A Voice in the Unspoken:
Did Frida Kahlo’s psychological discontent influence her artwork more strongly than Mexican
culture and indigenous art?
Audrey Dumadag
Candidate Number:
Visual Arts
Session May 2012
October 27, 2011
Extended Essay: 3997 Words
1
Abstract: 299 Words
Abstract
This investigation centers on the extent to which Frida Kahlo’s psychological distress
influenced her artwork more strongly than Mexican indigenous art and culture. Its purpose is to
scrutinize the development of her style, and to evaluate the weight of her psyche over powerful
cultural influences. It explores how the artist incorporated features of indigenous art into her own
oeuvre. Throughout her life, the effect of her psyche as an overarching topic dominates. She first
used European portraiture influences; however, she began to integrate indigenous art as she
progressed as an artist (Lowe 761; “Kahlo (y Calderón)” 721). This incorporation became a
recurring motif in her art. Even against the Mexicanidad, Kahlo remained unwavering in her
fidelity to portray psychological conflict. In comparison to indigenous art and Kahlo’s
contemporaries such as Diego Rivera, her use of culture did not instill patriotism. Her artwork
was not the same as that of her contemporaries and Aztecs because she did not portray Mexico’s
culture. The assimilation of indigenous deities did not overpower the true psychological
meanings within her work. Even as her precise style fluctuated, she continued to paint, and her
distressed condition only showcased this discontent even more (The Still Lifes 108). Her cultural
context and art are not reflective of each other, but instead provide insight into her inclusion of
such ideas. Her intentions were to create windows into her internal conditions, and her subject
matter was not that of Mexico, but rather, her tormented self. She appropriated Mexican art and
indigenous culture to serve as a vehicle to portray her psychological conflict. Moreover, the
interplay of Mexican and European influences created her conflicted duality motif. The effect of
Kahlo’s psychological struggle on her artwork confirms its weight against her cultural impact,
exhibited by the human suffering in her fantastic compositions.
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Table of Contents
I.
Introduction………………………………………………………………………............. 1
II.
The Effect of a Traumatic Bus Accident on her Psyche……………………………….. 2-4
III.
Her Marriage to Diego Rivera and its Psychological Effects…………………………...5-7
IV.
Mexicanidad…………………………………………………………………….................8
V.
The Progression of her Self-Portraits………………………………………………….9-12
VI.
Still Lifes as a Method of Displaying her Emotional and Mental Feelings………….13-14
VII.
Psychological Effect on Style………………………………………………………..14-16
VIII.
Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………16-17
IX.
Bibliograpy…………………………………………………………………………...18-19
X.
Appendix……………………………………………………………………………..20-21
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Introduction
Since the mere beginnings of her life, Frida Kahlo always aimed at defying societal
norms and embracing herself as a person. Although she was born in 1907, she chose to associate
“her birth with the year 1910” (Kettenmann 7; B. Levine 70). This significant year marked the
beginning of the Mexican Revolution as well as the beginnings of a conflicted, rebellious
woman. It also showcases her fidelity toward her culture (20th Century: America 1092). In a
sense, Kahlo’s life was her own mental revolt against popular culture. She suffered from polio
and separation anxiety, but would challenge her limitations through her personal rebellion (The
Still Lifes 11). Once, she even dressed in male attire for a family portrait to make a statement
about a person’s role in society (Kettenmann 11). Nevertheless, Kahlo’s psyche suffered torment
from a young age, and her artwork reflected this deviation from the societal norm. She was never
afraid to create art that was widely different from her contemporaries, and, more importantly,
extremely unorthodox for a woman.
As a well-known Mexican artist, critics around the world compare her art as it relates to
the traditional art of her native country and contemporaries. It is interesting to investigate how
her cultural context and the influence of her heritage inspired her artwork. However, in
understanding Kahlo’s art, peering into the psychological abyss of her conflicted reality creates a
more accurate representation of what the artist wishes to convey. Using art as her creative solace,
she portrays the mind battle that stems from the interplay of her psychological discontent and the
world in which she lived. Although her cultural milieu did affect her art, Kahlo’s psychological
discontent significantly impacted her work as evident by her surrealistic portrayal of identity,
relationships, political dogmas and internal pain.
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The Effect of a Traumatic Bus Accident on her Psyche
At the young age of eighteen, Kahlo suffered from a
horrific bus accident in her native town, Coyoacán (20th
Century: America 1092). She experienced great pain from
the penetration of a pole into her body, which would
complicate her dreams to become a mother. During the
period of her recovery and solitude, Kahlo became a selftaught painter (A Dictionary of 20th Century Art 308).
Fig.1 Self-Portrait Wearing a Velvet Dress, 1926
She created a series of paintings that would ultimately
change as her style developed.
31 x 23.5 inches
Frida Kahlo
Private Collection
Painted in 1926, Self-Portrait Wearing a Velvet
Dress (Fig. 1) is one of her first pieces created during this
http://www.artworkonly.com/artreproductions/c
olour-scheme/yellow/self-portrait-wearing-avelvet-dress-1926.html
recuperation. Unlike most of the artwork she created, this
painting mirrors portraits of the Italian Renaissance (Lowe 761; “Kahlo (y Calderón)” 721). She
follows the three-quarter profile view indicative of art in the European Renaissance. Bronzino, a
Mannerist painter, was a significant influence in developing her work (Lowe 761). She too
rendered her pieces with the precision and realism of Mannerists. Her specific inspiration is
Bronzino’s 1540 painting, A Young Woman with her Little Boy (Udall 10). She adopts the profile
view and the rich color of the young woman’s extravagant gown (see Appendix, Fig.13). Also,
the hand placement and the paleness of her figure against the dark background is reminiscent of
his 1551 Portrait of Maria de' Medici (Fig. 14). The background behind the figure lacks spatial
depth as most Renaissance paintings do. Contrary to later self-portraits, she does not emphasize
this depth or her facial hair, and wears the rich velvet wardrobes of the wealthy (Lowe 761). Her
5
robe implies European wealth rather than Mexican aristocracy. Unlike the majority of her works,
there is no indication of the influence of Mexican culture or pre-Columbian art. Therefore, even
since the beginning of her career, she intended that her works reveal insight into her psyche
rather than her culture.
As a budding artist, she aimed to improve and polish her artistic abilities before
embarking on a journey to discover her artistic purpose. The rendering of flat figures
demonstrates the development of her style. Even if her figures are unbending in contour, her
style is reflective of her artwork to come (Kettenmann 15). Also significant in this painting is
Kahlo’s depiction of solitude. Against the dark, gloomy background, she stands alone in her
sadness (Herrera 721). This theme of solitude is a motif throughout Kahlo’s work. As she
progressed as an artist, her style, once similar to 19th-Century portraiture, evolved into her
personal story. Art served as a catharsis for the anger and suffering from the unfortunate events
in her life (Garber 46; Cotter 1). With art as her creative outlet,
Kahlo discovered she could utilize this craft to portray the
duality of her conflicting torment, and to “confront,
communicate, and exorcise pain [that] became a motivating
force in her art” (“Beauty to his Beast” 120).
The results of the accident caused her to face the
limitations of her life and proximity of death. This suffering
Fig 2: Self-Portrait “Time Flies,” 1929
brought about an obsession with death, a recurring idea in her
30.5 x 24 inches
work (The Still Lifes 11). As evident in Self-Portrait “Time
Frida Kahlo
Flies” (Fig. 2), Kahlo integrates pre-Columbian jewelry to
Private Collection of Anthony Bryan
http://www.fridakahlofans.com/c0040.ht
ml
6
further emphasize the transience of time and the inescapability of death (The Still Lifes 16). She
also uses the airplane and clock as the foundation of the piece’s contemporary setting (Udall 11).
In contrast to her first self-portrait, the artist rejects the influence of European art. She directs her
pose to a frontal view, and emphasizes the figure stylistically to convey realism of humanity’s
blemishes (Kettenmann 22). Significant is her exploitation of the unibrow as a signature mark of
her identity. Additionally, this painting depicts a degree of depth, a feature absent in Self-Portrait
“Time Flies,” in that there is spatial recession. The beginnings of her application of bright colors
also start surface as she lightens her hues from the dark richness of her previous work. These
colors hold significance in that she defines each to represent a shade of her sentiments (Kahlo
211).
In addition to colors, Kahlo incorporates Mexican culture to further demonstrate her
mental conflicts. The use of pre-Columbian artifacts adds meaning to the briefness of life (The
Still Lifes 16). The Aztec glyph suggests the journey of life and the start of her affiliation with
Rivera (Udall 11). The intersected marks on her necklace represent death and illuminate the dark
connotations within the work (The Still Lifes 16). Together, they provide insight into her
psychological response to death and realization of life’s insignificance on the grand scale of time
itself. The cultural impact of Kahlo’s Mexican heritage suggests that her life laid the foundation
of her work; however, her psychological response to these events is what really brings meaning
and depth into her art (Helland 12). The juxtaposition of beginnings and ends imply the
beginnings of mental conflict. This influence of Mexican art and culture only grew stronger
through her emotionally noteworthy relationship with Mexican muralist, Diego Rivera.
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Her Marriage to Diego Rivera and its Psychological Effects
To establish herself as an artist, Kahlo asked Diego Rivera to critique her work and
evaluate the extent of her abilities (Frida). Both artists influenced one another throughout their
relationship (M. Levine 271). Together, they became highly involved with Communism and
altered their ways to assimilate this political ideal (Kingsolver 211).
Painted in 1933, My Dress Hangs There (Fig. 3) is Kahlo’s response to “Gringolandia,”
also known as the United States. When visiting the United States, she criticized high society’s
luxurious way of life (“Beauty to his Beast” 126). She expresses her disapproval by juxtaposing
collage and paint (Baddeley 15). The focal
point of this piece is the Mexican peasant
dress that hangs lightly on a clothing line
(Helland 10). The bright garment contrasts
with the industrial setting as it hangs in
tranquility as an objection to Capitalism.
Incorporating this dress is not only to
express her Mexican nationalism and
Communist tendencies; it presents the
duality in confronting her inner beliefs in
Fig 3: My Dress Hangs There, 1933
contrast to that of Rivera.
18 x 19.75 inches
Frida Kahlo
She highlights the subjugation of
Capitalism through her chaotic collage and
Hoover Gallery
http://www.arthistoryarchive.com/arthistory/surrealism/imag
es/FridaKahlo-My-Dress-Hangs-There-1933.jpg
busy composition; moreover, she comments
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on female constraints by overpowering the dress, billboard, and the Statue of Liberty with
industrial surroundings (Helland 126). By doing so, she comments on the superficiality of
America during this period. She exhibits fidelity toward Mexico against the increasingly popular
commercialism (Baddeley 16). Her work almost mirrors the murals (Fig. 15) of Mexican
Muralists such as Diego Rivera. While Rivera influenced her work, Kahlo did not create large
murals that showcased Mexico’s history, but rather small visuals into her mind (Mencimer n.p.).
Their artistic and ideological disparity resulted in distrusting turmoil which only intensified her
tormented psyche.
The mental toll of Rivera on the already fragile Kahlo
impacted her artwork the most. After his affair with her sister
Cristina, she plummeted into a deep state of mental distress
(“Frida Kahlo’s Memory” 3). She developed a strong attachment
for Rivera that haunted her psyche after their separation (B.
Levine 242). Memory (Fig. 4), painted in 1937, is a depiction of
Kahlo’s interminable struggle with Rivera. In this painting,
Kahlo expresses a transformation and its effect on her mind. She
successfully emits her powerful emotions through her bleeding
heart, indicative of Mexican retablos (Fig. 16), and the piercing
Fig 4: Memory (The Heart), 1937
15.75 x 11 inches
bow through her chest and Tehuana dress (20th Century:
Frida Kahlo
America 1097; Lowe 761). Moreover, the portrait displays a
Private Collection
spatial recession in that the old, European Frida recesses to the
http://www.arthistoryarchive.com/ar
thistory/surrealism/images/FridaKah
lo-Memory-1937.jpg
background to allow the new, prideful Mexican Frida to surface
the foreground. Ambivalent in her feelings, Kahlo firmly plants
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one foot, while the other acts as a sailboat (“Frida Kahlo's 'Memory'” 3). This suggests her
decision to follow Rivera, symbolized as the ocean, and to undergo the capricious current of his
love (“Frida Kahlo's 'Memory'” 4). She expresses her distress by presenting her emotional
division; Kahlo grieves at her husband’s unforgivable actions, yet is unable to relinquish her
love.
She was able to release her sadness and
aggression through Tunas, Still-Life with Prickly
Pears (Fig. 5), a depiction of disconcert in her
relationship. Into this piece, Kahlo pours out her
anger by selecting vibrant reds to support her
theme. In Mexican culture, prickly pears symbolize
the pierced hearts of sacrificed victims. It appears
Fig 5: Tunas, Still-Life with Prickly Pears,
1937
as if the damaged pear in Kahlo’s piece enlivens
8 x 9.5 inches
and bleeds; this pear represents Rivera’s heart. She
Frida Kahlo
mourns Rivera’s untrustworthy actions and
attempts to seek revenge through art (The Still Lifes
Private Collection
http://www.frida-kahlo-foundation.org/thecomplete-works-2-48-3-0.html
4). Kahlo utilizes the common Mexican fruit to
subtly showcase a corrupt and distrusting relationship. The fruit also alludes to the Aztec
goddess, Coatlicue (Fig. 17), who wore a necklace of hearts and hands. Similar to her hidden
inner thoughts, the fruit act as a façade over the unfortunate truth of a once happy relationship.
The pears seem to resemble hearts; the pain she feels from Rivera’s affairs pierce the fruit and
exemplify her psychological torment.
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Mexicanidad
One of Rivera’s most significant influences on Kahlo’s work was the introduction of
Mexicanidad and the increasingly popular ideals of Communism. Because Rivera became an
illustrious icon after the Mexican Revolution in 1910, Kahlo utilized the heavy influx of
Mexican patriotism into her work. Consequently, she partook in Mexicanidad, a movement
embraced by Mexican artists after the revolution that regressed back to primitive, indigenous art
(“Kahlo (y Calderón)” 721). It allowed Kahlo and her contemporaries to display their patriotism
and socialist support. While Rivera would paint vast murals of Mexican history, Kahlo would
paint small, personal pieces that portrayed her mental reality (Mencimer n.p.) This allusion to her
Mexican heritage did not stand as an objective portrayal of Mexico at the time; it emphasized her
principles, but most importantly, her mentality (Helland 8).
It is only natural that she should advocate Mexicanidad. It was a vehement state of
nationalism that appraised ancient and traditional Mexican culture, and became a source of
inspiration for Rivera and Kahlo (“Kahlo (y Calderón)” 721). As a follower, she encompassed all
things Mexican, donned the attire, and embraced her natural, physical features. She wore strictly
traditional apparel to display nationalism and support of an equal, yet authentic society
(Mencimer n.p.). Consequently, this new lifestyle seeped into her artwork and showcased the
stronger impact of her heritage and rejection of European art (Garber 47; “Kahlo (y Calderón)”
721). It became a vehicle to expose her political beliefs and reveal the depths of her conflicted
psyche.
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The Progression of her Self-Portraits
Out of her surviving works, her portraitures
seem to dominate the collection. She used herself as a
subject because she is physically incapable of exploring
other realms. Her unfortunate situations restrict the
diversity of her oeuvre, and she states, “I paint myself
because I am so often alone” (A Dictionary of 20th
Century Art 308). Consequently, she was only able to
Fig 6: The Two Fridas, 1939
display the physical conflict of her mind (Garber 42).
68.25 x 68 inches
She transforms her simple paintings into detailed
Frida Kahlo
versions of herself by assimilating symbolism that gives
Museum of Modern Art Mexico City
http://www.arthistoryarchive.com/arthistory/sur
realism/images/FridaKahlo-The-Two-Fridas1939.jpg
insight into her thoughts (Cotter 2).
After yet another traumatic event, Frida Kahlo
reflected on her emotional distress and its duality. Her 1939 piece entitled The Two Fridas (Fig.
6) highlights Kahlo’s emotional lamentation after her devastating divorce. This self-portrait
showcases the complexity in not only her rendering, but also in her symbolism and anguish. The
piece depicts two Fridas hand-in-hand, but highly different in personality (Kettenmann 53). One
Frida wears an opulent European gown, while the other fashions a simple, Mexican peasant’s
dress and clutches a pendant of Rivera (Kettenmann 52). Inspired by pre-Columbian culture, and
Christian imagery, she exposes two hearts that are no longer entities of their bodies (Cotter 2).
She unifies the symmetrical balance with a fragile artery connecting the hearts (“Kahlo (y
Calderón)” 721). The duality in the portrait reflects her conflicting personalities. To stay with
Rivera was to reject her “European ego,” evident by its vulnerable heart and bleeding artery
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(Kettenmann 52; 20th Century: America 1097). She
minimizes her use of indigenous art to focus on her
psyche and sorrow. Her solitude and loss of self are more
important than displaying Mexican culture (“Kahlo (y
Calderón)” 721). Delving deeply into her thoughts, she
paints this mental struggle. Without Rivera, Kahlo feels
that she no longer holds an identity.
In the evolution of her portraits, Kahlo continued
to depict her solitude. She pulled inspiration from a
diverse group of influences to create these complex,
Fig. 7: Self-Portrait with Thorn Necklace
and Hummingbird, 1940
25 x 19.5 inches
Frida Kahlo
personal pieces. In 1940, Kahlo painted Self-Portrait with
Thorn Necklace and Hummingbird (Fig. 7) as another
reactionary piece to her divorce (The Still Lifes 78). She
Harry Ransom Humanities Research
Center Art Collection
http://www.arthistoryarchive.com/arthisto
ry/surrealism/images/FridaKahlo-SelfPortrait-1-1940.jpg
utilizes a frontal view and pulls the viewer away from her
stoic expression and toward external details. The thorn necklace, pouncing cat, monkey, and
even the foliage all serve as symbols in the piece. The monkey and cat are Christian symbols,
while the hummingbird and dragonflies stem from Aztecs. She specifically uses the thorn
necklace to allude to Christ’s crown of thorns, and to emphasize Kahlo’s suffering from the loss
of her husband (Lowe 762). Once again Kahlo contrasts her diverse cultures to portray her
isolation resulting from her conflicted duality. The animals resemble companions in her solitude
and exemplify her need for love (Kettenmann 65). Certainly, the hummingbird displays thoughts
of her loss, but also her hope for his return (The Still Lifes 78). This hope, however, turns into
despair as Kahlo struggles even more with her feelings for Rivera.
13
In 1940, Kahlo painted her attempt to absolutely
reject Rivera in Self-Portrait with Cropped Hair (Fig. 8).
Completed after her divorce, this portrait contradicts all that
she struggled to portray, and instead delves deep into her
psyche. Contrary to previous portraits, Kahlo rejects the use
of indigenous art to display her renouncement of Rivera. She
sheds herself of femininity by shearing her hair and adorning
a male suit (20th Century: America 1095). Also dissimilar
from most paintings is her return to the three-quarter profile
view. This suggests her elimination of all associations with
Fig. 8: Self-Portrait with Cropped Hair,
1940
Rivera, and her conflicting emotions. Because she desires a
15.75 x 11 inches
loving companionship, she scatters her hair throughout an
empty room to represent solitude and despair (Frida Kahlo:
The Paintings 152). She emphasizes this separation with
Rivera even more so by inscribing, “Now that you are bald,
Frida Kahlo
The Museum of Modern Art New York
City
http://www.arthistoryarchive.com/arthis
tory/surrealism/images/FridaKahlo-SelfPortrait-with-Cropped-Hair-1940.jpg
I don’t love you anymore” (qtd. in Frida Kahlo: The
Paintings 152). She expresses their mutual parting and its piercing feelings from their unhealthy
relationship. The lack of Mexican folk art confirms the stronger impact of her psychological
distress; therefore, her interpretation of reality truly dictates her art.
In representing her highly ambivalent emotions, Kahlo employed her Mexican culture to
better embody her thoughts and emotional decay by painting Tree of Hope (Fig. 9) in 1946. As a
reactionary piece to Kahlo’s spine injury, Tree of Hope contrasts with most of Kahlo’s work in
that she expresses a glimmer of hope in the midst of her misfortune. She separates the piece into
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two depictions of herself—an injured Frida and an upright version—and sets them during day
and night, respectfully. The contrast of setting lends its significance to Aztec culture. Aztecs
believe that the god of day, Huitzilopochtli (Fig. 18), eternally battles with the god of night,
Tezcatlipoca (Fig. 19), which ultimately provides life’s
balance (Kettenmann 68). These deities only serve as
inspiration for conveying her overall concept of confliction.
Moreover, she creates movement through strategic
placement of effervescent reds which enables her to
communicate her story and thoughts. While the upright
Kahlo remains hopeful under the moon representing
womanhood, she sacrifices her damaged body to the sun
believed to feed on sacrificial blood. Her purpose is to
Fig 9: Tree of Hope, Remain Strong,
1946
23.5 x 16 inches
express the duality of opposing emotional forces to find
stability and peace (Kettenmann 68). The asymmetrical
Frida Kahlo
Private Collection
Source:
http://www.artchive.com/artchive/K/
kahlo/kahlo_tree_of_hope.jpg.html
balance and complementary placement of her deep, vibrant
reds aid in highlighting this concept. In response to her
terrible context, Kahlo utilizes the Aztec culture to display
the relinquishing of her physical being against her determined hope to live normally and bear a
child. Therefore, ancient Mexican culture and art only serve to emphasize this theme and the
suffering she wishes to convey. She employs this method not only through portraits, but also in
her conceptually abstract still-life paintings.
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Still-Life as a Method of Displaying her Emotions
As her conditions worsened,
Kahlo retreated to still life as a
mode of releasing her suffering. In
this manner, she played heavily with
symbolism and anthropomorphism
to display her pain (The Still Lifes
12). She looked deeply into fruits
and personified them with emotions
relevant to her mentality (The Still
Fig. 10: Naturaleza Viva, 1952
Lifes 25). Her purpose was to
17.25 x 23.5 inches
change the conventional idea of the
Frida Kahlo
Private Collection of María Félix Mexico City
object into the symbol she wished to
portray. Painted in 1952, Naturaleza
http://www.arthistoryarchive.com/arthistory/surrealism/images/Frida
Kahlo-Naturaleza-viva-1952.jpg
Viva (Fig. 10) is one of Kahlo’s later works. While she uses a bed of diverse Mexican fruits, her
purpose is to reveal her psyche by exhibiting a combination of scarred and healthy fruits to
resemble suffering (The Still Lifes 12). Almost satirical, she combats traditional naturaleza
muertas—“still-life” in Spanish which translates to dead nature—to create an incarnate still-life
(Frida Kahlo: The Paintings 208). Her dynamic piece displays her typical bright colors as well
as the Aztec duality concept. Behind her brightly colored fruits, she divides the painting into
night and day (Kettenmann 82). She successfully reveals that in the midst of suffering, she
manages to remain hopeful for liberation. Her inclusion of a dove aids in depicting her
16
anticipation for peace and paradise. Just as the roots hold on to the fruits, Kahlo displays her
determined “clutch on to life” (“‘I Painted Flowers’” 29).
Psychological Effect on Style
Frida Kahlo’s style was to create small, highly-detailed paintings that served as windows
into her grief-stricken mind. In fact, she constructed her pieces around Mexican ex-votive
paintings and retablos which were small depictions of human suffering (20th Century: America
1097; Lowe 761). These pieces brought together the fantastic with the realistic; a style evident in
the development of her pieces (Lowe 762). When Kahlo began to severely suffer from
psychological distress, her techniques in
painting changed significantly. She
revealed the impact of her conflicts and
resorted to still life at the expense of her
condition.
Her 1951 piece, Coconut Tears
(Fig. 11) is one of the first pieces to
Fig 11: Coconut Tears, 1951
demonstrate this striking difference
9 x 12 inches
between her previous pieces and those
Frida Kahlo
after her mental condition worsened. Her
The Los Angeles County Museum of Art by Bernard and Edith
Lewin
technique is less specific in that her brush
http://www.arthistoryarchive.com/arthistory/surrealism/images/Fri
daKahlo-Weeping-Coconuts-1951.jpg
strokes resemble a chaotic application
rather than her previous fine, clean
technique. Similar to her former still-life pieces, the objects anthropomorphize as her coconut
17
weeps and she mars the oranges. Together, they represent her hidden helplessness and agony
from injuries of her mind (The Still Lifes 108). After suffering through pain and medication,
Kahlo sees herself as a wounded woman. Depictions of weeping coconuts suggest her loss of self
and purpose. The effects of her ailments in conjunction with her chaotic technique display a loss
of control and surrender to her mental battle. Her technique expresses the profound impact of her
psyche on all aspects of her art.
Similar in technique is Kahlo’s 1953-piece
Marxism Will Heal the Sick (Fig. 12). This piece is a
culmination of all the concepts she wished to depict.
Unlike most of her portraits, Kahlo no longer had
control to create precise brush strokes, and the
gradation of her once bright colors take on darker
hues (“Kahlo (y Calderón)” 721). Her piece is a
juxtaposition of a portrait and political commentary.
She pays tribute to Karl Marx as the deliverance of
her suffering and all of society’s problems, but also
Fig 12: Marxism will Heal the Sick, 1953
focuses on her last thoughts (Lowe 762). She
30 x 24 inches
hardly utilizes indigenous elements except that the
Frida Kahlo
Frida Kahlo Museum
piece mirrors a Mexican retablo painting (Frida
Kahlo: The Paintings 212). Some elements of
<http://art-for-achange.com/blog/2007/06/frida-kahlos-100thbirthday.html>.
previous works are evident in this piece, such as
her corset from 1954 portrait, The Broken Column (Fig. 20) and the dove from Naturaleza Viva
painted in 1952. Kahlo also exhibits her distaste for America by strangling an American eagle
18
and painting the effects of the atomic bomb (Frida Kahlo: The Paintings 212). She depicts all
the issues that troubled her mind while establishing her beliefs and biddings for the world. In
Marxism Will Heal the Sick, providing her political standpoint gives insight into her psychic
issues and delivers her last prayers for freedom from the suffering she endured.
Conclusion
Even if her extreme Mexican nationalism and milieu played a significant role in
completing her works, Kahlo’s “focus was narrow, she probed deep, and her self-portraits
captured universal feelings so vividly that they pull out all our empathy and reveal us to
ourselves” (“Beauty to his Beast” 120). The influence of Mexicanidad was prevalent throughout
the majority of her repertoire, but its incorporation was strictly to heighten her psychological
lamentation. The whimsical conveyance of her psyche strikes many critics as surrealist.
However, she would not categorize her work under surrealism because she believes her art is
“real… it’s me [Frida Kahlo], it’s my life” (Cotter 2).
Similar to her contemporaries, Frida Kahlo incorporated Mexican indigenous culture into
her art to express her Mexican nationalism. However, Kahlo twisted this appropriation to loyally
depict her distressed mentality and its formation into a duality in her life. Indigenous art only
helped emphasize her psychological distress even more so. Throughout most of her artwork, she
utilizes the concept of duality to portray her internal conflict. The contrasting division of setting
and the allusion of deities derived from the Aztec culture aid in representing her distressed mind.
Thus, her work centers on her psyche--every color has a meaning, and every brushstroke is a
technique that only emphasizes her subject matter even more. To better understand the nature of
this artwork, art critics must not criticize her paintings as they are, but discover the underlying
19
meanings of life and human suffering woven into her pieces (Schjeldahl 1). While preColumbian artifacts were indeed evident in all, if not, the majority of her paintings, she did not
anticipate for them to overpower her conflicted psychological state. Kahlo’s work is not a
reflection of the indigenous culture and Mexican zeitgeist; it is a deeper, more complex
examination of her internal self and the depths of the human condition of suffering.
20
Works Cited
“The 20th Century: America.” Lives and Works in the Arts from the Renaissance to the 20th
Century. 1997. Print.
Baddeley, Oriana. “‘Her Dress Hangs Here’: De-Frocking the Kahlo Cult.” Oxford Art Journal
14.1 (1991): 10-17. JSTOR. Web. 13 Aug. 2011.
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Appendix
Fig. 13: A Young Woman and her Little Boy
Agnolo Bronzino, 1540
99.5 x 76 centimeters
Widener Collection
Source: http://www.nga.gov/collection/gallery/gg21/gg211143.html
Fig. 14: Portrait of Maria de' Medici
Agnolo Bronzino, 1551
52.5 x 38 centimeters
Galleria degli Uffizi
Source:
http://alloilpaint.com/bronzino/
Fig. 15: Mural from the series Epic of the
Mexican People (Class Struggle)
Diego Rivera, 1925-1935
National Palace (Mexico)
Source:
http://www.bluffton.edu/~sullivanm/mexico/mexi
cocity/rivera/rivera19.jpg
Fig. 16: San Camilo de Lelis (Saint Cammillus
of Lellis)
Anonymous
16 x 25 inches
Private Collection
Source:
http://www.bluffton.edu/~sullivanm/mexico/me
xicocity/rivera/rivera19.jpg
23
Fig. 17: Coatlicue
Source:
http://mexicanhistory.org/aztec.htm
Fig 18: Huitzilopochtli
Source:
http://www.plu.edu/~campbeck/ceramics/h
ome.html
Fig 19: Tezcatlipoca
Source:
http://www.amoxtli.org/cuezali/how.html
Fig 20: The Broken Column
Frida Kahlo, 1944
40 x 30.5 centimeters
Collection Museo Dolores Olmedo Patiño
Source:
http://www.arthistoryarchive.com/arthistory/surrealism
/images/FridaKahlo-The-Broken-Column-1944.jpg
24