Brooke Sturgis

Mr. Palcsey
Honors English 10
4/20/18

Frida Kahlo and the Story She Painted

There are many artists in the world who have had a widespread impact on the world,

however, the one who can be named as one of the biggest influences in her heritage was Frida

Kahlo. Through her life, she encountered many aspects of struggle, heartbreak, illness, and

politics. She is unique because she finds inspiration through oppression and becomes an artist

that is rooted in painting reality. Frida Kahlo was more than just an artist, she was an influential

woman who used her empowering story to create art that impacted her culture and the world

today.

Frida Kahlo’s life began on July 6th, 1907 with her parents Guillermo and Matilde Kahlo.

She was born in Coyocan, Mexico City, and grew up in her house that they called, “Casa Azul”

or “blue house” in English. Her full name is Magdalena Carmen Kahlo Calderon; however, she

chose to go by Frida because it was the shortest. She went to a public school growing up,

however when she was in middle school, her mother pulled her out and placed her into the

National Preparatory school. There, she was one of the 35 girls out of a 2,000-student body

(Collins). When she was 18 years old, she was riding a wooden trolley when it crashed, causing a

handrail to pierce her torso. Because of this, she was left with multiple injuries including a

broken spinal column, broken ribs, a cracked pelvis, a dislocated shoulder, and enough damage

in her uterus to take away her ability to have children (Collins). Her dream growing up was to
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become a doctor, therefore being in a hospital all day was not bothersome to her. Because she

was unable to move, she painted during her days she was bedridden and found inspiration

through her pain. Frida stated in her diary “I paint myself because I am so often alone and

because I am the subject I know best” (Fuentes). Because of this, she started her career as an

artist and looked at is as the start of her life and not the end. This is an example of how she is an

inspiration because she acts as an example for people with major injuries that think they have hit

rock bottom and will never find something they love to do again. Kahlo states, “I tried to drown

my sorrows, but they learned how to swim, and now I am overwhelmed by this decent and good

feeling” (“Frida Kahlo Quotes”). This shows her strong-willed personality and the strength she

chose to have, influencing many young women in the world today.

The number one thing that was very evident through Kahlo’s art was her love for her

culture. Her father as German Lutheran and her mother was a mix of Spanish and Mexican

heritage. She wore traditional Mexican clothing and learned to speak fluent German because of

how close she was to her father. She was inspired to start painting because her dad was also an

artist and was the one who gave her the supplies to start (Kettenmann 18). She kept her unibrow

also because of her culture and she believed it made her unique and found beauty in it every

morning when she would use makeup to make it more defined. In her paintings, she often used

monkeys to symbolize the protectiveness and love in her heritage. She took inspiration from

historical peoples such as the Aztecs who gave her a path for her painting called “my birth.”

Kahlo is known for some of the most analytical work by painting subjects that most people in her

generation were afraid to talk about (Pankl 8). She depicted her wounds and emotional suffering,

challenging the image of the female body and, “broke Mexican culture” (Pankl). An example of

this is the painting, “The Wounded Deer” which shows a deer with her face, and multiple stab
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wounds on the body. This symbolizes her accident and what she felt when it happened. Because

of paintings like this one, she claimed the title of “Heroine of Pain” in Mexico (Collins). Because

of these aspects, she represents her culture in the art world and exemplifies the importance of

traditions there, acting as a role model to her people.

Every love story starts with the first encounter that sparks the journey. Diego Rivera is

one of the most prominent figures in Kahlo’s story, and he first came into her life when she was

fifteen years old and he was thirty-five. During this time, Kahlo was still in school when she saw

him painting a mural in their auditorium. She was immediately drawn to him and even told her

friends she was going to marry him one day (Collins). She re-met Rivera in 1927 through

communist relations and asked him to critique her work. Both of their styles were different,

however they complemented each other. Kahlo had a different approach to her style because she

took what she felt and painted a physical depiction, while Diego painted what he saw. The same

year that they re-met, they got married. Her life then revolved around him and she even changed

the way she dressed to a Tehuantepc clothing with the objective of pleasing him. Through her

diary, her love for him is exemplified because many of the entries and drawings are about

Rivera. Her mother did not approve of their marriage because she thought that he was going to

hurt her and wanted her to go for someone with a more stable job. Because of these events, she

created art that expressed her love and is an inspiration for those who find hardship in their

relationships. These people look at her art and can relate to it, creating another reason of why her

works are so well-known.

People are put on this earth with a passion for something, and sometimes it is so big that

they will take extraneous measures to associate themselves with it. For Kahlo, this was her

passion for the Mexican Revolution. Kahlo was a renown Communist and wanted so much to be
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related to the Mexican Revolution, that she told people she was born in 1910 instead of 1907, the

year the revolution started (Pankl). Leon Trotsky was a Russian Revolutionary who was sent out

of his own country, leaving him and his wife as political refugees. Because of this, he was

searching for a place to live as asylum, however countries were afraid to take them in because of

Soviet threats. When Rivera heard this, he offered to take them because he was such a big fan of

Trotsky and his work. He wanted to welcome them into Mexico City, but due to kidney and eye

problems, Kahlo stood as a proxy for him. The Trotsky’s stayed in Kahlo’s childhood house, the

Casa Azul, rent-free for two years. Both Kahlo and Trotsky were “notorious for conducting

extramarital love affairs” (Rogers). Kahlo began to have a love for Trotsky and hid it from

Rivera and Trotsky’s wife by speaking English, a language only they could understand. Rivera

found out when he discovered letters from Kahlo to Trotsky, revealing their affair. He banished

Trotsky out of his house and immediately stopped being a Trotskyite because of it. Kahlo dealt

with her grief of her heartbreak by painting a picture dated on Trotsky’s birthday stating, “to

Trotsky with great affection, I dedicate this painting November 7th, 1937. Frida Kahlo, in San

Angel, Mexico” (Rogers). For Kahlo at this time, her involvement with Trotsky was over,

however she was pulled back in when he was assassinated on August 21st, 1940. At this time,

Rivera had divorced Kahlo and she was living alone in Mexico. When she heard the news, she

called Rivera and told him that it was his fault he was killed. However, the assassination related

back to Kahlo more than Rivera because she met the assassin in Paris and even invited him to

dinner years prior. Because of this, the police interrogated her for twelve hours straight, however

she was able to walk away with no charges brought upon her. This shows her involvement in

politics and shows how she persevered through accusations and heartbreak. Her intelligence also

shined through when she used different tactics to hide her affair for so long.
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The source of Kahlo’s story was through her diary. Claudia Madrazo states that “it is the

most important work Kahlo ever did” (Collins). She said this because through her entries, she

pulls the reader into her own world and leads them to discover an unknown truth and the pain

that cannot be seen in her art. Through her diary, psychologists were able to discover symptoms

of an illness called Munchausen syndrome where she uses amplified pain for attention. In her

entries, she shows her poetic side and lust for acceptance. She describes her unending love for

Diego and states through many writings that she could not live without him. She uses the same

color scheme for her drawings and is more vulnerable than she ever was to the outside world.

Because of this, people labeled her as a surrealist, however she hated that because she painted

reality and not dreams (Fuentes). Her diary connected her vulnerability to her artwork and gave

the world a deeper understanding of struggle.

Every story must end, and Kahlo’s death came suddenly and unexpected on July 13th,

1954. The doctor stated that the cause of her death was a “pulmonary embolism,” however her

diary shows otherwise. The last entry states, “I hope leaving in joyful and I hope to never

return,” along with a drawing of the angel of death. Because of this entry, it is also believed that

Kahlo committed suicide, but it was never confirmed because she was cremated before they

could do an autopsy. When Rivera heard this news, he locked himself in a bedroom because his

“Chiquita,” was dead (Collins). He painted her into his “Ballad of the Revolution” mural with

the communist party and included a red star on her attire (Kettenmann 22). Kahlo left

unexpectedly, and the world mourned the loss of such an influential artist when it rained not only

on the day she was born but also on the day she died (Fuentes).

Kahlo’s physical appearance may have left, but her art did not. Kahlo had a lasting

impact on the world that can still be seen today. Many famous artists including Madonna have
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accumulated some of her paintings. She introduced the world to feminism, especially in Latin

American culture. She did this with her paintings and making a strong statement with the

strength of women, especially in her work “my birth.” Six decades after her death, her influence

can be seen physically, one example including in the streets of San Francisco with her own street

titled “Frida Kahlo Way.” Also in San Francisco, there is an arts festival hosted called “Fiestas

Frida,” where they display her artwork and celebrate her Mexican heritage (Moynihan). To

celebrate National Women’s’ Day, the manufacturers of Barbie created a Frida Kahlo doll,

leading to teaching kids about her message she left on the world such as confidence, uniqueness,

and feminism (Moynihan). These events show how Kahlo was ahead of her time and saw cracks

in society that she took a chance on fixing.

In conclusion, Kahlo introduced the world to a new picture of life. She changed

feminism, Mexican culture, and society’s views with just a paintbrush. Having lived in a society

with less freedom than the modern world, Kahlo proves that it is not the world that affects the

choices a person can make, it is the drive and perseverance to make a message. Overall, Kahlo

found herself in a life where she worked hard for what she wanted, and in the end, it impacted

the world.
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