Mexican artist Frida Kahlo. Kahlo Frida. Biography, names, descriptions of paintings

Frida Kahlo's work has always gravitated towards surrealism, but the relationship was ambiguous. Founder of surrealism Andre Breton, traveling through Mexico in 1938, was fascinated by Kahlo’s paintings and definitely classified Frida Kahlo’s paintings as surrealism. Thanks to the initiative of Andre Breton, the exhibition of Frida Kahlo's paintings at the Julian Levy fashion gallery in New York, and Breton himself wrote the preface to the catalog of works, after the exhibition half of Frida’s paintings were sold. Andre Breton proposed organizing an exhibition in Paris, but when Frida Kahlo, who did not speak French, arrived in Paris, an unpleasant surprise awaited her - Breton did not bother to pick up the works of the Mexican artist from the customs service. The event was saved by Marcel Duchamp, the exhibition took place 6 weeks later. She did not become financially successful, but critical reviews were favorable, Frida Kahlo's paintings were praised by Picasso and Kandinsky, and one of them was bought by the Louvre. However, Frida Kahlo, having a quick temper, was offended and did not hide her dislike for, “ crazy crazy sons of bitches surrealists" She did not abandon surrealism immediately, in January 1940. she took part ( with Diego Rivera) at the International Exhibition of Surrealism, but later fiercely argued that she had never been a true surrealist. “ They thought I was a surrealist, but I wasn't. Frida Kahlo never painted dreams, I painted my reality,” said the artist.

Frida began to be annoyed by the far-fetched and pretentiousness of surrealism. The noisy gatherings of surrealists seemed childish to her, and one day in her hearts she accused them of " Such intellectual sons of bitches cleared the way for all the Hitlers and Mussolinis".

Latin American art and Frida's paintings

National motifs are of particular importance in the work of Frida Kahlo. Frida Kahlo knew the history of her homeland brilliantly. Frida had a special love for Mexican folk culture and collected ancient works applied arts, even in everyday life wore national costumes. Frida Kahlo's paintings are very much influenced by Mexican folk art and the culture of pre-Columbian civilizations in America. Her work is full of symbols and fetishes. The ideas of her paintings are encrypted in the details, background, figures appearing next to Frida, and the symbolism is revealed through national traditions and is closely connected with the Indian mythology of the pre-Hispanic period. And yet, in Frida’s paintings, the influence of European painting is also noticeable.

Experts believe that the 1940s are the era of the heyday of Frida Kahlo’s creativity, the time of her most interesting and mature works.

From the biography of Frida Kahlo

At the age of 18, Frida Kahlo gets into a serious accident. She was traveling on a bus that collided with a tram and was seriously injured as a result. Her life began to suffer painful months of motionless inaction. It was at this time that she asked her father for a brush and paints. A special stretcher was made for Frida, which allowed her to write while lying down. A large mirror was attached under the canopy of the bed so that Frida could see herself. She started with self-portraits. " I write myself because I spend a lot of time alone and because I am the subject I know best" - said Frida Kahlo.

Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera

At 22, Frida Kahlo became the wife of a famous Mexican artist Diego Rivera. Diego Rivera was 43 years old at the time. The two artists were brought together not only by art, but also by common communist beliefs. Their stormy life together became a legend. Frida met Diego Rivera as a teenager, when he was painting the walls of the school where Frida studied. After injury and temporary forced confinement, Frida, who painted many paintings during this time, decides to show them to a recognized master. The paintings made a great impression on Diego Rivera: “ Frida Kahlo's paintings conveyed a vital sensuality, complemented by a ruthless, but very sensitive, ability to observe. It was obvious to me that this girl was a born artist.».

Frida Kahlo died of pneumonia a week after celebrating her 47th birthday, on July 13, 1954. Farewell to Frida Kahlo took place at Bellas Artes - Palace fine arts. IN last path Frida, along with Diego Rivera, was seen off by Mexican President Lazaro Cardenas, artists, writers - Siqueiros, Emma Hurtado, Victor Manuel Villaseñor and others famous figures Mexico. In the last years of the 20th century, Frida Kahlo became the subject of a cult that was rationally inexplicable.

Frida Kahlo painting

Self-portrait

Death Mask

Self-portrait with her hair down

What did water give me?

Self-portrait

Self-portrait

Dream

Little doe

Self-portrait

Embrace of universal love, Earth, me, Diego and Coatl

Christina

How is the rating calculated?
◊ The rating is calculated based on points awarded over the last week
◊ Points are awarded for:
⇒ visiting pages dedicated to the star
⇒voting for a star
⇒ commenting on a star

Biography, life story of Frida Kahlo

Frida Kahlo de Rivera (Magdalena Carmen Frida Kahlo) – mexican artist.

Childhood and youth

Frida was born in the Mexico City suburb of Coyoacan on July 6, 1907. Much later, the artist voluntarily changed her year of birth to 1910, the year when the Mexican Revolution took place.

Frida's father was Gilmero Kahlo, a photographer from Germany. Her mother, Matilda Calderon, was of Mexican descent with Native American ancestry. Frida was the couple's third child. She grew up as a sickly girl. At the age of six, the baby suffered from polio, which is why she limped all her life, and her right leg was noticeably thinner than her left (Frida hid this defect under long fluffy skirts). Despite her poor health, the girl was very active and purposeful. She loved to play sports, and she especially loved boxing.

At the age of 15, Frida became a student at the National Preparatory School "Preparation". Kahlo chose medicine as her profile. "Preparatorium" was considered one of best schools Mexico. Not everyone could go there, especially girls. Of the 2,000 students, only 25 were female. From the very first days of her stay at the school, Frida became an authority among her fellow students. She created the closed group “Cachuchas” and became its head. At school, Frida was known as a shocking and bright girl.

Accident

On September 17, 1925, a tragedy occurred in the life of 18-year-old Frida. She was in a car accident while traveling on a city bus. The bus collided with a tram. Frida received terrible injuries - a triple fracture of the spine in the lumbar region, a fracture of the collarbone and ribs, a triple fracture of the pelvis, eleven fractures of the bones of the right leg, dislocation and crushing of the right foot, dislocation of the shoulder, puncture of the abdomen and uterus...

After a terrible accident, Kahlo was bedridden for a whole year. Health problems remained for life. Frida underwent more than a dozen operations, and she spent more than one month in the hospital. Due to damage to her uterus, Frida became infertile.

CONTINUED BELOW

Creative path

Lying in bed after an accident and unable to simply be, to exist in the usual way, young Frida Kahlo began to draw. She asked her father to buy her brushes, paints and canvases. A special stretcher was built for Frida, so she could create while lying down. A large mirror was fixed under the canopy of Kahlo's bed. Frida could see herself every second. And the very first picture that came out of her brush was a self-portrait. In many ways, it was this situation – loneliness, solitude with oneself – that determined the entire direction of Frida Kahlo’s work. She once said, “I write myself because I spend a lot of time alone and because I am the subject I know best.” The genre of self-portrait was predominant in Frida's work. Her works are a symbolic description of her life, her vision of the world, filled with fetishes and allusions.

In 1928, Frida Kahlo joined the Mexican Communist Party. In the 1930s, Frida settled for some time in the United States, where her husband worked (he will be discussed below). Staying in America further strengthened Frida’s love for her native Mexico, for her native culture. From that time on, Kahlo became addicted to national Mexican costumes, which she wore in everyday life, and collecting ancient works of Mexican applied art.

In 1939, Frida Kahlo traveled to Paris to attend an exhibition of Mexican art. One of her paintings was purchased by the Louvre. For Frida, this was a very high appreciation of her efforts. In the 1940s, Kahlo's paintings appeared at major art exhibitions. At the same time, Frida began to have problems with her mental balance. The narcotic drugs she took as prescribed by her doctor to relieve pain had a negative impact on her psychological health. And these same years are considered by critics to be the most productive in terms of Kahlo’s creativity.

In 1953, already at the end of Frida Kahlo’s life, the artist’s first solo exhibition took place in her native Mexico City. At the opening of the exhibition, Kahlo was brought in a hospital bed in a supine position - by that time she could no longer walk...

Last months of life and death

Shortly after the exhibition in Mexico City, doctors amputated Frida Kahlo's right leg below the knee. The artist began to develop gangrene, the development of which could only be stopped in this way.

Frida's health deteriorated every day. Kahlo was preparing for death. In her diary she wrote: “I hope that my departure will be successful and that I will not return.” On July 13, 1964, her suffering ended. Official reason Frida's death - pneumonia. Some of Frida's close friends said that the woman had committed suicide by deliberately taking too much medication. But no autopsy was performed on the body, so it is impossible to either prove or disprove this theory.

Farewell to the outrageous artist took place at the Palace of Fine Arts in Mexico City. Frida Kahlo's body was later cremated. An urn containing her ashes was placed in the house-museum named after her in Coyoacan.

Personal

Contemporaries remembered Frida Kahlo as a bright woman, lively and liberated. She allowed herself to use foul language, smoked and drank a lot, did not hide her bisexuality from the public and was always open to new things.

While still at the Preparatorium, Frida Kahlo met the Mexican artist Diego Rivera. In 1929, after the tragic accident, they got married. Frida at that time was 22 years old, Diego was 43. Their marriage was stormy and vibrant - just like them. Diego cheated on Frida, Frida cheated on Diego, both suffered from this, were wildly jealous, but still continued to passionately love each other.

In 1937, Frida Kahlo had an affair with a Soviet revolutionary

Candidate of Art History, Deputy Head of Department contemporary art State Hermitage

“The Frida Kahlo retrospective is a great success; museums are lining up for her exhibitions. Her entire legacy is 143 paintings, with about 250 graphics. However, a significant part of them is cut off from an international exhibition career. The fact is that the collection of the Kahlo-Rivera Foundation - and this is everything that was kept by her husband Diego Rivera - according to the charter, cannot leave Mexico; you can see these things mainly in the house built in Frida’s family nest, the so-called “Blue House”. Against this background, the 34 works that arrived in St. Petersburg look very respectable.

The excitement around Kahlo’s work arose before our eyes: in the 2000s, a biopic with Salma Hayek was released, Madonna, whose collection includes two Fridas, declared her her favorite artist, fashion magazines began to print her photographs. In fact, Frida was quite successful during her lifetime: already at her first exhibition in a New York gallery, she sold almost all of her works, but after her death in 1954, a period of some oblivion began. Interest in her work re-emerged in the 1970s, when active study began women's art and at the same time, researchers of Latin American culture made a big breakthrough. There is much talk now about how she was ahead of her time: she was a proto-feminist, dealing with the uncomfortable subject of the body, and raising issues that even today seem too personal and painful to depict and perceive.

The main thing in the work of Frida Kahlo is strength of spirit. This is the art of perseverance. She poured out all her suffering and troubles onto canvas; for her it served as a kind of art therapy. As a curator, I am often asked: was she really deeply unhappy? If you read Frida’s letters, she sparkles with witticisms - she had a wonderful sense of humor, always looks to the future, always wants to work. I think she was happy."

Accident, 1926

On September 17, 1925, the bus in which 18-year-old Frida was traveling with her boyfriend collided with a tram. Many died, she survived, but received terrible injuries - numerous fractures, including the spine, and damage to internal organs: an iron rod that ripped open her stomach, deprived Kahlo of the opportunity to have children. After the accident, the girl was bedridden for a year - it was then that she began to draw regularly. The stretcher, which allows her to do this while lying down, was designed for her by her father, a German emigrant who made his living as a photographer. In some way, he influenced her artistic style: Frida Kahlo is a very detailed artist, carefully depicting blades of grass, teeth, and lace. She apparently learned her meticulousness from her father's photo studio, where she helped color photographs - such an activity requires great concentration and a small brush.

Exactly one year after the accident, Kahlo created a disaster-related image, a typical Mexican popular print depicting the tragic incident and the patron saint. But in this picture there is no heavenly intercessor - Frida is alone in her pain and will be alone in it for the rest of her life.

Portrait of Virginia, 1929

Two events that determined the life of Frida Kahlo: a terrible accident and a meeting with Diego Rivera. She first saw him as a teenager, when Rivera painted the school where she studied. In 1929, Frida was twenty-two, he was twenty years older than her - they got married. He strongly supports her as an artist, and on his advice, Frida turns to the topic of the indigenous population of Mexico: she draws four portraits of Indian women, including a Virginia girl. By the way, another portrait from this series became the first work that Kahlo sold.

A brighter palette is used here than on her earlier canvases, and on the back, to save money, the artist sketched her self-portrait. It was finished on a different canvas, called “Time Flies” and in 2000 went from Sotheby's to a private collection for $5 million - from that moment Frida Kahlo became herself dear artist Mexico, beating Rivera as well.

Attention to traditional culture, in general, is not alien to Frida (her mother is of Indian blood), and was reflected in her manner of dressing. In her self-portraits, she often appears in the costume of a Tehuana, that is, a resident of the Tehuantepec region, inhabited by Zapotec Indians. These communities have a system close to matriarchy: women own money and resources and can trade while men work in the fields. Kahlo, as a freedom-loving nature, could not help but appreciate this. In addition, long skirts successfully hid her lameness - after suffering from polio in childhood, one of the artist’s legs was shorter than the other. In Mexico City, such outfits did not seem surprising - the Mexican elite then advocated the revival of traditions, but in New York, Frida looked extraordinary and immediately became known as a style icon. At the exhibition at the Faberge Museum we are showing two traditional Tehuana costumes - they did not belong to Frida, but come from the same workshop where she sewed her dresses. (You can see the artist’s original items, including a corset with a hammer and sickle image and an ornate prosthesis, for example. - Note ed.)

Portrait of Luther Burbank, 1932

Luther Burbank is an American Michurin, a talented self-taught breeder who created about 800 new varieties of berries, fruits and vegetables. The Russet Burbank potato variety is still one of the most common in the United States; it is what is used in McDonald's. Frida and Diego were interested in Burbank's ideas (Rivera even placed him on the Allegory of California in the San Francisco Stock Exchange Tower), read his seminal autobiography, The Harvest of Life, but never met him in person. Moreover, by the time Frida decided to paint this portrait, the breeder had already been dead for several years. However, the couple went to Burbank’s California estate, in the garden of which he rested in accordance with his will. This is how he is depicted - a hybrid of a man and a tree sprouted from the grave, having acquired immortality in his deeds. To the right of the figure is the result of Burbank's experiments, a tree with giant fruits, to the left, for contrast, an ordinary one.

Burbank is holding a philodendron bush in his hands, and this is not a random detail. Frida was well versed in botany: her library contained many books and atlases on the natural sciences, and she took care of the huge garden at the house. The flora on her canvases is never conventional - the artist not only knew all these plants, but was also familiar with their symbolism. Philodendron in Aztec culture was associated with fertility: it easily and quickly takes on aerial roots, demonstrating an inextinguishable thirst for life. At the same time, some representatives of this family are poisonous and can cause hallucinations. The fact is that part of Burbank's belief in progress was the theory of the creation of a new person: if cultivation works so successfully with plants, then why not apply the same method to people. Frieda found eugenics alien and unpleasant, and according to some studies, this is precisely what she emphasizes by including the potentially poisonous philodendron in the composition. The fact that the two sheets are depicted from the light, reverse side may also indicate the reverse side of Burbank's ideas.

Henry Ford Hospital, 1932

Shortly after her wedding to Rivera, Frida became pregnant, but was forced to have an abortion for medical reasons. The second pregnancy also ended tragically: in 1932, in Detroit, where Rivera was at the Art Institute, she suffered a miscarriage. Trying to comprehend what happened, for the first time in the history of art she turned to the topic of losing a child. In the picture, a naked Frida lies in a pool of blood on a hospital bed, and objects connected to her by umbilical cord threads somehow tell about her experience. The fetus is a lost child, a boy, which was especially bitter because little Diego, unlike big Diego, would have belonged to her undividedly; snail - time crawling painfully in the hospital; The pelvic bones, crushed in the accident, are the reason why she could not bear. The orchid refers to female sexuality and the reproductive system, and through the depiction of a mechanical device, the artist, according to her, wanted to convey the mechanics of medical procedures, their coldness and cruelty.

Because of the imagery of this and other mature works, Frida Kahlo is often considered a surrealist. In fact, Andre Breton himself persistently tried to enroll the artist in their ranks, calling her art “a ribbon tied to a bomb.” She herself denied any connection with this movement. If Breton’s associates wanted to free themselves from the conscious, allowing fragments of dreams and nightmares to break through, Frida, on the contrary, tried to rationalize her feelings. In this sense, her approach is diametrically opposed to surrealism. The art of Frida Kahlo is coding, encryption, everything that has a lot of brain in it.

By the way, with the important work of Frida "Wounded Table" Wounded Table, 1940, first shown at an exhibition of surrealists organized by Breton, a strange story happened. In 1955, “The Table” went to an exhibition in Moscow and mysteriously disappeared along the way. What is known for certain is that the painting arrived in Russia, and last year I'm searching for traces of her in the archives.

A few scratches, 1935

The title of the work literally translates as “Several small injections,” but I took the liberty of adapting it for the exhibition - injections evoke hospital associations, but here we are talking about wounds that someone considers a trifle. Diego inflicted Frida's wounds. On her part, it was an all-consuming passion - just listen to her talk about her husband (the text written by Frida is read by the artist. - Note ed.). Despite the fact that Kahlo was constantly in a cycle love stories, Rivera was the center of the world to her. Diego, an incorrigible liar and womanizer, was careful about her talent, but careless about her feelings. He began cheating on Frida immediately after the wedding. She quickly realized that nothing could be done about it, she just had to close her eyes. But her patience ran out when she found out about his relationship with Christina, her beloved younger sister. Frida was insulted, humiliated, disgraced.

Against this emotional background, the picture was painted, the impetus for the creation of which was a note about a woman killed by her husband out of jealousy. At the trial, he said: “Just a few scratches!” Although the Mexican Revolution was believed to have liberated women by giving them more rights, society at the time remained deeply patriarchal, and what is now called domestic violence was commonplace.

In the first sketch that Frida made for this painting, she follows the texture of the note: a man with a mustache, his crying little son standing next to him. In the final version, the killer is given the features of the villain - Diego Rivera: these are his proportions, his favorite hat. He is clothed while the victim is depicted naked and bloody. This is, of course, Frida - torn to pieces and crushed. Her body is a bloody “still life” on display for everyone to see. Kahlo even covered the frame with blood-red splashes of paint to enhance the sense of horror of this crime. Despite everything, Frida made peace with Christina. Rivera never thought of stopping cheating on her, and in 1939 they divorced - only to get married again a year later.

My wet nurse and I, 1937

The traditional interpretation of the work is based on details of the artist’s childhood: literally a couple of months after Frida’s birth, her mother became pregnant with her fourth daughter (the same Christina) and, having lost milk, abandoned the girl to a Mexican nanny. Hence a fairly common psychoanalytic interpretation: the alienation and loneliness experienced by a child torn from his mother’s breast. It is much more interesting to analyze this picture from the point of view of personal symbolic system Frida. For example, a background of green leaves is a protective motif often found in Kahlo.

The pupa and butterfly on the right side are the personification of the death and resurrection of the soul, traditional for European still lifes, but on the left side you can see a more unusual insect, a stick insect from the ghost family. Ghosts survive by being able to mimic, pretending to be twigs and shoots. The desire to hide behind extravagant behavior was to some extent characteristic of Kahlo herself. In addition, stick insects hatch as adults, just like Frida, who is depicted as both a baby and an adult.

The powerful figure of the nurse resembles an Indian idol, and her face is covered with a ritual mask. Remembering how reverently the artist treated her roots, how important the heritage of the pre-Columbian era was for her, a hint of connection with traditions is easily read in this. The nurse-Mexico carefully holds Frida in her arms, life-giving milk rain pours from above, in a word, the homeland is what gives Kahlo protection and strength.

Broken Column, 1944

This is one of Frida Kahlo's most famous and popular works. Perhaps because it does not need additional explanation - it is an expressive manifesto of perseverance in the face of the blows of fate, an image of strength. The backdrop for the self-portrait is the Pedregal Plateau, a desert volcanic landscape southwest of Mexico City. This dry, barren land appears in many of Kahlo's works from the 1940s: the cracks in the soil rhyme with the cracks in her soul and body. At this time, due to numerous operations, Frida had to wear orthopedic corsets. In the self-portrait, in place of the broken spine, Frida depicts a broken column, the edges of the wound are painted in scarlet, the nails stuck into the body symbolize not only physical pain, but also mental suffering. Nevertheless, she stands straight and openly looks at the viewer.

Portrait of engineer Eduardo Morillo Safa, 1944

We owe a lot to this man for the exhibition at the Faberge Museum: agronomist and diplomat Eduardo Morillo Safa was a great friend of Frida and collected her paintings. In total, he bought about 35 of her works, which later went to the Dolores Olmedo Museum; this collection provided the backbone for the St. Petersburg exhibition. At some point, Morillo Safa commissioned Kahlo to paint portraits of his family members - mother, wife, son, two daughters - and himself. It is curious that in this work Frida does not use any symbols that reveal the identity of the person depicted. This is typical for everything made by the artist male portraits- face, costume, that's all. The symbolic is apparently not inherent in men. This is especially obvious in comparison with portrait of mother diplomat, Doña Rosita Morillo, rich in visual supports: her status as a matriarch is emphasized by many details, for example, Doña Rosita knits the fabric of her family’s fate. In fact, in this exhibition, a portrait of Morillo Safa hangs between a portrait of his mother and a self-portrait of Frida - again, the fate of a man.

Self-portrait with a monkey, 1945

Diego offends Frida again, she is sad - and protects herself with a necklace of her favorite creatures and things. The monkey is a substitute for the child she could not have. There were always a lot of animals in the Blue House: monkeys, parrots, hairless dogs of the Sholoitscuintle breed, one of which is depicted in the picture. The Aztecs kept these dogs at their temples as sacred animals and served their meat at ceremonial feasts, and in the first half of the 20th century, in the wake of the rise of national consciousness, Sholoitzcuintles became fashionable pets among the Mexican elite. Both the Xoloitzcuintli and the Indian god connect the artist with her roots, the traditions of ancient Mexico. The charms that protect Frida from suffering are wrapped in a yellow ribbon, but it all begins with a nail, which probably refers to the expression estar clavado - “to be deceived” (clavo, “nail” in Spanish).

Circle, 1954

A sad point of the exhibition. In 1953, Frieda's right leg was amputated at the knee to stop the onset of gangrene. She drowned out physical suffering with alcohol and strong painkillers, which was reflected in her writing style. Attention to detail has gone - the dissolution of the crippled figure in space is conveyed in torn, chaotic strokes. In her diary at this time she writes “I am disintegration.” And this is no longer a natural return to the earth - as in self-portrait the mid-1940s, where plants grow peacefully through her flesh and decay painfully. The same year that The Circle was written, Frida Kahlo died.

Frida Kahlo (Spanish: Magdalena Carmen Frida Kahlo y Calderón; July 6, 1907, Coyoacan, Mexico City, Mexico - July 13, 1954, ibid.) - Mexican artist, wife of Diego Rivera.

Frida Kahlo was born into a family of a German Jew and a Mexican woman with Indian roots. At the age of 6 she suffered from polio, after the illness she was left with a limp for the rest of her life, and her right leg became thinner than her left (which Kahlo hid under long skirts all her life). Such an early experience of the struggle for the right to a full life strengthened Frida’s character.

At the age of 15, she entered the Preparatorium (National Preparatory School) with the goal of studying medicine. Of the 2,000 students in this school, there were only 35 girls. Frida immediately gained authority by creating the closed group “Cachuchas” with eight other students. Her behavior was often called shocking.

In the Preparatorium, her first meeting took place with her future husband, the famous Mexican artist Diego Rivera, who worked in Preparatory school above the “Creation” mural.

At the age of eighteen, on September 17, 1925, Frida was involved in a serious accident, the injuries from which included a triple fracture of the spine (in the lumbar region), a fractured collarbone, broken ribs, a triple fracture of the pelvis, eleven fractures of the bones of the right leg, a crushed and dislocated right foot, a dislocated shoulder. In addition, her stomach and uterus were pierced by a metal railing, which seriously damaged her reproductive function. She was bedridden for a year, and health problems remained for the rest of her life. Subsequently, Frida had to undergo several dozen operations, without leaving the hospital for months. Despite her ardent desire, she was never able to become a mother.

It was after the tragedy that she first asked her father for brushes and paints. A special stretcher was made for Frida, which allowed her to write while lying down. A large mirror was attached under the canopy of the bed so that she could see herself. The first painting was a self-portrait, which forever determined the main direction of creativity: “I write myself because I spend a lot of time alone and because I am the subject I know best.”.

In 1929, Frida Kahlo became the wife of Diego Rivera. He was 43 years old, she was 22. The two artists were brought together not only by art, but also by common political beliefs - communist. Their turbulent life together became a legend.

Portrait of Christina, my sister, 1928

In the 1930s Frida lived for some time in the USA, where her husband worked. This forced long stay abroad, in a developed industrial country, made her more acutely aware of national differences.

Since then, Frida had a special love for Mexican folk culture, collected ancient works of applied art, and even wore national costumes in everyday life.

My birth 1932

Henry Ford Hospital (Flying Bed) 1932

Self-portrait on the border between Mexico and the United States, 1932.

Fulang-Chang and I 1937

Me and my doll 1937
In 1937, Soviet revolutionary leader Leon Trotsky briefly took refuge in the house of Diego and Frida. It is believed that his too obvious infatuation with the temperamental Mexican forced him to leave them.

Self-portrait dedicated to Leon Trotsky (Between the curtains) 1937

Chinese Crested Dog with Me 1938

Self-Portrait - Frame 1938

Suicide of Dorothy Hale 1938

A trip to Paris in 1939, where Frida became a sensation at a thematic exhibition of Mexican art (one of her paintings was even acquired by the Louvre), further developed patriotic feelings.

Two Nudes in the Forest (The Earth Itself) 1939

In the 1940s Frida's paintings appear in several notable exhibitions. At the same time, her health problems are getting worse. Medicines and drugs designed to reduce physical suffering change it state of mind, which is clearly reflected in the Diary, which has become a cult among her fans.


Sleep (Bed) 1940

Self-portrait dedicated to Sigismund Firestone 1940

Roots 1943

Flower of Life (Flame Flower) 1943

Diego and Frida 1944

Broken Column 1944

Magnolias 1945

Without Hope 1945

Wounded deer 1946

Marxism will give health to the sick 1954

Frida died of pneumonia a year after her first solo exhibition took place in her homeland and a week after she celebrated her 47th birthday, on Tuesday July 13, 1954. The next day, her loved ones collected all her favorite jewelry: an ancient, pre-Columbian necklace, cheap, simple things made from seashells, which she especially loved, and put it all in a gray coffin installed in the Bellas Artes - Palace of Fine Arts.

Paintings of Frida Kahlo and her life. About the work of the Mexican artist.
Today I watched the film “Frida” (2002, directed by Julia Taymor). I must say, the picture is very impressive. Until that moment, I was not interested in the biography of the artist. All I remembered about her were self-portraits with unforgettable eyebrows. As a matter of fact, Frida is known primarily for her self-portraits. Now I understand why...
When Frida was 18, she was in a serious accident. She suffered fractures of the spine, ribs, legs and many other injuries. Doctors were inclined to believe that the girl would no longer be able to walk. For about a year she lay without getting up, in an orthopedic corset. Parents spent all their money on doctors, without losing hope for a better outcome.
It was at this time that Frida began to draw. In the film, a girl paints butterflies on her plaster corset. Judging by surviving photographs, she actually used a corset instead of a canvas.

A little later, a special easel was made for Frida so that she could paint while lying down. A mirror was attached to the ceiling. The girl's first painting was a self-portrait.
A year later, Frida began to walk, but for the rest of her life she experienced constant pain throughout her body.
Perhaps, in appearance, Salma Hayek (she plays main role in the film "Frida") is much more beautiful than the artist. And yet, there is something attractive about the real Frida. She has a simple face, but her gaze is very piercing. It was not for nothing that Leon Trotsky wrote a letter to the artist: “You gave me back my youth and took away my sanity. With you, I feel like a 17-year-old boy.” Lev Davidovich lost his head over this woman.
For the last 10 years of her life, the artist kept a diary. It contains not only Frida's notes, but also her watercolor drawings. Many of Kahlo's thoughts can be learned from him, but also from her paintings.

Artist Frida Kahlo (biography).

The work of Frida Kahlo is unusual and characteristic only of her. The artist did not imitate anyone. her painting is individual.

Frida Kahlo's paintings speak volumes. From these paintings one can judge the artist’s life, her fears and dreams.

Frida herself said the following about her works: “My work is the most full biography, which I was able to write." She was a self-taught artist and painted pictures not the way she was taught, but the way she felt in her heart. And, judging by the artist’s paintings, she was not too happy, despite the fact that in public she always smiled radiantly and sparkled with humor. Perhaps her paintings express the pain that she felt all the time. Pain in the body from the consequences of the accident, pain in the soul from the inability to have a child and the betrayal of her husband.
Those around them gave their marriage to Diego Rivera a period of 2 months. However, despite all the difficulties, they lived for 25 years, until Frida’s death. In this photo Frida is with Diego.

There are moments in the film that can deeply touch and even shock. For example, Frida's child preserved in alcohol in a jar. She paints it from life. But despite such scenes, this movie is worth watching. The description of a woman's life is dramatic and surprising.
I was very impressed by Frida's appearance at her latest exhibition. The artist was brought directly on the bed, since the doctor categorically forbade her to get up. And this is not the director's idea. That's how it really was.
I have heard the song “Frida” by Alai Oli many times. After watching the film, she is perceived completely differently. Previously it was just a bunch of words, now it makes sense.
Shortly before her death, the artist wrote in her diary that she was cheerfully awaiting her end and hoped that she would never return...