FRIDA KAHLO

Frida is remembered for her self-portraits, pain and passion,

also by her bold and vibrant colors. And she is loved in Mexico
for her attention to Mexican culture.

Life experience is a common theme in her work, her experiences

are present in almost two hundred paintings and drawings. Her
physical and emotional pain are show on them, as is her
turbulent relationship with Diego Rivera. Of her 143 one
hundred forty three paintings, 55 fifty—five are self-portraits.

For example, in The Broken Column, Frida shows the pain to

her body from the bus accident. In her paint Kahlo is showed
nearly naked, split down the middle, with her spine presented as
a broken decorative column. Her skin is dotted with nails. She is
also fitted with a surgical brace.

In this painting Frida looks pretty and strong. Although her

whole body is supported by the corset, she is showing a message
of spiritual triumph. She has tears on her face but she look
straight ahead and is challenging both herself and her audience
to face her situation.

Kahlo, worked after the Revolutionary Mexican Period, she was

influenced in her art and life by the nationalistic fervor known
as Mexicanidad. She rejected European influences and favored
a return to the country’s native roots and folk traditions. For
that reason Frida often wore the distinctive clothing of the
Mexican woman.

; she also looked to pre-Columbian art and Mexican folk art for
forms and symbols in her paintings.
When people asked her about if her paintings were surrealist, she usually said …

“Really I do not know whether my paintings are surrealist or not, but I do know that they are the frankest
expression of myself. Since my subjects have always been my sensations, my states of mind, and the
profound reactions that life has been producing in me, I have frequently objectified all this in figures of
myself, which were the most sincere and real thing that I could do in order to express what I felt inside and
outside of myself.”