Frida Kahlo: A Portrait of A Woman In Art
Frida Kahlo Facts
 Birth: July 6th, 1907, Coyoacan, Mexico. Died, July 25th, 1954.
 Frida Kahlo was a female Mexican artist. Her mother was from Mexico and her father was German.
 Frida Kahlo lived in a house called The Blue House or La Casa Azul. The house had a bridge that connected her
and Diego’s house and studios. Her house is now a museum.
 Frida Kahlo had Polio (a debilitating disease) when she was 6 years old. This made one leg weaker than the
other, causing her to limp.
 When Frida was 18 years old, she was badly injured in a bus accident. She was bed ridden for 3 months. The
health problems associated with this accident followed her through out her life. At various times she was
bedridden or could only get around in her wheel chair. Frida was a brave, strong and courageous woman and
during her life time underwent more than 35 surgeries.
 Because Frida was bed ridden and couldn’t move, she began to draw and paint. Her father brought her art
materials. She drew all over her full body cast, her bed and her walls and then she moved to paper and canvas.
 Frida Kahlo was married to famous mural artist Diego Rivera.
 Frida mainly drew herself in her work because that is what she was most familiar with. When she was bed
ridden, she drew her self because she was lonely. By the end of her life, she had created 55 self portraits. Her
self-portraits however were very important to her because they represented her strong connection to her
homeland, Mexico, and represented her own true identity.
 Frida’s paintings combined the styles of realism, surrealism and symbolism.
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Frida Kahlo's house and studio. The outside stairway, where she
often sat in Mexico City's hot afternoon sunlight, leads to the roof and the bridge between her house and Rivera's.
Figure 1. Photograph of Frida Kahlo.
Figure 2. Frida Kahlo, Self-Portrait with Bonito 1941. Oil on canvas. Private Collection, USA.
Figure 3. Photograph of Frida Kahlo.
Figure 4. Frida Kahlo, Frida and Diego Rivera (her husband who was also an artist) 1931. Oil on canvas. San Francisco
Museum of Modern Art, CA.
Figure 5. Frida Kahlo, Time Flies 1929. Oil on masonite. Collection of Antony Bryan.
Figure 6. Flag of Mexico.
Map of North America
Vocabulary
Self Portrait - A self-portrait is a painting or drawing of yourself, created by you.
Identity - being who or what a person or thing is.
Heritage/Roots – something possessed as a result of one's situation or birth.
Surrealism - Surrealism is an artistic and literary movement, dedicated to expressing the imagination as revealed in
dreams, free of real ideas, control of reason and convention.
Realism - the theory or practice in art and literature to nature or to real life and accurate representation without
allowing much for imagination or free ideas.
Folk Art – A type of art usually created by untrained unidentified artist.
Symbolism - the art of using symbols to represent a deeper meaning. Expressing meaning with hidden visual ques.
Materials
 Map of the world-always to be kept in classroom
 A smock for each student (and instructors or helpers)
 Art paper – we recommend canvas paper.
 Blue painter’s tape to create a nice edge around your portrait.
 Drawing pencils
 Mirrors
 Oval face template (for K-2)
 Paint-acrylic or tempera
 Brushes
 Paper/plastic cups for water
 Butcher paper or newspaper to cover desks/art surface
 Video we recommend for teachers to watch http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ouiumHlnmA How to teach
Kindergarteners to draw a self portrait. I think this could be used for any grade.
Project Overview
1. Start by introducing Frida Kahlo, self-portraiture, and identity using the bio of the artist above. Pull out a map
and point out where Mexico is located. Adapt to certain needs and grade level of children. After discussing
Frida Kahlo and examining her self-portraits that represent her unique identity, be sure to discuss with students
and give them ideas about realizing their own unique identity and things about them that make them special.
2. Ask your students “what does the word identity mean to you?” or “what is one special thing about you that
makes you unique?” Each of us has our own identity or distinct personality. Things such as where we were
born, where we grew up, our families, our friends, our environment, things we like, hobbies, interests, all shape
our identity. Discuss as class. Each of us has certain individual identity by which we are recognized or known.
Our individual identities are what make each of us different and unique.
3. An important part of Frida Kahlo’s identity was her homeland of Mexico. To reflect how important her Mexican
heritage was to her, she often wore traditional Mexican clothing of long colorful dresses and skirts, and colorful
jewelry (point this out if you have access to images). Ask students if they think other students in different
countries would have different clothing on than they would (the answer is yes). Frida’s Mexican heritage was
one aspect of her identity that was always a prominent part of her self-portraits.
4. Examine Frida’s self-portraits. Ask the class What about this painting gives you hints about her identity?
a. This self-portrait has vivid and bright colors. Her necklace identifies her connection to her Mexican
heritage because it is a necklace very similar to what ancient Mexican tribes people (of pre-Columbian
and colonial Mexico) would often wear. Ask students what colors are most noticeable or dominant in
her self-portrait. Her careful placement and use of red, white and green bring to mind the colors of the
Mexican flag, another hint to her unique identity.
5. Encourage students to think about one special thing that makes them unique, examples could be their own
heritage, a hobby they like, where they are from, something about their home etc. and to think of colors they
want to use in their self-portrait to represent their identity (if they are American, they may wish to include red,
white and blue in their portrait, if they are from another country, or their heritage is from many countries, they
may wish to include colors that are important to those countries. Encourage students to be individual and not
copy their friends or classmates.
6. For this project, students will make their own self-portrait highlighting their own unique identity. Each student
will go into this project thinking about certain colors they want to use perhaps on their clothing or for the
background that will represent or symbolize something special about them.
7. Distribute mirrors to students. Have them spend time looking at themselves in the mirrors. Mirrors can stay out
during the project so students have it as a reference.
8. Distribute 1 sheet of art paper, a pencil, and oval templates (for K-2) to each student.
9. Instruct and show students how to lay their oval template in the center of their paper (meaning not touching
any sides of the paper) and very carefully trace it with their pencil. Tell them to make sure their oval template is
in the correct place or they will need to draw their shoulders and body.
10. Show them how to fill in their neck with two vertical lines with a width skinnier than that of the oval face.
11. *If needed, show them how to draw in their body by simply drawing shoulders that come out horizontally
directly from the base of the neck and slightly slope downwards as each shoulder comes to the edge of the
paper.
12. Next instruct them to draw two eyes level to each other that fall at half the oval.
13. Show students how to draw a nose. Noses are fun and all very different. You can draw a letter L, d or make an
organic shape to create a nose. Yes, we all have nostrils just a darker line can hint at a nostril.
14. Show students that a mouth should be drawn half way between the nose and the bottom of the chin. Sides of
the mouth should be even with the center of each eye (the pupil). A mouth is a half oval and two mountains on
top. Try to get students away from drawing just half circle smiles. Our lips are a shape, not a line!
15. Add characteristics such as hair, ears, freckles, glasses etc. Don’t forget about things like eye brows. (Show
students how to draw realistic looking eyelashes and eye brows by carefully flicking the pencil up, starting from
the top of the eye lid. Eyebrows do the same, start at brow line and create lots of tiny flicks that over lap. Hair is
many, many strands! Show students how to draw large hair shapes and highlight with a few hair strands. Hair
sits on our forehead. Demonstrate on your hair, show top of your head, and that your hair line comes down on
to the head.
16. Encourage kids to draw objects in the background that might also represent them.
17. Once students have finished their drawings, collect pencils and let them know you are now going to be painting
just like Frida!
18. Distribute paint, brushes, paper towels and cups of water to rinse their brushes when they want to change
colors. Students MUST wear smocks from here on!
19. Go over color mixing with students. Red and Yellow makes orange, Yellow and Blue makes green, Blue and red
makes Violet or Purple. Tell students that black is a very strong color. We suggest not allowing students to use
black until the very end. Black can damage paintings quickly and make them muddy colors.
20. Show students how to hold and take care of paint brushes. Remind them of the following things:
Hold your paint brush as you would a pencil. You don’t want to hold hit all the way back, then you have
no control. Hold it closer to the tip (usually there is metal here) and you will have more control.
Don’t push or scramble your brush tip in the paint. Nicely load the brush, tap it to get off excess paint
and begin painting. When using Acrylic Paints, if you add just one drop of water, the paint will spread a
little better, but you don’t want the paints to look like watery.
After each color, clean your brush. If you need to change your water, please do nicely.
Paint does stain, so please wear your smocks!
Painting takes time, don’t rush. You can see your lines and try to stay in them. You will want the right
size brush to get into the detail areas, but do the general areas first.
21. Instruct them to start first with painting the face. Choose (k-2) or mix (3-5) a neutral color and paint the entire
oval and neck. Show students how they can add a little white to their neutral color to get a touch of light on
cheeks. Girls may wish to add a pin prick of red or pink here to get rosy cheeks. Allow this to dry while students
paint in back ground with colors and small details. Then tell them to choose a one or more of the colors they
want to represent them, and to paint their shirt with that color/colors. They can go back later and paint a
pattern over the shirt if they choose.
22. Make sure the face is dry, then go ahead and paint their hair according to their hair color and styling.
23. Next proceed with the eyes, painting eye color according to what their color of eyes they have.
24. Paint a nose, and a mouth.
25. Finally, paint the background with any color, pattern, or design they created according to how they choose to
represent themselves.
26. To finish, outline the face with a thin line of black sharpie after the painting has dried if needed,, following along
the contours of the face and around the chin. Outline their neck as well. This step will help the face stand out
against the colorful background.
27. Finish the painting and choose a larger piece of colored paper to frame your portrait.
28. Students should properly clean up after the teacher’s instructions. Allow pieces to dry and hang student
portraits up in class or allow students time to reflect on their identity by writing a story or poem about their
portrait.
*Main takeaway: Art can be used to tell people about yourself and your own unique identity like Frida Kahlo.
Based on Utah State Visual Arts Core Curriculum Requirements
Standard 1
(Making): The student will explore and refine the application of media, techniques, and artistic processes.
Objective 1
Explore a variety of art materials while learning new techniques and processes.
Practice using skills for beginning drawings; e.g., blocking-in, stick figures, or drawing the action or gesture of a figure.
Use simplified forms, such as cones, spheres, and cubes, to begin drawing more complex forms.
Establish more natural size relationships among objects in drawings.
Objective 2
Use a broad range of art materials in supporting the visual arts needs at school.
Use as many art materials as possible to help decorate the room.
Objective 3
Handle art materials in a safe and responsible manner.
Ventilate the room to avoid inhaling fumes from art materials.
Dispose and/or recycle waste art materials properly.
Clean and put back to order art making areas after projects.
Respect other students' artworks as well as one's own.
Standard 2
(Perceiving): The student will analyze, reflect on, and apply the structures of art.
Objective 1
Analyze and reflect on works of art by their elements and principles.
Determine how artists create dominance in their work; e.g., size, repetition, and contrast.
Objective 2
Create works of art using the elements and principles.
Identify dominant elements in significant works of art.
Group some significant works of art by a common element or visual characteristic.
Discover how an artist has thoughtfully used all of the space within an artwork.
Create a work of art that uses all of the space on the paper.
Create a work of art that uses contrast to create a focal point. Use that to convey the most important idea or part of the
work.
Standard 3
(Expressing): The student will choose and evaluate artistic subject matter, themes, symbols, ideas, meanings, and
purposes.
Objective 1
Explore possible content and purposes in significant works of art.
Explain possible meanings or interpretations of some significant works of art.
Invent possible stories that may explain what is going on in these same works of art
Discuss how an artist's work might be different if it is displayed publicly as opposed to being displayed at home.
Objective 2
Discuss, evaluate, and choose symbols, ideas, subject matter, meanings, and purposes for their own artworks.
Group significant works of art according to theme or subject matter.
Judge which works of art most clearly communicate through the use of symbols.
Create symbols in art that express individual or group interests.
Create a work of art that uses a similar subject matter, symbol, idea, and/or meaning found in a significant work of art.
Select some art for public display around the school.
Standard 4
(Contextualizing): The student will interpret and apply visual arts in relation to cultures, history, and all learning.
Objective 1
Compare the arts of different cultures to explore their similarities and diversities.
Describe why different cultures may have used different materials to create their arts and crafts.
Objective 2
Connect various kinds of art with particular cultures, times, or places.
Predict how a work of art or a craft can be connected to an ancient culture.
Objective 3
Recognize the connection of visual arts to all learning.
Explore personality or achievements of famous people by examining a significant portrait of them.
Supplemental Information & Activities
Music to listen to in the classroom (or at home) Mariachi Vargas
Videos to help kids learn how to draw: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ouiumHlnmA
Label Information:
EVA Lesson - Frida Kahlo & Self Portraits
Student Name (First & Last)
Grade or Age
School Name
One sentence about what they learned or liked about the project:
English lesson after portrait making.
Write a 1 paragraph or 1 page paper about who you are and what makes you special. Tell things such as where
you were born, where your heritage is from, what school you go to and other special things about you. Place writings up
with portraits so all students can learn something new about each other. Students should work on handwriting, spelling
and grammar.
History Lesson
Interview your parents or grandparents and find out their cultural history. What special things does your family
do to celebrate your culture and history? Do your parents cook special meals, put up special decorations or have special
clothing they might wear? Write about it in your journal or draw a sketch depicting your family history!
Oval Face Template for Frida Kahlo Self Portrait Lesson Plan