahlo painting became a way to study issues of self-identity and existence when the 19-year-old girl was recovering from a severe accident. As a result, Kahlo, who did not have a systematic art education but possessed natural talent and the courage of self-expression, became one of the first Mexican avant-garde artists and a vivid representative of European Surrealism.
Kahlo not only entered the already existing stream of the latest trends in the visual arts but also expanded its boundaries for female artists. In her art, new and well-formulated means for discussing the most complex aspects of female identity are just as significant as the motives for self-identification through Mexican national culture, primarily through the work of the peoples of pre-Columbian America.
The artist used the visual symbolism of physical pain in an attempt to understand emotional suffering. Before the emergence of the art of Kahlo, the language of loss, suffering and death was relatively well studied by some male artists (A. Dürer, F. Goya, E. Munch), but a woman created such art at the world level for the first time.
Kahlo became the first Mexican artist whose work was acquired by the Paris Louvre. One of the most popular museums in the world has been open at Kahlo’s parental home.
Key ideas:
– Frida Kahlo was encouraged to learn arts from an early age – she received drawing instructions from her father’s friend, engraver Fernando Fernandez, was inspired by European artists, especially Sandro Botticelli. However, she did not consider art to be her career until a tragedy happened to her, and she began to spend time drawing in bed.
– The treatise of Adolfo Maugara influenced the formation of the artist’s manner – she gave up perspective and boldly combined elements of the pre-Colombian and colonial periods of Mexican art in her paintings.
– The first mature paintings of the artist were self-portraits, which the bedridden girl began to paint, according to her, “spending a lot of time alone and because I am the topic that I know best”. It was through this genre that she made the external manifestations of her pains and disappointments legal for women. For women artists, this became an example, the opportunity to have a female model that could be followed.
– The style of Kahlo is characterized by a heightened sense of injustice in the social structure and awareness of the importance of national culture. The artist collected ancient works of art, wore national costumes and authentic jewelry, which influenced her work. Her identification with the people of Mexico and her deep interest in its culture remained important aspects of her art throughout her life.
– The artist was much interested in the work of Surrealist Andre Breton, who organized her first personal vernissage at the gallery of Levy in New York in 1938. The exhibition was a success, followed by a show in Paris. Although the French exhibition was less successful, the Louvre bought a painting by Kahlo making it the first Mexican artist to be in their collection.
