FRIDA
KAHLO
This is Frida's first self-portrait. It was
painted as a gift for her student
boyfriend, Alejandro Gomez Arias,
who had left her.
Autorretrato con traje de terciopelo, 1926
Frida Kahlo was born
Magdalena Carmen Frieda
Kahlo y Calderón on July 6
of 1907 in Coyoacán,
Mexico.
1950 - 1954
Retrato de la Familia de Frida
Frida worked regularly on this family tree portrait during a long spell in
the hospital in 1950 and continued to work on it until her death in
1954. When her older sister Matilde died in 1951, she stopped work on
this painting. The painting remained unfinished at the time of her
death.
1951
Retrato de Mi Padre
"I painted my father Wilhelm Kahlo, of Hungarian-German
origin, artist-photographer by profession, in character
generous, intelligent and fine, valiant because he suffered
for sixty years with epilepsy, but never gave up working
and fought against Hitler, with adoration. His daughter
Frida Kahlo".
1937 Mi Nana y Yo
Frida's mother was unable to breastfeed her
because her sister Cristina was born just
eleven months after her.
Frida considered this to be one of her most
powerful works and is another painting in
her series to document major events in her
life.
Matilde
Calderón y
González
Guillermo
Kahlo
Mis abuelos, mis padres y yo",
This is the first of two family portraits in which Frida was
tracing the history of her ancestry. She appears as a little girl
in the courtyard of the Blue House in Coyoacan, Mexico, where
she was born.
1.913
At the age of six she was stricken with polio, which left her with a limp. Her left leg
looking thinner than the other. In childhood, she was nevertheless a fearless tomboy,
and this made Frida her father's favorite. Kahlo hid this deformity wearing long skirts.
1939 Las Dos Fridas
1932. Autorretrato en la frontera entre México y Estados
Unidos
Shortly after her divorce from Diego Rivera, Frida
completed this self-portrait of two different personalities.
Frida's diary says this painting had its origin in her
memory of an imaginary childhood friend. Later she
admitted it records the emotions surrounding her
separation and martial crisis.
After being in America for nearly three
years, Frida was growing homesick for
Mexico.
1922
Frida was enrolled in the Preparatoria,
one of Mexico's premier schools,
where she was one of only 35 girls.
Kahlo joined a gang at the school and
¨fell in love with the leader,
Alejandro Gomez Arias.
During this period, Kahlo also
witnessed violent armed struggles in
the streets of Mexico City as the
Mexican Revolution.
1928 Retrato de Alejandro Gómez Arias
The legend in the upper right corner of the
painting reads: "Alex, with affection I painted
your portrait, that he is one of my comrades
forever, Frida Kahlo, 30 years later".
1926 El accidente ( Ex voto)
1925
In September of this year, Kahlo was
riding in a bus when the vehicle
collided with a trolley car.
She suffered serious injuries in the
accident, including a broken
spinal column, a broken collarbone,
broken ribs, a broken pelvis,
eleven fractures in
her left leg, a crushed and
dislocated right foot and shoulder.
An iron handrail impaled
her abdomen, piercing her uterus,
which seriously damaged
her reproductive ability.
In 1944 when Frida painted this self-portrait, her health had
deteriorated to the point where she had to wear a steel corset. The
straps of the corset seem to be all that is holding the artist's broken
body together and upright. An Ionic column, broken in several places,
symbolizes her damaged spine.
1944 La columna rota
1940 Retablo
At the bottom she added an inscription
that reads: "Mr. and Mrs. Guillermo Kahlo
and Matilde C. de Kahlo give thanks to Our
Lady of Sorrows for saving their daughter
Frida from the accident which took place
in 1925 on the corner of Cuahutemozin and
Calzada de Tlalpah."
1925
Though she recovered from
her injuries and eventually
regained her ability to walk,
she was plagued by relapses
of extreme pain for the
remainder of her life.
.
She would undergo
as many as 35 operations
in her life as a result
of the accident,
mainly on her back and
her right leg and foot
After the accident, Kahlo turned her attention away from the study of
medicine to begin a full-time painting career. The accident left her in a
great deal of pain while she recovered in a full body cast; she painted to
occupy her time during her temporary state of immobilization.
1929 l'autobus
Drawing on personal experiences including her troubled marriage, her painful
miscarriages, and her numerous operations, Kahlo's works are often characterized by
their stark portrayals of pain.
1935 Unos Cuantos Piquetitos
A Few Small Nips
1935 Broken-hearted over her husband's affair with her
younger sister Cristina, Frida recreated her sorrow and
anger in this painting. Her own pain being too great to
depict, she projected it onto another woman's misfortune
1932 Henry Ford Hospital
On July 4th, 1932, Frida suffered a miscarriage in the
Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit. In this disturbing work,
Kahlo paints herself lying on her back in a hospital bed
after a miscarriage. The figure in the painting is
unclothed, the sheets beneath her are bloody, and a large
tear falls from her left eye.
Diego Rivera
He immediately recognized her talent and her unique
expression of a new and uniquely Mexican aesthetic.
He encouraged her development as an artist, and
began an intimate relationship with Frida.
They were married in 1929, to the disapproval of
Frida's mother. She was 22 year old and he 43.
At the time this portrait was
painted Diego was 51 years old.
However, in this portrait he
appears to be much younger.
Also, Diego was tall, heavy and
larger than life.
1937, Retrato de Diego Rivera
'I suffered two grave
accidents in my life.
One in which a
streetcar knocked
me down... The
other accident is
Diego.‘ F. K.
1943
Autorretrato como Tehuana
Diego en mis pensamientos
Pensando en Diego
Frida's husband, Diego Rivera, continued to
be an incorrigible womanizer, and Frida's
desire to possess him expressed itself in
this portrait. Diego's miniature portrait on
her brow indicates Frida's obsessive love for
the fresco painter….he is constantly in her
thoughts.
The couple
eventually divorced,
but remarried in
1940; their second
marriage was as
turbulent as the
first.
1931 Frida y Diego Rivera
This folkloric style double-portrait
may have been based on their
wedding photograph. It was
completed about two years after
their marriage while Frida and Diego
were in San Francisco. The
difference in height between the
couple is not exaggerated.
Due to the 1925 bus accident,
Frida was unable to bear children
and up to this point had lost 3
children.
As substitutes for children she
collected dolls and kept many
pets on which she bestowed her
affection. In this self-portrait,
Kahlo is sitting on the bed with
one of her dolls.
1937 Yo y Mi Muñeca
Kahlo was deeply
influenced by
indigenous Mexican
culture
The subject of this painting contains
many elements derived from ancient
Mexican mythology. Frida's inability
to bear children led her to adopt a
maternal role towards Diego
1949 El abrazo de amor del Universo, la tierra, yo, Diego
y el sr. Xolot
1933 Alla cuelga mi vestido
After more than three years in America, Frida wanted desperately to return to her native
Mexico. Diego, however, remained fascinated by the country and his popularity and did
not want to leave.
Frida started this painting while still in New York and finished it after she and Diego
returned to Mexico.
Fifty-five of her 143 paintings are self-portraits
1940, Autorretrato con Bonito
December 8th, 1940, while in San Francisco, Frida
and Diego remarried. Shortly thereafter, Frida
received word that her father, Guillermo Kahlo, had
died. Frida returned to the family home in Coyoacán,
Mexico, to live. Shortly after her return, she painted
this self- portrait. In it she is dressed in black to
mourn the death of her father.
Bonito
1938 Autorretrato con mono
(Levy Gallery de New York
1938 Lo Que el Agua Me Dio
It is a symbolic work illustrating various events
from the artist's life and incorporates numerous
elements from her other works as well as some
that appeared in her later works. Frida gave the
painting to her photographer lover Nickolas
Muray in payment for a $400 debt she owed him.
1935 Autorretrato con Pelo Rizado
In the summer of 1934, Frida learned that
Diego was having an affair with her
younger sister Cristina. She was
emotionally devastated by the affair and
separated from Diego. In this painting,
she portrays herself with short curly
hair, most likely to spite Diego who was
very fond of her long flowing hair.
This was Frida's first self-portrait after
the divorce from her husband Diego.
The verse of a song painted across the
top of the portrait points to the reason
behind this act of self-mutilation:
"See, if I loved you, it was for your hair,
now you're bald, I don't love you any
more.".
After the divorce, Frida decided to
renounce the feminine image
demanded of her. She cut off her hair,
gave up her Tehuana costumes so like
by Diego and wore instead a man's suit.
The only feminine attribute she retained
was her earrings.
1940 Autorretrato con Pelo Corto
Active communist
sympathizers,
Kahlo and Rivera
befriended Leon Trotsky
as he sought political
sanctuary from Joseph
Stalin´s regime in the
the Soviet Union.
This painting is sometimes referred to as
"Between the Curtains". It is a self-portrait
that Frida painted as a gift to Leon Trotsky
on his birthday. The paper she is holding
dedicates the portrait to Leon: "To Leon
Trotsky, with all my love, I dedicate this
painting on 7th November 1937. Frida Kahlo
in Saint Angel, Mexico". The portrait is
painted with warm and soft colors, and Frida
looks beautiful, seductive and self-confident.
1937 Autorretrato (Dedicado A Leon Trotsky)
1954
Frida Kahlo died on July 13,
supposedly of a pulmonary
embolism. She had been ill
throughout the previous
year and had a leg
amputated owing to
gangrene. However, an
autopsy was never
performed.
1943 Pensando en la muerte
During this period, Frida's health had
declined to the point where she spent
most of her days confined to bed.
Because of her poor health, now and
over the years, death was always on her
mind as symbolized by the skull and
crossbones that appear in the circular
window on her forehead.
A few days before her death
she had written in her diary:
"I hope the exit is joyful;
and I hope never to return."
Frida painted this self-portrait for her patron, the
engineer Eduardo Morillo Safa, after a botched
operation in New York.
She wrote to him about the painting and about the
scars "which those surgeon sons of bitches landed
me with".
1946 El árbol de la Esperanza
The pre-Columbian urn
holding her ashes is on
display in her former home
La Casa Azul (The Blue
House) in Coyoacán,
today a museum housing a
number of her works of art.
1940 El sueño La cama
This painting is sometimes referred to as "The Bed". In this painting, as
well as others, Frida's preoccupation with death is revealed. In real life
Frida did have a papier-mâché skeleton (Juda) on the canopy of her bed.
Diego called it "Frida's lover" but Frida said it was just an amusing
reminder of mortality
La casa azul
Museo Frida Kahlo
The Diego and Frida’s house
Museo Casa Estudio Diego Rivera. San Ángel
Juan O'Gorman
1929 Autorretrato Tiempo Vuela
This self-portrait was painted
the year Frida and Diego were
married. It portrays the Frida
that Rivera loved.
El arete de Frida
Autorretrato
1945 Sin Esperanza
Her doctor, Dr Eloesser, prescribed
complete bed rest and a fattening
diet. In this painting, the artist
portrays what she considered to be
a "forced feeding" diet
1946 El Venado Herico
In this painting of a young stag fatally
wounded by arrows, Frida expresses
the disappointment which followed the
operation on her spine in New York in
1946, and which she had optimistically
hoped would cure her of her back
pain.
1947 El Sol y la Vida
Her obsession with fertility was often the subject of
her paintings. In this painting, the life-giving sun is
surrounded by plants in the form of erupting male
penises and female wombs protecting a growing
fetus. This painting also reveals Frida's sadness
over her infertility as shown by the weeping sun
and fetus.
Frida painted this self-portrait during the period
when her husband, Diego Rivera, was having a
notorious affair with the film star Maria Felix, a
relationship which provoked a public scandal.
The beautiful film star was also an intimate
friend of Frida's as well, and though Frida
pretended to joke about the affair, as she had
about Rivera's other escapades, this painting
reveals her true emotions. Frida's obsession
with Diego is symbolized by the small bust of
him on her forehead…he being the obvious
source of the distress reflected in this painting.
1949 Diego y yo
This painting is a portrait of
Frida with her surgeon Doctor
Juan Farill. In 1951 Dr. Farill
performed a series of 7
operations on Frida's spine.
She remained in the hospital in
Mexico City for 9 months. In
November of that year Frida was
finally well enough to paint.
Her first painting was this selfportrait which she dedicated to
Dr. Farill. "I was sick for a
year….seven operations on my
spine" she noted in her diary,
and "Dr. Farill saved me".
1951 Autorretrato con el Retrato del Dr. Farill
After 1951, Frida was in such severe
pain that she was no longer able to
work without taking
painkillers....sometimes with alcohol.
Her increasingly strong medication
may be the reason for the looser,
hastier, almost careless brushwork,
thicker application of paint and less
precise execution of detail which
characterized her late work.
1954 Autorretrato con el Retrato de Diego
en el Pecho y María
Entre las Cejas
1954 Viva la Vida, Sandias
In the last years of her life, Frida painted many still-lifes. Eight days before
she died, she added a finishing touch to this, her last painting, a still life.
One last time Frida dipped her brush into the red paint to inscribe her name
and "Coyoacan 1954 Mexico" on the foremost slice. Then, in large capital
letters, she wrote the motto whose force makes both her art and her legend
live: "VIVA LA VIDA", she wrote, "LONG LIVE LIFE".
Photoalbum
Frida a los 16 años
Foto por Guillermo Kahlo
1924
Frida a los 20 años
Foto por Guillermo Kahlo
1927
Frida a los 18 años
Foto por Guillermo Kahlo
1926
Frida (primera fila a la izquierda)
y sus hermanas Matilde y Adriana,
dos primas y un tío
1913
Retrato de la Família Kahlo:
Frida Vestida de Hombre
Foto por Guillermo Kahlo
1926
Frida y su hermana Cristina
Nueva York
Foto por Nickolas Muray
1946
Frida y Diego en el Día de Su
Boda,
21 de agosto de 1929
Foto por Victor Reyes
Frida y Diego
Coyoacán, México
Foto por Nickolas Muray
1938
Frida en Nueva York
Foto por Lucienne Bloch
1933
Frida en Nueva York
1933
Frida en Nueva York
Foto por Julien Levy
Frida en San Francisco
Foto por Imogen Cunningham
1931
Frida en el Patio de la Casa
Azul
Coyoacán, México -1950
Foto por Florence Arquin
Frida Llevando un Corsé
Decorado por Ella
Coyoacán, México - 1941
Frida Pintando
"Autorretrato Como Tehuana"
Foto por Bernard Silberstein
1943
Frida y Su Amante, el Fotógrafo
Nickolas Muray
Foto por Nickolas Muray
1941
Frida y Emmy Lou Packard
en el Jardín de la Casa Azul
Foto por Diego - 1941
Frida y Diego
en el Patio de la Casa Azul
Coyoacán, México -1948
Frida y Diego
Coyoacán, México - 1954
Frida y Diego en el Hospital ABC
de México- 1950
Foto por Juan Guzman
Frida en Su Lecho de Muerte
13 de julio de 1954
Coyoacán, México
Foto por Lola Alvarez