Frida Kahlo is known as one of the greatest Mexican artists, having painted 143 paintings, 55 of which were self portraits. She was born on July 6, `1907, in Coyocoán, Mexico City, and died on July 13, 1954. Early in her life, at age six Frida contracted polio and was forced to stay in bed for nine months. This caused her right leg to shrivel, which she would hide under her long dresses. Her father encouraged her to do things like play soccer and wrestle, very unusual things for a girl to do at the time, in order to aid the recovery. At the age of 18, she was in a terrible accident that nearly killed her. She was in a bus with her boyfriend, Alejandro Gómez Arias, and when the bus tried to speed past a moving train, the train hit them. Within all the scraps from the bus, the handrail pierced Frida. Frida's injuries were so severe the doctors didn't think she would survive. Her spine and pelvis were each broken in three different parts, her collarbone and two of her ribs broke, her shoulder was dislocated, her right leg had level fractures and her foot was dislocated and crushed, and the handrail caused severe abdominal damage, entering from her pelvis and exiting from the genitals. She stayed in the hospital for two years, yet never fully recovered from this accident. This was when Frida began painting. Her mother gave her a canvas and her father gave her his brushes and oil paints. She then had a mirror hung over her to begin her self portraits.
Frida Kahlo loved Diego, but often found herself confused with Diego's constant infidelity. She tried to find comfort by also being an infidel to her husband. They married on 1929, divorced on 1938, and remarried on 1940. This painting, "The Two Fridas," represents the Frida Diego loved and the one he didn't. To the right is Frida in traditional Tehuana clothes. In her left hand she holds a picture of Diego as a child. On the left side is Frida wearing european clothes. This is the Frida Diego abandoned. Both hearts are exposed, symbolizing Frida's pain. One is broken the other one is complete. A vein sprouts from the picture she holds and travels through both their hearts, and is finally cut off by pincers Frida is holding. She tries to stop the blood but it doesn't stop spilling; she's prone to bleeding to death, The storming clouds in the background represent her pain and the torment her life has been. "Holding her own hand, she is her only companion."
Often, Frida would paint still life, most of which contained either watermelons, coconuts, or both. A lot of these painting had obvious meanings to them, while others were subliminal. These three paintings, Tunas, Pitahayas, and Naturaleza Muerta, Rosas all may seem to simply be still life paintings with no meaning, but they each show a part of Frida's life. Tunas (Cactus Fruits) shows two cactus fruits, one cut in half exposing its juicy meat. Frida painted the insider rather more like an "open bleeding wound," showing a bit of the pain Frida lives with. Pitahaya shows a couple of dragon fruits known as Pitahayas in Spanish, hence the name, in front of a rock and beside a small toy skeleton with wire arms and legs. Once again this painting at first seems to have to meaning. The skeleton is seemingly mocking the fruits, while they seem to flaunt their vibrant colors at it. It's a line between life and death. They fruit are in a decay process, knowing that either way, death will always get them in the end. Originally, the skeleton in this painting had a smile, but was later changed to a frown instead. Third and foremost, Naturaleza Muerta, Rosas (Still Life, Roses) appears to be the one least likely to have any meaning. They're just three roses and artist decided to paint? This last painting describes the relationship she had with her boyfriend Alejandro before the bus accident. Alejandro had affairs with other women, and no matter how hard Frida tried to keep him to herself, she always fail, The two prominent roses in the vase show Alejandro's and his lover's relationship, and in the bottom, a wilted rose lies. This rose is Frida, and her exclusion from a stable relationship with Alejandro. This was one of the last painting she made before the accident occurred. During this time, she was working on becoming a doctor, but soon after with the accident, her way she viewed her future to be, drastically changed the course of her life forever.
This was on of Frida's smaller "postcard size" paintings on metal. Frida made this painting in reverence for the civil war that was currently happening in Spain. The fascists had planes which were causing tremendous destruction against the Republicans. The Republicans tried getting their own planes but were unsuccessful. Frida felt concurrence about this and decided to help out. She helped about 400 Spanish Anti-Franco refugees escape to Mexico. She shows her distress about the war in this painting. This painting disappeared, but recently a this painting seems to have been found. Although this new painting looks very similar, the size doesn't match and there are some small difference, for example in the clouds. Only the black and white