Self-portrait of suffering: the life and paintings of the artist Frida Kahlo. Fate in self-portraits

The article presents paintings by Frida Kahlo with titles and unnecessary rantings of the author of the article, a brief discussion of the origins of the work of the Mexican artist.

True, Frida did not really manage to taste the fruits of her success, like Salvadorich. Frida Kahlo's work is the fruit of suffering, pain, sadness and failure.

What is the phenomenon of Frida’s popularity? Why did a seemingly ambiguous and difficult-to-understand artist become so popular among people?

Painting "My Birth"

Paintings by Frida Kahlo. What is the secret of the artist’s popularity?

Most of Frida Kahlo's paintings are quite creepy; she clearly wasn't always strong in anatomy either. Her work can be called more naive than technically strong. Take the same one - she clearly drew better, and her pictures were nicer. It is unlikely that anyone would have the desire to hang a picture of Frida near the crib, unless he is a crazy person with a syndrome of searching for deeper meaning.

And yet, few of the surrealists (not counting Salvador Dali) achieved such fame. And among female surrealists, Frida Kahlo is perhaps the only one.

So what is the strength, brother? I think the secret of Frida’s success is that despite her obvious naivety and frightening images (or rather thanks to), the artist’s work produces a very strong impression. The foundation of any creativity is, in fact, the strength of the emotions that it evokes, whether pleasant or not.

When you look at the paintings of the Mexican artist, it’s as if you feel with your skin all the pain that she suffered. The sincerity of her work is amazing. And some naivety in this case only enhances the impression. Frida Kahlo's strength lies in the fact that she never followed the crowd's lead, but simply poured out onto the canvas everything that had accumulated in her heart, without regard to how shocking it would be. It would seem like a paradox to be successful with the crowd without following the lead of the crowd.

The work of Frida Kahlo as a reflection of the artist’s life.

I think another thing is that Frida Kahlo lived a very interesting, albeit unhappy, life. Her life was full of dramas, tragedies, misfortunes, betrayals and acute emotions. It is not surprising that such a juicy story interested the directors. Specifically, Julie Taymor, who in 2002 released a good, serviceable film based on the life of Frida.

After all, that’s what we love, right? - watch other people's dramas while lying in soft beds to tickle your nerves. By the way, if you haven’t seen the film yet, I highly recommend it. Really too sad. The author sobbed as *censored* even shed a stingy male tear.

In short, Frida’s recipe on how to become a famous artist after death (and just a little before).

• You get into an accident and suffer from pain from broken bones for the rest of your life.
• Do you want normal family life and therefore you choose the most inveterate womanizer in your country (Diego Rivera), who is also fat and scary.
• All your life you want to have children, but you can’t because of health problems.
• You tell people what you think about them to their face. Always. Everyone.
• You drown out your pain with alcohol and tobacco.
• You pour it all out onto the canvas.

Okay, this is all stupid black humor. The steadfastness with which this fragile woman endured all adversity only adds to the tragedy. And fate, as if specifically to test one’s strength, sent one misfortune after another.

A mixture of different painting styles in the paintings of Frida Kahlo.

Frida is actually a very deep and interesting artist and still amazes with her inner strength and charisma. Unlike Salvador Dali or Magritte, Frida’s images are distinguished by greater directness, which does not detract from their depth.

Frida Kahlo's paintings clearly show the influence of Mexican muralism or Mexican monumental painting. The brightest and well-known representative This direction is, suddenly, Frida’s husband, Diego Rivera. Mexican muralism is such a bizarre mixture of social media. realism with elements of cubism and symbolism, seasoned with Mexican flavor.

In general, in the work of the Mexican artist there is a lot of different things mixed in - here there is surrealism, and muralism, and symbolism, and in some places there are elements folk art- all sorts of Mexican flowers and patterns.

In general, this is not surprising, because Frida Kahlo painted from the heart and never really bothered with belonging to any movement of painting. For example, Frida never associated herself with surrealism. In fact, Fried can be categorized as an artist who “what I see/feel, I sing.”

Frida Kahlo's paintings with titles.

Well, that’s actually why you all came here. To see the title of the painting, you need to hover over the image. Well, the WordPress gallery works like that, but I’m too lazy to change anything. Navigable and clickable.

Moses. My dress hangs here. Sun and life. Broken column. Suicide of Dorothy Hale. Fawn. Still life with a parrot and a flag.

An artist who left a bright mark on history in spite of everything, controversial, bright, hysterically frank and unhappy, possessing everything and nothing at the same time. Icon of feminists and representatives of sexual minorities. Kahlo Frida.

early years

Kahlo was born on July 6, 1907 in Mexico City. Being the third child in a family of a “Jewish” German and a Mexican mother with an Indian child, she grew up without any worries until she contracted polio at the age of 6.

Accident

At the age of 18, Kahlo Frida got into car accident- the bus in which she was traveling with her friend rammed a tram. The companion escaped with minor injuries, while the artist herself suffered almost everything possible, among the main injuries were: a fracture of the spine in three places, a practically crushed pelvis and foot, and broken ribs. Among other things, an iron rod pierced her stomach, reducing the possibility of ever becoming a mother to a minimum. Contrary to all predictions, Frida once again showed up and survived. During for long years She underwent more than thirty operations, was bedridden, covered in plaster. Cynical and scary is the fact that it was because of this tragedy that the girl first picked up a brush. out of loneliness and thoughts that tore her mind, she began to paint self-portraits.

It was not easy to do this lying down, but a special stretcher and a mirror located above the bed helped in this endeavor. Subsequently, the artist Frida Kahlo expressed most of her torment and aspirations in self-portraits; all her work was built on them. Such a step was not due to narcissism. Judge for yourself: for endless minutes, hours, days, she was left to herself, digging, learning, looking. All that flow of emotions, strength and despair through which she perceived the world was reflected in her. The face on the canvas as a mediator between the external and the internal. Quarrelsome, funny, harsh and outrageously frank, the center of joy and life - this is how those around her saw her, but the real Frida Kahlo (paintings, photos, diaries will not let you lie) was gnawing at herself from the inside, trying to snatch from fate what was due to her.

Diego

The inner core, the hardness of which even titanium would envy, did not fail this time either - Frida got to her feet, but did not give up painting. Every step, every breath she took was now accompanied by constant pain, but it didn’t matter - she endured it and was ready to move on. Kahlo found herself in a brush, but lacked self-confidence, so she decided to seek advice from an artist already known at that time. Again, a mockery of fate - she went there to get stronger and find confidence, but she found greatest pain all my life.

Diego was impressed both by the paintings and by the artist herself, and after some time he asked Frida’s father for her hand. All the love, trepidation and emotions of the moment were absorbed by Frida Kahlo’s diary, which she kept for the rest of her life. The Kahlo couple even perceived the possibility of such a union with indignation, calling it “a marriage between an elephant and a dove,” and this was not an exaggeration - Rivera was two decades older, a hundred pounds heavier and generally had the appearance of a good-natured cannibal. However, due to his incredible charisma, talent and sense of humor, he was known as a conqueror women's hearts, which is why “ogre” became practically his second name - he tied, devoured beautiful and talented women. After another serious conversation with his beloved’s father, officially accepting and recognizing the fact that Frida would have precarious health for the rest of her life and would never give him children, the “ogre” received a blessing for the marriage. Eyewitnesses claim that the wedding itself was the quintessence of their future life - a fragile bride in national costume, richly decorated with the decorations and flowers she so loved, and the elephant-like groom, a celebration of madness and ex-wife Rivera, who lifted Kahlo’s skirt in front of everyone, exclaiming: “Look what matches Diego exchanged mine for. The apotheosis was the finger of one of the guests, which the groom accidentally shot off in a fit of frustration. Truly, whatever you call the yacht, that’s how it will float.

Living together

It was a volcano, without exaggeration. Kahlo Frida, passionate and passionate, practically idolized her husband, recognizing his talent, but at the same time allowing herself to point out flaws in his work. Diego got mad, destroyed everything that came to hand, and left the house, but always returned. To be fair, it is worth noting that he did not raise his hand to his wife, although he had not disdained such gestures before - he almost stabbed one of his mistresses, who bore him a daughter. This is probably due to the fact that he recognized her as an equal - both in spirit and in talent. However, this did not stop him from ruffling the skirts of all the women that crossed his path. Frida Kahlo, whose photo you can see below, was tormented, suffered, but did not stop loving.

Five years of dancing together on a powder keg ended in a noisy breakup, but they never learned to live separately from each other - a year later they got back together. The husband's infidelities continued, as did the wife's torment. In an effort to somehow take revenge, the artist also went on a rampage, letting both men and women into her bed. Naturally, Diego tore and threw, because, in his opinion, what is available to Jupiter is not allowed to the bull.

Leon Trotsky

Frida Kahlo, whose biography is very dramatic, together with her husband, was an ardent admirer of ideology. In 1936, the latter, persecuted by Stalin, set his feet to hot, hospitable Mexico at the invitation of Rivera, in order to honor his followers with his presence. However, upon arrival they were met by Frida, since the day before her husband had been hospitalized with kidney inflammation.

Having escorted them to her ancestral home, she, driven by the desire to hurt her husband more, decided to test her charms on Trotsky. Surprisingly, Leo succumbed, replacing revolutionary fever with baser emotions. The piquancy of the situation was added by the fact that he came to visit with his wife, managing to cheat on her with Kahlo almost under her nose. He became an ally in this matter since the wife spoke only Russian, but the woman could not ignore the intensity of the air and the glances that her husband threw at the artist. All this led to a break in relations between the Trotsky couple, after which Lev moved to the estate of a friend of Rivera. He wrote letter after letter to Frida, encountering a lukewarm response. The revolutionary was anything but blind. Having accepted the fact that Kahlo Frida did not want him, he asked to return to his wife. The trip to Mexico became fatal for Trotsky - in 1940 he was killed by an NKVD officer.

Creation

All of Kahlo’s works are distinguished by their bright individuality; it is impossible to single out a single mediocre painting, no matter the canvas, it is a nugget. However, in everything she wrote, there is a bitterness of hopes that are not destined to come true. Somewhere it is frank, somewhere it is barely noticeable, drowned out by an ode to nature in all its riot and triumph of life. Pain and passion seemed to become her brushes. Whatever the work, there is juiciness, violence, excess and such a chilling depth that you can read the story on your lips. These are not so much the paintings that Frida Kahlo wrote, but rather books in which the whole tragedy of a restless soul is written out syllable by syllable. Let's look at some of her paintings that reflect the moment.

Henry Ford Hospital

This painting, painted in 1932, is the focus of Frida Kahlo's pain as a woman and mother.

The canvas depicts the artist herself, who lost her child in this ill-fated hospital. Due to the terrible injuries suffered after the accident, Kahlo was not able to bear the baby, however, despite her fragile health and the warnings of doctors, she became pregnant three times, each time hoping for a miracle that never happened. The work shows us Frida lying on a sparse hospital bed, covered in blood. The body is round, still retaining the memory of being prepared to feed a child. Three ribbons that connect the artist with an unborn child, a snail - the slow progress of pregnancy, and the pelvic bones that caused the tragedy. In the background is dry, soulless America, which cannot give peace. The real Frida Kahlo also shows stingy anguish. Photos from that period show pursed lips, eyebrows like the wings of an alarmed bird and endless hopelessness in dark eyes.

A Few Small Nips

And this picture, created in 1935, fully describes what happened to Kahlo during life together with Rivera.

Another confirmation of this is her phrase in which she described two accidents in her life - the bus and Diego.

The Two Fridas

With her work, which appeared in 1939, Kahlo Frida showed an ambivalent sense of self.

On the one hand, a healthy woman, full of strength, possibilities and hopes, which an artist could become not only in her soul, but also in reality, on the other, a harsh, weakened reality. Moreover, they have a common circulatory system, they are one.

End

In the forties, Kahlo finally gave up. Her health became worse and worse; due to gangrene, her leg was amputated, but this did not help avoid the end - on July 13, 1954, the artist died.

The strength of her spirit did not leave her even for a minute; eight days before her death, she managed to complete the painting, glorifying the life that she did not have time to fully enjoy.

Present day

History is kind to those who had the courage to break out and prove themselves, even if they got burned along the way. The family estate in Mexico, which became the beginning and end for the artist, is now the Frida Kahlo Museum, which houses an urn with her ashes. Setting and general atmosphere the houses are carefully preserved in order to convey to descendants at least a piece of the spirit, life and light that was inherent in Kahlo during his lifetime. The memory of Frida does not give way - films are made about her, both documentaries and feature films. There are also strange phenomena - a photo recently leaked online showing the artist next to the Russian poet Vladimir Mayakovsky. It caused a stir, biographers tried to rummage through all those written confirmations of the heroes’ movements, photos, in order to find out whether their meeting could actually happen.

Until now, they have not come to a common denominator, but there is a high probability that the photograph depicting a half-naked armed Frida Kahlo and Mayakovsky left hand, Not a fake. Regardless of how true the photo is, the mesmerizing attractiveness of this couple is difficult to deny.

The paintings of Mexican artist Frida Kahlo are famous all over the world. Our review today includes five of her self-portraits. On them, the artist allegorically depicted her inner experiences, the pain she had to go through after surviving two difficult events - a car accident and a divorce from her beloved husband Diego Rivera.

Self-portrait with a necklace of thorns and hummingbirds, 1940

Two Fridas, 1939

“Two Fridas” is another self-portrait, painted during the period of separation from Diego. Internal dualism, experiences are reflected in two completely different female images. On the left is a girl with broken hearted, dressed in European style. On the right is her antipode: her heart is intact and beating, and she herself is in a traditional Mexican dress (Frida preferred this type of clothing after her wedding to Diego).

The picture shows the connection between the girls: they hold hands, and they are also connected by a bleeding artery. On the left, Frida has clamped the vessel with medical forceps; on the right, the artery is connected to a tiny medallion with a portrait of Diego (many viewers miss this important detail).
This self-portrait is an illustration of Frida’s internal struggle, the difficult thoughts that preceded accepting the divorce and coming to terms with the situation. “I never write dreams or nightmares. I write my own reality,” she said.

Self-portrait with cropped hair, 1940

The masculine image is dictated by the same love experiences. Frida is sitting on a yellow chair with scissors in her hands, she has short haircut and she's wearing a man's suit. Around her are cropped curls. Above her image are lines from a Mexican song, which translated mean the following: “Look, even if I loved you, it was for your hair. Now they are gone, and I don’t love you anymore.”

Kahlo, whom we are used to seeing with long hair, in flowing dresses and large jewelry, suddenly chose an androgynous image for herself. This had happened to her before, in real life, not fictional life. In her youth, Frida often wore men's suits; in early photographs she can be seen in men's suits, even when her relatives and friends wore feminine dresses.

Broken Column, 1944

Comparing two tragic events in her life, Frida admitted that the divorce from Diego turned out to be worse than the disaster. In 1925, at the age of 18, she was in a car accident and suffered a serious spinal injury, which left her bedridden for a long time. The broken column is an image of her own broken body.

The self-portrait reflected the hardships endured during treatment. The shackles and metal frame are an allusion to the corset that had to be worn, to the broken spine. The naked body is also a reference to the “hospital past”, constant examinations by doctors. Frida creates the image of a martyr, into whose body dozens of nails are pierced, this is a clear connection with the traditions of icon painting and the image of the crucified Christ.

In 1929, Kahlo painted “The Bus.” These are memories of what she saw a second before the incident. The artist’s memory preserved this exciting moment.

Wounded deer, 1946

The self-portrait, in which Frida depicted herself as a deer, whose body is pierced by arrows, is thematically close to the painting “Broken Column.” This is a reflection on the emotional and physical pain experienced, which accompanied the process of long rehabilitation.

The choice of animal was due to the fact that Frida had a fawn named Granizo. In the foreground of the painting is a broken branch, an image that recurs in Mexican funerary discourse. It is obvious that the deer in the picture is doomed to death. During this period, Frida's health deteriorated greatly, she developed gangrene, required amputation, and constantly experienced pain throughout her body.

Both paintings - “The Wounded Deer” and “The Broken Column” - were painted in the tradition of Christian icon painting. According to the Bible, Saint Sebastian was shot with arrows, and the story of his martyrdom has inspired many artists over the centuries.

Frida Kahlo died in 1954. As a keepsake of her, there are paintings that still preserve her experiences, unspoken pain, and reveal to us inner world this infinitely talented artist.

A love story is an incredible example of how loving person, even suffering from physical pain, knows how to prioritize not his own experiences, but his feelings for another person.

What do Frida Kahlo's selfies hide?

Tuesday, May 30, 2017

Frida Kahlo(07/06/1907 - 07/13/1954) - Mexican artist, known for her self-portraits. During her life, she painted 55 self-portraits, which is an absolute record (for which Frida is jokingly called the “selfie lover”). Art style– naive art (or folk art) and surrealism. Frida herself did not consider herself a surrealist: "I never draw dreams or nightmares. I paint my reality" . The artist’s paintings are a kind of diary telling about her life and feelings.

The painting is called “My Grandparents, My Parents and Me,” 1936.

Tuesday, May 30, 2017

Yes, it was thanks to these people that the talented and outrageous Frida Kahlo was born. Her sky-blue ancestral home, located in Mexico City, is now a museum where you can get acquainted with the creativity and difficult life female artists. Please note that in this painting Frida depicts herself as a girl of about six years old, and her right leg is partially covered by a tree, which visually makes her left. In fact, this is not without reason. It was at this age that the artist suffered from polio, which left her with a limp. and her right leg became much thinner than her left (Kahlo hid this defect under long skirts). Her peers teased her, “Frida has a wooden leg.” The artist already showed her strong-willed character and love of life - she took up boxing, swimming, and played football with the guys.

"Broken Column", 1944

Tuesday, May 30, 2017

A broken column instead of a spine. Nails piercing the body. Tears on eyes. A fatal event that influenced the artist’s entire life.

It was September, 1925. Frida was 18 years old at the time. She and a friend were riding on a bus, cheerfully discussing plans for the future, when the collision occurred. The bus driver lost control and crashed into a tram. The artist received serious injuries: fractures of the spine, ribs, collarbone, and her right leg was broken in eleven places. Moreover, the metal handrail pierced the artist’s stomach and uterus, which affected her reproductive function.

Frida underwent dozens of operations and was bedridden for months. Pain, melancholy and loneliness prompted her to draw (Frida studied medicine in one of best schools Mexico, where she first saw her future husband, Diego Rivera, who was working on the “Creation” mural at this school). So her father built a stretcher. to young artist I could draw while lying down.

"Self-portrait in a velvet dress", 1926

Tuesday, May 30, 2017

Self-Portrait is Kahlo's first painting. Later she began to develop precisely this direction. “I write myself because I spend a lot of time alone and because I am the subject I know best.”

"Diego in Thoughts", 1943

Tuesday, May 30, 2017

"Henry Ford Hospital", 1932

Tuesday, May 30, 2017

Frida dreamed of having children, but the injuries received as a result of the accident deprived her of the happiness of motherhood. Kahlo painted this picture after another miscarriage. Blood, a single hospital bed, agony on her face and six images connected by arteries - the causes of her suffering.

"Friendly embrace of the Universe, the earth (Mexico). Me, Diego and Señor Jolotl", 1949

Tuesday, May 30, 2017

Frida believed that Diego was her child, whom the Universe had given her. Sometimes she portrays him in exactly this role.

"Just a few scratches", 1935

Tuesday, May 30, 2017

The picture that Frida painted after learning about another affair of her husband, Diego Rivera, this time with her younger, beloved sister. Even before Kahlo's wedding, it was known that Diego was not faithful to his first two wives. She sincerely hoped that he would change with her. But these hopes were quickly dashed by her husband's constant affairs with different women, which he did not even hide. But Diego’s connection with her sister became a deafening blow for Frida, comparable to death. A betrayal of two loved ones that she could not bear or forgive. This is how this picture appeared, which shows cruelty, death, a cold-blooded man with a knife. Birds symbolizing the light and dark sides of love and holding a ribbon with the inscription "Just a few scratches." Frida read this phrase from a newspaper article, which was said in court by a man who stabbed to death his unfaithful mistress. The artist even “stained blood” on the frame and pierced it several times with a knife.

"Frida between the curtains", 1937

Tuesday, May 30, 2017

Frida gave this self-portrait to Leon Trotsky, signing it “with love.” In fact, the artist loved only one man - Diego, and affairs with others (including women - Frida was bisexual) helped her forget the numerous adventures of her unfaithful husband. Leon Trotsky, who fled Stalin's persecution to Mexico, and his wife Natalya stayed in Frida's blue house. The revolutionary immediately “lost his head” from the extravagant artist and ardent communist Kahlo. "With you, I feel like a seventeen-year-old boy,” he wrote to her in one of his love letters. And Frida jokingly called him an unflattering Spanish little “goat,” probably because of his sparse beard. Their whirlwind romance put an end to Trotsky's wife. They quickly left the Rivera couple's blue house, leaving behind a self-portrait as a gift from Kahlo.

"Two Fridas", 1939

Tuesday, May 30, 2017

The artist painted this painting after her divorce from her husband. The facial expression is absolutely the same - a calm, decisive look. But the heart...One has Mexican Frida, it is healthy, in the hands of a medallion (Frida before the divorce), and the other, European Frida, has a torn heart and is bleeding. Just surgical scissors pinching the artery. save from complete blood loss. Kahlo wants to emphasize the difference between outfits and internal state. that it will no longer be the same, even the sky has lost its clarity and the clouds have thickened. “With you I am unhappy, but without you there will be no happiness,” the artist said.

"Rama", 1937

Tuesday, May 30, 2017

1939 is considered the heyday of Frida’s career, her paintings are exhibited in Europe, and her popularity is growing. André Breton, the founder of surrealism, organized an exhibition called “All Mexico”, which featured folk crafts and the work of Frida Kahlo.
“Frame” is the first painting by the artist that the Louvre acquired, and probably the most original, bright, emphasizing her Mexican origin and the extravagance of her nature.

« Surrealism is a magical surprise when
I'm sure you'll find it in your wardrobe
shirts, and you find a lion there.»

Once ranked by Andre Breton among the extraordinary surrealists of her time, Frida Kahlo won the recognition and love of other artists. She skillfully embodied her fascinating biography, accompanied by death, on the white canvas of another, fictional life. To be an artist of the events of one’s own lived days means to be a brave observer who does not know how to cry, a writer who portrays himself as a hero ridiculed by nature and, finally, simply a foreign object in his eyes, full of life. Frida Kahlo, without a shadow of a doubt, was one. With a look full of genuine struggle and devoid of fear, the artist often looked at her reflection in a cloudy mirror, and then, with a stroke of her brush, recreated the loneliness and suffering hidden in the depths of her soul. The white canvas of the canvas is not just a painting tool, it is like a cage in which Frida imprisoned her unbearable pain of loss, the eternal loss of health, love and strength, getting rid of it once and for all, like from an annoying child. Although no, not forever, but only for the time being... For now new trouble didn't knock on the locked doors of her house.

Glancing over the brief biography of this woman, the face of death breaks through the pores of joy and laughter. Unfortunately, behind the stately figure of Frida Kahlo there was always a faded shadow of misfortune. Sometimes death made noise with its fiery crackers to intimidate, sometimes it grinned, feeling its victory, and sometimes it even covered its eyes with its bony palms, promising a quick end. It is not surprising that the artist’s themes of pain, excruciating agony and even the cult of death were reflected in her early and later works.

And since the echo of this theme is ubiquitous in Kahlo’s paintings, let us, at our own peril and risk, for fear of becoming infected with toxic fumes, touch the agonizing art, always provoked by the sad events that once stripped the life of the Mexican artist into “before” and “ after".

Starting from afar

Magdalena Carmen Frida Kahlo Calderon was born on July 6, 1907 in the small town of Coyocan, then a former suburb of Mexico City, and was the third of four daughters of Matilda and Guilmero Kahlo. The artist's mother was of Mexican descent with Indian echoes in her ancestry. The father was a Jew with German roots. He worked most of his life as a photographer, taking pictures for various publications and magazines. Passionately loving his daughters and not depriving any of his attention, in the end Guilmero most strongly influenced the formation of the tastes and attitude of Frida, whose fate was much more terrible than that of the other sisters.

« I remember that I was four years old when the “tragic ten days” happened. I saw with my own eyes the battle of the Zapata peasants against the Carrancistas.»

It was with these words that the future artist described her first memory of Decena Tragica (“tragic ten days”) in her personal diary. The girl was only four years old when a revolution raged around her childhood, easily claiming tens of thousands of lives. Frida's consciousness firmly absorbed the bloody spirit of the revolutionary spirit, with which she subsequently lived her life, and the smell of death permeated everything through and through, taking away from the girl a certain childish, childish carelessness.

When Frida turns six years old, the first misfortune directly affects her fate. She suffers from polio, which mercilessly withers her right leg, barbarically bedridden. Deprived of the opportunity to play and frolic with the other children in the yard, Frida receives her first mental trauma and many complexes. After a severe course of the disease, which put future life The girls were in doubt, the right leg remained thinner than the left, a limp appeared, which did not disappear until the end of days. Only later did Kahlo learn to hide her little flaw under the long hems of her skirts.

In 1922, one of thirty-five girls out of two thousand students, Frida Kahlo attended the National Preparatory School, intending to study medicine at the university in the future. During this period, she admires Diego Rivera, who will one day become her husband and serve as a catalyst for many mental crises along with physical suffering.

Accident

The unpleasant events that happened in the past, as it turned out, were only an easy preparation for the more difficult trials that befell the fragile girl.

On September 17, 1925, returning from school, Frida Kahlo and her friend Alejandro Gomez Arias boarded a bus that went to Coyocan. The vehicle has become a defining symbol. Some time after departure there was terrible disaster: a bus collided with a tram, several people died on the spot. Frida received many injuries throughout her body, so severe that doctors doubted whether the girl would survive and whether she would be able to lead a normal, healthy life in the future. The worst prognosis was death. The most optimistic prediction was that she would recover, but would not be able to walk. This time, death was no longer playing hide and seek, but stood over the head of the hospital bed, holding a black shroud in his hands to cover the head of the deceased. But hardened by childhood illnesses, Frida Kahlo survived. Against all odds. And she got back to her feet.

It was this fateful event that in the future served as fertile ground for the first discussions on the topic of death and interpretations of its image in Frida’s paintings.

Just a year later, Frida makes pencil sketch, calling it "Crash" (1926), in which he briefly sketches the disaster. Forgetting about perspective, Kahlo paints a scene of a bus collision in a dispersed manner in the uppermost corner. The lines blur, losing balance, thereby reminiscent of pools of blood, because the drawing is black and white. The dead are depicted only in silhouette; they no longer have a face. In the foreground, on a Red Cross stretcher, lies the bandaged body of a girl. Her own face hovers above him, looking around at what is happening with an expression of concern.

In this sketch, which is not yet similar to any of the works known to us, death does not acquire completeness, an image generated by Frida’s consciousness. It only makes itself felt through a hovering saddened spirit-face, as if defining the line between life and death.

This drawing is the only pictorial evidence of the accident. Once she experienced it, the artist never again addressed this topic in her later works.

For reference

On August 21, 1929, Frida Kahlo and muralist Diego Rivera, already mentioned above, got married. In 1930, Frida suffers a terrible loss that changes her attitude towards life: her first pregnancy is miscarried. Having received injuries to the spine and pelvis during the accident, the girl finds it difficult to bear a child. At this time, Rivera received orders to work in the USA, and already in November married couple moves to San Francisco.

Other details public life two outstanding artists We are unlikely to be interested in them now, so let’s turn to the time when themes of pain and despair again bloom with cruelty on Frida’s canvases.

flying bed

In 1932, Frida and Diego travel to Detroit. Kahlo with joy expectant mother discovers that she is pregnant and hopes, of course, for a better outcome for her situation. The fear of the first unsuccessful pregnancy makes itself felt. Unfortunately, fate decides otherwise. On July 4th of the same year, Frida has a miscarriage. Doctors diagnose that the baby has died in the womb and an abortion is necessary.

Drowning in tears and depression, lying on a hospital bed, Frida paints a picture akin to votive images. The artist shows an amazing ability to combine biographical facts of her life and fantasy. Reality is conveyed not as many people see it, but differently, modified by the senses of perception. External world reduced to its most essential elements.

In the picture we see the small, vulnerable figure of Frida lying on a huge bed in the middle of a vast plain. The bed seems to begin to move in empty space, wanting to lift itself off the ground and take the heroine to the other world, where there are no more painful tests of fortitude. Frida is on the verge of death, a large stain of dark brown blood is visible under her crotch, and tears are shed from her eyes. And again, if not for the doctors, Frida could have died. The plain creates a feeling of loneliness and helplessness, only exacerbating the desire to die quickly. The industrial landscape depicted in the distance in the background reinforces the image of abandonment, cold, loss and indifference of people from the outside.

Frida’s hand seems to be reluctantly holding a bunch of red threads, similar to veins or arteries. Each end of the thread is tied with a loose knot to an object carrying certain meaning. In the lower right corner there are fragile pelvic bones - the cause of unsuccessful pregnancy and abortion. Next is a fading flower of light purple color. As you know, purple is the color of death for some cultures. In this case, it can symbolize the exhaustion of life, its dull colors and rare glimpses of happiness. The only thing that stands out from the bottom row is a metal object that looks like a motor. Most likely, it serves as an anchor holding the bed motionless. At the top center is a picture of a child's embryo. His eyes are closed - he is dead. Legs folded in lotus position. On the right in the picture is a snail, which is intended to personify the slowness of time, its length and cyclicality. On the left is a mannequin of a human torso on a stand, illustrating, like the pelvis, the damaged bones of the spine, which do not allow the mother to lead a full life.

IN general mood The work reveals a desire to get rid of the suffering caused by time and life. Now, it seems, Frida will let go of these thin threads and her bed will slowly fly into other worlds, carried further and further by the wind alone.

Interestingly, in the future more than one Mexican skeleton will hang over Frida’s bed - a reminder of everyone’s mortality. Memento Mori.

Just a few injections

In 1935, Frida created only two works, of which “Just a Few Pricks” especially shocks the viewer with its bloody cruelty.

The painting is a visual parallel to a newspaper report about a woman killed by her husband in a fit of jealousy.

Like most of Frida Kahlo's works, this work must be viewed in light of personal circumstances. The day before, the artist had several toes amputated. The relationship with Rivera during this period was difficult and confusing, so Frida could undoubtedly find relief only through the symbolism of her own painting.

Rivera, who since their wedding had been constantly in sexual relations with an endless number of girls, this time became interested in Frida's sister, Christina.

Deeply wounded by this state of affairs, Frida Kahlo left the family home.

The painting “Just a Few Pricks” can be understood as the artist’s state of mind. The body, again lying reclined on the bed, had long been put to death with a cold weapon - a knife. The entire floor of the room is stained with blood, the woman’s hand is thrown back helplessly. It should be assumed that Frida in the image main character embodied the death of her own broken spirit, no longer willing to fight the infidelities of her dissolute husband. The frame in which the canvas is wrapped is also painted with “drops” of blood.

This is one of the few paintings in which death is depicted in its direct meaning, without hiding under a layer of images and symbols.

Suicide of Dorothy Hale

In 1933, the couple moved to New York, where Rivera painted his monumental mural in Rockefeller Center. In 1938, Claire Booth Lucey, publisher of the fashion magazine Vanity Fair, commissioned a painting from Frida Kahlo. Her friend, Dorothy Hale, whom Frieda also knew, committed suicide
with me in October of the same year.

This is how Claire herself recalls the series of events:

« Shortly after that, I went to a gallery to see an exhibition of Frida Kahlo's paintings. The exhibition itself was full of people. Kahlo made her way through the crowd to me and immediately began talking about Dorothy's suicide. Wasting no time, Kahlo offered to make a portrait of Dorothy. I didn’t speak Spanish well enough to understand what the word recuerdo meant. I thought that Kahlo would paint a portrait of Dorothy, similar to her self-portrait (dedicated to Trotsky) that I bought in Mexico. And suddenly I thought that a portrait of Dorothy, created by a famous artist friend, might be something her poor mother might want to have. I said so, and Kahlo thought the same. I asked about the price, Kahlo named the price, and I said: “Send me the portrait when you finish it. Then I will send it to Dorothy’s mother.”»

This is how the film “The Suicide of Dorothy Hale” appeared. This is a recreation real event in the forms of an ancient votive image. Dorothy Hale jumped out of her apartment window. Like time-lapse photography, Frida Kahlo captures different positions the bodies are falling, and the corpse itself, already lifeless, is located below in the foreground. The story of the event is told in blood-red letters in the inscription below:

« In New York City, on the 21st day of October 1938, at six o'clock in the morning, Mrs. Dorothy Hale committed suicide by jumping out of a window. In memory of her, Frida Kahlo created this retablo».

On the eve of her suicide, the failed actress, forced to live on the generosity of her acquaintances, invited friends to her place, announcing that she was going on a long, interesting journey and was throwing a farewell party on this occasion.

Inspired by this story, Frida masterfully coped with her task, for, apparently, she felt an echo of something familiar in this culminating act. True, the customer did not like the interpretation of his friend’s portrait. Claire Booth Lucy said when she received it in her arms finished work: “I wouldn’t order even a sworn enemy to be portrayed so bloodied, much less my unfortunate friend.”

Sleep, or Bed

In 1940, Frida is treated for her health by Dr. Eloesser in San Francisco. In the same year, the artist remarried Diego Rivera.

Tired of pain in her back, pelvis and leg, Frida Kahlo increasingly turns to the motives of her own disappearance in painting. This is confirmed by a colorful painting called “Dream, or Bed.”

The figure lying on the canopy of the bed represents the image of Judas. Such figures are usually blown up on Mexican streets during Easter Saturday, since it is believed that the traitor will find salvation through suicide.

Considering himself a traitor own life, Frida depicts her body sleeping again. But her face is not disfigured by a suffering grimace. It radiates calm and tranquility - something that is so lacking in Everyday life Mexican artist. Covered with a yellow blanket, her head with her hair flowing is braided with an arabesque of plants. Floating in the skies covered with clouds, this Judas will one day explode and then the end of everything heavy and mortal will come, an act of purity will be committed - the desired suicide.

Thinking about death

In 1943, Frida Kahlo was appointed professor at art school"La Esmeralda" Unfortunately, a few months later, due to health reasons, she was forced to teach classes at home in her native Coyocan.

According to many, it was this event that prompted the artist to write the self-portrait “Thinking about Death.” Not wanting to stay locked up at home, as was the case before, when Frida was very ill, Kahlo was often visited by thoughts of death.

According to ancient Mexican beliefs, death means both new life and birth, which was exactly what Frida, who was already giving up, lacked. In this self-portrait, death is presented against a detailed general background composed of thorn branches. Kahlo borrows this symbol from pre-Hispanic mythology, through which it indicates rebirth following death. For death is the road to another life.

Viva la Vida

In 1950, Frida underwent 7 spinal surgeries. She spent nine whole months in a hospital bed, which had already become an everyday part of life. There was no choice - the artist remained in wheelchair. Fate continued to present its tricky gifts. A year before her death, in 1953, her right leg was amputated to stop the development of gangrene. At the same time, in Mexico City, in her homeland, the first personal exhibition opened, incorporating all the fruits of pain
and tests. Frida could not come to the opening, relying on her own strength; she was taken to the entrance by an ambulance. As always, she remained cheerful, the artist held a cigarette in one hand, and a glass of her favorite tequila in the other.

A week before her death, Frida Kahlo wrote last picture"Long live life." A bright still life that reflected Frida’s attitude to life and death. And despite the pain, even in her hour of death, Kahlo chose life.

Frida Kahlo died in the house where she was born at the age of 47.

Of course, in the above description, not all paintings and panels that in one way or another relate to the theme of death are presented to the audience. This is only a small part of what has been written. But even thanks to the six paintings described here, one can get a brief idea of ​​the personality and life of the magnificent Mexican artist Frida Kahlo, who carried pain and courage on her shoulders and climbed the Calvary of life with courage.