Frida Kahlo’s image has become so ubiquitous, with her face plastered everywhere from Barbie dolls to shoes, that it’s easy to forget just how radical she once was.
On the day she would celebrate her 115th birthday, here are some facts about what made the Mexican artist.
He was very proud of his Mexican origin
Kahlo was born on July 6, 1907 in Coyoacán, Mexico to a German father and a mother of Spanish and indigenous descent. Although she was considered “mixed”, that is, a person of mixed European and indigenous descent, she identified with her indigenous roots and loved the Mexican people.
When Frida was just three years old, the Mexican Revolution exploded. She grew up immersed in the political chaos that led to the end of a nearly 30-year dictatorship and the establishment of a constitutional republic.
The instability of this period helped shape Frida’s perspective on the world. At the age of 16, she joined a local socialist party. In her 20s, Kahlo became a member of the Mexican Communist Party.
For years, Frida claimed she was born in 1910 to be seen as a daughter of the revolution, according to the Frida Kahlo Foundation. The artist remained a staunch leftist and defender of the Mexican people throughout her life.
She started painting after an accident that put her life at risk
A number of debilitating health issues plagued Frida’s life, but she never let them stop her from living life to the fullest.
As a child, she battled a severe case of polio that left her with multiple disabilities. According to the Frida Kahlo Foundation, the illness caused her right leg to be thinner than her left, which she disguised with long skirts.
As a teenager, the artist suffered serious injuries when a bus collided with a car, causing a metal railing to break and puncture her pelvis, the Smithsonian Magazine revealed. His spine, legs and feet also suffered fractures.
As a result of the accident, Frida was plagued by chronic pain and wore a plaster corset throughout her life.
Bedridden and bored, Frida began to paint with watercolors to pass the time. According to the Frida Kahlo Corporation, her mother had a special easel made so she could paint while lying on her back.
Later in life, the artist painted “The Broken Column”, which showed her plaster corset.
Married a famous Mexican painter
Frida met the prestigious Mexican painter Diego Rivera when he asked him to criticize his work. Although Rivera was 20 years his senior, their relationship quickly turned into a romantic affair. They later married in 1929.
According to the Frida Kahlo Foundation, their marriages (they were married twice) were marred by their fiery tempers and extramarital affairs.
The ups and downs of their relationship became the subject of several of Frida’s works.
In the work “Self-portrait with Short Hair”, which she painted months after her divorce, the artist is portrayed sitting solemnly in a dressed man’s suit, holding the long strands of her recently cut hair.
The baggy suit is similar to the ones Rivera wore, and he was known to adore her long hair, which she dyed scattered across the floor.
Rivera, a dedicated Marxist and supporter of the Mexican Revolution, is admired for his murals, which often attacked the ruling class and told stories of working-class people.
Rejected Surrealist Artist Label
Frida is famous for her self-portraits, but that’s not all she painted. The artist also created works whose main theme was still life, as can be seen in the paintings “Cactus Fruits” (Tunas) and “Window Display in a Street in Detroit”.
The artist also painted strange and gloomy scenarios. “What the Water Gave me” depicts figures and landscapes floating in a bathtub.
Frida was often inspired by painful personal experiences, including her complicated marriage, miscarriages and medical procedures.
According to the Frida Kahlo Foundation, many of her self-portraits depict physical and psychological wounds.
Her paintings also incorporated themes related to female empowerment and willpower.
Contemporaries, including the famous surrealist André Breton, described Kahlo’s works as surrealist. But it was a label she completely rejected.
“They thought I was a surrealist, but I wasn’t. I never painted dreams. I painted my own reality,” Kahlo said of her critics, according to the Museum of Modern Art.
Used fashion to make a political statement
Kahlo purposefully mixed Western fashion with traditional indigenous clothing in order to make a political statement about cultural identity, nationalism and feminism.
“(Frida Kahlo) created her distinctive style through a mix of traditional Mexican and European fashion, combined with the fundamental effects of her disabilities and her political beliefs: Kahlo as a bohemian artist, a Tehuana, a hybrid figure,” said Circe. Henestrosa, curator of “Frida: Making Her Self Up”, a 2018 exhibition at London’s Victoria and Albert Museum.
Her anti-colonial style included modern dresses adorned with Mayan-inspired patterns, rebozo scarves and traditional necklaces, as well as other accessories.
Over time, Kahlo became as famous for her unique looks as she is for her impressive work.
Source: CNN Brasil
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