the eccentric life of Frida kahlo
BORN IN 1907
Frida changed her actual date of birth to 1910, which was the beginning of the Mexican Revolution.
Who was she?
Frida Kahlo, the world's most famous woman painter, was an artist, a political activist, the wife of Diego Rivera, lover of Leon Trotsky, Josephine Baker, and a legend in her own lifetime. Her short, and turbulent and eccentric life was marked by passion and eccentricity, inner strength and temperament. She left us with a unique art collection; her works painted a diary, her diary.
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André Breton, French writer, poet, anarchist and anti-fascist. He is known best as the founder of Surrealism.
André Breton aptly described her art as "a ribbon around a bomb." She had the courage to show her life in front of our eyes and to reveal her inner world in a very realistic yet poetic way. The mistress of self-portraits, Kahlo had the courage to depict herself and her life openly and honestly to reveal her sufferings in the most realistic yet poetic way.
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Frida's parents
Wilhelm Kahlo, was born in 1871 in Germany and grew up in Baden-Baden before immigrating to Mexico at the age of 18. Frida's mother, Matilde Calderon y Gonzalez, was a devout Catholic of primarily indigenous, as well as Spanish descent. Frida's parents were married shortly after the death of Guillermo's first wife during the birth of her second child. Although their marriage was quite unhappy, Guillermo and Matilde had four daughters, with Frida being the third.
Frida at age 15.
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The accident that changed her life
Her journal painting entry of the day of the accident.
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On September 17, 1925, at the age of 18, Frida Kahlo was riding in a bus that collided with a trolley car. As a result of the accident she suffered several injuries: a broken spinal column, a broken collarbone ribs and pelvis, eleven fractures in her right leg, a crushed and dislocated right foot, and a dislocated shoulder. Also, an iron handrail pierced her abdomen and her uterus. Her accident made it impossible for her to have her own children, resulting in a
miscarriage when she became pregnant. Because of this, many of her pieces reference reproduction failure. The accident left her in a great deal of pain, and she spent three months recovering in a full body cast. Although she recovered from her injuries and eventually was able to walk again, she was in extreme pain for the rest of her life. As a result of the accident during the following thirty years, she had as many as 35 surgeries, mainly on her back, her right leg and her right foot. |
"the dove and the elephant"
On August 21 1929 Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera married in Coyoacan, Mexico. She was 22 years old, Diego was 42. It was her first marriage, his third. Matilde Calderon, Frida’s mother, was against this marriage: not only Diego was 21 years older than Frida but he was twice divorced, atheist, communist and a known womanizer. Frida herself supported Diego and stood behind him with his communism.
Capturing Frida’s small frame near Diego appearance (she was 5' 3" tall and weighed 100 lbs, he was 6' and weighed nearly 300 lbs), Frida’s mother said: this is like the wedding between a dove and an elephant. The relationship between Frida and Diego was complex, remarrying 4 times. An example of two exceptional artists larger than life who can not stay together and can not stay apart. Diego and Frida remained married till her death in 1954, he married again for the fifth time in 1955, and died two years later in Mexico City at the age of 71. |
Later years
A few days before Frida Kahlo died on July 13, 1954, she wrote in her diary: "I hope the exit is joyful - and I hope never to return - Frida". The official cause of death was given as pulmonary embolism, although some suspected that she died from overdose that may or may not have been accidental. An autopsy was never performed. She had been very ill throughout the previous year and her right leg had been amputated at the knee, owing to gangrene. She also had a bout of bronchopneumonia near that time, which had left her quite frail. In her last journal entry she wrote:
"I hope the end is joyful - and I hope never to return - Frida.". |