Frida Kahlo
by
Sheila Mincey
Learning Objectives:
In this PowerPoint you will learn facts about the art and life of Frida
Kahlo, the famous Mexican artist. You will also view six of her
paintings.
Directions:
Read through each slide and enjoy the life and art of Frida Kahlo.
Answer the Quiz Questions, and then you may Exit.
Main Menu
Content
Directions
Quiz
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Frida was born in 1907 in Mexico and
died at the young age of 47. She had
wanted be be a doctor, but experienced
a horrible accident at age 18 that
robbed her of this goal.
Pain was a great part of Frida’s life, not
only from having polio as a child, but
also from the fact that she was horribly
hurt in the streetcar accident at 18.
Frida’s pride in Mexico is shown here not only
in the tropical look of the painting, but in the
pre-Columbian art of her necklace.
Main
Directions
Frida used different symbols for her
physical and emotional pain
including hearts as seen here in this
painting.
In the accident many of Frida’s bones were broken including eleven
breaks to the right leg, but even more terrible, she was impaled by an
iron bar which pierced her uterus and made it impossible for her to have
children.
Main
Directions
She experienced over thirty surgeries in her
lifetime and begain to paint during her initial
recovery from the accident.
As her own style solidified, she incorporated
many symbols of her pain and heartbreak
into her paintings. She did many many selfportraits, over 50 in more than 200 works of
art.
Asked why she so often painted herself, her
response was that she was ‘so often alone, because
I am the person I know best.”
Main
Directions
Notice the pride and folkloric style in Frida’s use of
parrots and bright flowers here.
Main
Diego Rivera became Frida’s
husband. He was the “famous
Mexican muralist” and encouraged
her to paint in the style of Mexican
popular art, a ‘folkloric’ style of
painting.
She participated in a ‘Mexican
Renaissance,’ returning Mexican
art to its native roots.”
This style of art used a lot of
bright, striking color.
Directions
Much of Frida Kahlo’s later art was considered by critics to be of the surrealist
school, but she never considered herself a surrealist. She said, ‘I never painted
dreams … I painted my own reality.”
Main
Directions
It is ironic that the pain that had caused her to turn to art
became the undoing of her art. Sadly, painkillers
robbed her of her eye for detail and destroyed the clarity
of her work before her death at age 47.
Main
Directions
Quiz
Question 1: Who was Frida Kahlo?
a. a political leader
b. an opera singer
c. an artist
Good Job!
You have paid attention!
Try again.
She was a creative person.
Try again.
She was not known for music.
Quiz
Question 2: What influences many of the
bright colors in her paintings?
a. Impressionist style
b. Folkloric art
c. Surrealism
Good Job!
Folkloric art involves bright colors.
Try again.
Impressionism used more pastels.
Try again.
Remember she did not consider herself a
surrealist.
Quiz
Question 3: Why did Frida start painting?
a. She got a scholarship to the University of Mexico.
b. She had to give up a dream of medical school.
c. She wanted to glorify and promote communism.
Good Job!
She did give up her dream.
Try again.
It was not a money issue.
Try again.
Her political advocacy came later.
Quiz
Question 4: What famous artist did Frida
marry?
a. Diego Rivera
b. Pablo Picasso
c. Andre Breton
Good Job!
She married Diego Rivera, famous for his
murals portraying lives and activities of
common men of Mexico.
Try again.
Wrong man. Not this artist.
Try again.
Wrong man. Frida married a
painter.
Quiz
Question 5: Why did Frida not consider herself a
surrealist?
a. Her paintings were too realistic.
b. Her paintings showed dreams.
c. Her paintings showed her reality.
Good Job! What she painted she
considered reality.
Try again. This was typical of
surrealism which Frida did not think
she typified.
Try again. This was not altogether
true.
Quiz
Question 6: What was the focus of over one-fourth
of Frida’s paintings?
a. landscapes
b. herself
c. war
Good Job! She felt she was the
person she knew best and
painted herself.
Try again. This subject did not
monopolize over one-fourth of her work.
Try again. This subject did not
monopolize over one-fourth of her work.
You have just learned about the life
and seen some paintings of the
Mexican artist Frida Kahlo.
Image of woman with monkey was found
at:
http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/exhibitions/kahlo/
Frida with bird and Frida dedicated to Leon Trotsky are from:
http://www.fridakahlo.com/art.shtml
Oriental Frida and Frida in black are from:
http://www.oceansbridge.com/oilpaintings/page.php?jssCart=ae5f785353c89b9a29b5359863bab8
98&xPage=sectionlist.html&xSec=616
http://fridakahlofans.com/biobrief.html
http://fridakahlofans.com/essay.html
http://En.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frida_Kahlo
State Standards: Modern Foreign Language (Spanish)Standard 2.1
Students demonstrate knowledge and understanding of daily life, traditional
ideas and perspectives, institutions, literary and artistic expressions, and other
components and aspects of the cultures being studied. Grades 11, 12
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I applaud you for completing
this lesson on Frida Kahlo