Spanish artist Frida. Death in the paintings of Frida Kahlo

- one of the most famous artists Mexico. The fate of this talented and beautiful woman cannot be called simple, but she was able to withstand all the blows that befell her and forever entered the history of world art as an original artist. You can find museums and memorable places V different regions countries. Be sure to take time during your vacation in Mexico and get acquainted with the biography and paintings of this amazing genius.

Colorful Mexico is famous for its history, nature, legends and sights, as well as great famous people, whose talent passes through the centuries.

One of the most famous artists of Mexico, whose work excites the minds of everyone who contemplates her paintings, is Magdalena Carmen Frida Kahlo Calderon. This mysterious and talented woman born July 6, 1907 in a suburb of the capital Coyoacan. The artist’s story is full of pain, sadness, deep disappointment and magnificent cheerful masks, behind which she hid losses, betrayals and betrayals all her life.

Everything that Frida experienced was completely transferred by her to the canvases, in which she expressed all her inner world and experiences. Experts who study Kahlo's paintings draw many parallels between her work and the works of Salvador Dali, calling her the alter ego of the great master. Frida herself never said that her paintings were ephemeral illusions, or an unrealistic perception of the world around her. She characterized her works as a very real perception of everything that happened in her life. The eerie subjects of the paintings are not a product of the artist’s inflamed imagination, but a way to convey all the pain, bitterness and depth of loss that passed through the delicate and vulnerable soul of a fragile girl. All her paintings, according to her personal statements, express the essence of things in the way that life presents them - open and without embellishment.

Tragedy in the life of a great artist

A little Mexican girl from the suburbs grew up in the family of a photographer and a fanatical mother, an ardent supporter of Catholicism. At the age of 6, the girl fell ill with polio. The disease had serious consequences, as a result of which Frida’s one leg became several centimeters thinner than the other. The girl suffered a lot of bullying from her peers, but Kahlo skillfully masked her shortcomings and was always a very attractive young girl with a hot and passionate disposition. The girl became an adherent of communist views and dreamed of mastering the profession of a doctor. Her dream came true and she was able to graduate from medical university and become one of thirty-five female medical specialists.

However, in 1925, a horrifying event happened to Frida Kahlo that changed her life forever. A girl's trip on bus 17 turned into a terrible accident when she collided with a tram.

The handrail that came off pierced the girl’s stomach, passing through the groin area, breaking the spine in three places, and the crippled leg in eleven places.

Unhappy Frida lay unconscious for three weeks. Her father sat by her bed until the day his daughter regained consciousness, which cannot be said about her mother, who never visited the poor girl in the hospital.

To the surprise of the doctors, who predicted imminent death, Frida regained consciousness. Her whole body was in plaster, but the breath of life glowed in it. After so terrible disaster Frida Kahlo felt the urge to paint. Frida's father built a suitable easel for his daughter, and also placed it under the lambrequins of the bed large mirror, in the reflection of which Frida saw herself and the space around her. Apparently, it was this factor that played an important role in her painting of self-portraits.

Life and creativity after the accident

Already in 1929, four years later, young Frida, plump inner strength and powerful energy, she stood firmly on her feet.

Kahlo entered the National University of Mexico and joined the Communist Party. During these years, the artist’s creativity reached its peak. She spent days flying by in art studio, and in the evenings she dressed in lush, luxurious outfits and spent time at parties and social events.

During her studies, Frida met the famous Mexican artist Diego Rivera, whose works decorate the walls opera house in Mexico City. The charm and skill of the master could not leave the ardent heart of the Mexican girl indifferent. Just a year later, in 1930, Frida became Rivera's legal wife. The age difference between them was 20 years and many jokingly called their couple a union between a tender dove and an elephant. Despite his age and weight, Diego enjoyed the attention of young models. Lacking high moral standards, Rivera did not restrain his desires and constantly cheated on his wife. Frida was also “driven” by her flighty and impulsive emotions. She was suspected of numerous affairs, including with women. In 1937 new novel Frida called loud scandal. This year, the communist Kahlo and Rivera family hosted Soviet revolutionary Leon Trotsky and his wife Natalia Sedova. Soon, constant communication, similarities in interests, worldview and the ardent disposition of both contributed to the beginning of a bright, but fleeting romance.

Frida Kahlo lived until the end of her days with her legal spouses and she, of course, wanted to experience the joys of motherhood. However, the accident that occurred, which caused irreparable harm to her health, did not allow her to have children. Frida suffered a uterine rupture during the accident, and the injuries caused led to all three pregnancies ending in miscarriages. Such tragedies also had a significant impact on the artist’s work and paintings. Some of her works reflected the bitterness of the loss of her unborn children, so the paintings depict dead babies. Frida herself supplemented her paintings with comments that such an expression of inner experiences allowed her to more easily endure the pain of loss and disappointment.

Death of Frida Kahlo

Frida died in 1954 at the age of 47. The artist’s body was cremated, and her ashes rest in an urn in the “Azure House”. Frida's house, her photographs, works and exhibitions in art galleries are best opportunity to touch the subtle and wounded soul of a strong and talented woman.

Paintings and self-portraits of Frida Kahlo

Frida Kahlo “What water gave me”

Frida painted about 70 self-portraits. Her first work, “Crash,” was written just a year after the disaster. The tragic events of the artist’s life painted her paintings in increasingly gloomy tones. The worse her internal and physical condition was, the more terrifying her work looked. Frida was not afraid to openly express her feelings, which was immediately evident from her frank works. The anatomy of the human body, deformity and pathology - all this helped to openly express the artist’s feelings. The most famous works of Frida are the following paintings:

"Mask of Death";
"Fruits of the Earth";
“What water gave me”;
"Dream";
“Self-Portrait” (“Diego in Thoughts”);
"Moses" ("Core of Creation");
"Little Doe";
“Embrace of Universal Love, Earth, Me, Diego and Coatl”;
“Self-portrait with Stalin”;
"Without hope";
"Nurse and Me";
"Memory";
"Henry Ford Hospital";
"Double Portrait".

Frida Kahlo “Dream”

Frida Kahlo “Self-Portrait” (Diego in Thoughts)

Works written in the postoperative period have a special meaning. It immediately becomes obvious how significant and irreparable harm Frida experienced during such interventions in her body.

Monuments and museums in Mexico

Frida Kahlo’s “La Maison d’Azur”, where she was born and hosted Trotsky’s family, has now been turned into a house museum. It was with this place that Frida had the closest relationship and had special feelings for it. The house-museum is full of her works; tourists, art connoisseurs and everyone who wants to touch the personality of the genius are sure to feel that extraordinary atmosphere, saturated with the violent emotions of the bright and rebellious Mexican nature, when visiting this house.

Mexico is a country of contrasts; its inhabitants, both then and now, have a special temperament and worldview. The attitude towards life and death here can raise many questions and misunderstandings, but Frida’s life and her perfectly preserved house with a high blue stone fence allow you to feel the atmosphere of real Mexico.

Today, when exploring and viewing Kahlo’s paintings, it is impossible not to first turn to the biography and life story of Frida. Her pain, loss, family relationships, breaking of marriage ties, perception of the world, concern for the poor, beggars and abandoned allow us to better understand what feelings she, as an author, was trying to convey and what prompted her to express emotions in such a way.

Mexico and the whole world are well acquainted with the personality of this talented master and a very bright and attractive woman. Frida Kahlo still enjoys wide publicity thanks to a number of significant factors:

published in 2002 Feature Film-biography dedicated to Frida Kahlo, which consecrated the details of her life as closely as possible;
in 2005, in London in art gallery Tate hosted an exhibition of Kahlo's work;
in 2010, the Mexican government symbolically immortalized married couple Kahlo and Rivera by placing their portraits on opposite sides of the 500 peso bill.

In 2005, the film “Frida” was made, dedicated to Frida Kahlo.

Today Frida Kahlo is a hero national importance in Mexico and an important cultural figure in this unique country. That is why a visit to the Azure House Museum is an integral part of tourist routes and an important object of cultural education in the field of art.

Conclusion

Numerous life stories talented artists Mexico are immortalized for centuries on the walls of theaters, galleries and art museums. Today, tourists from all over the world can enjoy the rich heritage of this unique country. House-museums of great talents are now available to wide circles visitors ready to touch the most intimate thoughts and way of life artists, sculptors, politicians and other artistic geniuses. The Frida Kahlo Museums are one of those places you can't miss when visiting Mexico.

(Spanish Frida Kahlo de Rivera , July 6, 1907, Coyoacan, Mexico - July 13, 1954, Coyoacan, Mexico) is a Mexican artist who became famous for her surreal paintings. In her youth, Frida was in a car accident, which left an imprint on her entire life and affected her creativity. Kahlo began writing while bedridden. The artist became famous in Europe (in particular, thanks to her husband Diego Rivera), but always dreamed of recognition in her homeland. Frida's first solo exhibition in Mexico took place in 1953, shortly before her death.

Features of the work of the artist Frida Kahlo: For the most part, in her symbolic works, Frida talks about herself - her experiences, physical and heartache. An impressive part of her paintings are self-portraits, in which she is usually surrounded by plants and animals. In addition, Frida often addresses the topic of illness and death.

Famous paintings of Frida Kahlo:“Broken Column”, “Two Fridas”, “Just a few scratches! ", "Sleep (Bed)", "Frida and Diego Rivera", "Henry Ford Hospital", "Wounded Deer".

Mexicans are a strange people, very strange indeed. They paint their clothes, their houses and their entire lives in heavenly and sunny colors, speak some kind of their own, especially melodious Spanish, and completely take out their souls with songs. They worship Santa Muerte (“Holy Death”), and the main National holiday- The Day of the Dead is turned into a real celebration of life. Where else, if not here, could such a person as Frida Kahlo be born?

Frida is one of those rare cases in the art world when an artist’s popularity is due in large part to his tragic personal story, which pushes talented work into the background. All her life it was as if she had been running a race with death, sometimes falling behind, sometimes getting ahead, sometimes desperately clinging to life, sometimes dreaming of “leaving and never returning.” No matter how paradoxical it may sound, death turned out to be Kahlo’s most faithful companion throughout her entire life.

Crucial moment

The story of Frida Kahlo starts with her parents. After all, it was they, long before her birth, who began this dance with death - each to their own music.

Wilhelm Kahlo, having arrived in Mexico from Germany, changed his name to the Spanish Guillermo and abandoned Judaism. His first wife gave birth to three girls, but the middle daughter died soon after birth, and the woman herself did not survive the third birth. Guillermo was left alone with two children and very quickly married again - to Matilda Calderon y Gonzalez. At that time, the girl also managed to experience a personal tragedy: Matilda’s fiancé committed suicide in front of her eyes. Frida later wrote in her diary that her mother was never able to fully recover from this terrible loss and love her husband.

Matilda gave Guillermo four girls (Matilda, Adriana, Frida and Cristina), and their only son died of pneumonia a few days after birth. Magdalena Carmen Frida Calderon was born on July 6, 1907. Many years later, this date will seem insufficiently significant to Frida, and she will “adjust” her birthday to the beginning of the Mexican Revolution - July 7, 1910.

When the girl was six years old, her muscles began to hurt right leg. Despite the efforts of doctors and Guillermo Calo, who was seriously involved in physical development daughter, polio dried out the girl’s leg, leaving her lame for life. But the real tragedy was ahead. The girl still has time to grow up, enter a prestigious German school, acquire a “gang” of loyal friends, fall in love for the first time and begin making plans for a medical career.

Everything collapsed on September 17, 1925, when a tram crashed into a bus in which Frida was traveling from school. Doctors doubted that the girl would survive, let alone start walking again: crushed pelvic bones, a broken spine and many other injuries confined Frida to bed for many months and reminded her of herself with constant pain all her life. At that moment, death paid attention to her for the first time, came closer to take a closer look, and stayed close the whole time. At that moment, Frida's life ended. And something completely different began.

Dance with death

One of the peculiarities of Kahlo's paintings is that they are all painted with tiny strokes. This is a serious load on the arms and spine, so one can only imagine how hard it was for Frida when she first started drawing. Before the accident, her only experience in this field was a few lessons taken from the engraver Fernando Fernandez. The girl’s father, who made his living as a photographer, bought her first brushes and paints. And her mother ordered a stretcher with which Frida could paint while lying down. At this time, her work was mostly still lifes and self-portraits. Years later, Kahlo would say that she paints so many self-portraits because her own face is what she knows best. But in those months when Frida was recovering from the accident, she was afraid that she would die and the memory of her would quickly disappear, so she tried to leave as many reminders of herself as possible. The first such work was “Self-Portrait in a Velvet Dress” (1926).

Another thing that distinguishes Frida’s paintings is their deep emotionality. Everything that she cannot express in words, everything that she is forced to remain silent about, Kahlo transfers to canvas. She shows the viewer blood, pain, human entrails, the ugly truth of life. Frida shares her feelings about her husband’s constant infidelities - famous artist Diego Rivera (“Just a Few Scratches!”, 1935), suffering due to another loss of a child (“Henry Ford Hospital,” 1932) and incessant pain after injuries, illnesses and countless operations (“Broken Column,” 1944, “ Without Hope", 1945, "Wounded Deer", 1946). And throughout her life, Kahlo mercilessly opens her soul, just as doctors opened her exhausted body again and again, and shows the viewer her own open heart, sensitive and defenseless (“Two Fridas”, 1939).

And finally, Frida would not be Frida if she had not inherited the Mexican attitude towards death - with respect, of course, but also with a fair amount of humor. An integral part of Mexican culture are the so-called "retablos", primitive pictures on small metal plates that were drawn in gratitude to the saints (Diego and Frida collected huge collection such images). In particular, it was from the retablo that death in various forms and guises migrated to Kahlo’s paintings. She stands straight up full height in the square in Coyoacan not far from Frida’s house (“Inhabitants of Mexico City”, 1938), stares at the empty eye sockets of the mask crowning the body of a little girl in a pink dress (“Girl with a Mask of Death”, 1938) and with a smile waits in the wings over the bed of the sleeping Frida ( "Sleep (Bed)", 1940). This is the only way the artist can escape the fear that this constant invisible presence instills in her.

Viva la vida!

It took Frida a long time to achieve popularity in her native Mexico, despite the fact that back in 1938 she made a lot of noise in New York, where her first solo exhibition was held at the Julian Levy Gallery. Critics, who were initially skeptical of “Mrs. Rivera,” were fascinated by her and the originality of her paintings.
Soon after this, Kahlo went to Paris at the invitation of Andre Breton, who promised the artist to organize her personal exhibition. They met during the visit of Breton and his wife Jacqueline Lamba to Mexico. The poet and artist was amazed by Frida’s works, in particular, the then unfinished painting “What Water Gave Me” (1938), and told the artist that she was painting in the style of surrealism, which surprised her a lot. However, despite promises, Breton never began organizing the exhibition. Frida found out about this only after arriving in Paris, became very angry with Breton and began calling the Parisian surrealists “crazy sons of bitches.”

Frida felt very uncomfortable being away from her native Mexico. Neither New York nor Paris impressed her; she was eager to return to her Blue House, where she was born and lived almost her entire life, to her Diego. They left and returned, quarreled and made peace, divorced and remarried, lived in different houses connected by a thin bridge. Meanwhile, they tried to piece together Frida’s body, which was falling apart, with the help of metal corsets, numerous operations and medications.

Frida Kahlo's first solo exhibition in Mexico took place only in 1953. By that time, the artist was already bedridden and constantly under the influence of strong painkillers and alcohol. But this an important event There was no way she could miss it in her life. During the opening of the exhibition, Frida was brought into the Gallery contemporary art on a stretcher and laid on a bed in the center of the hall.

IN last years It became increasingly difficult for Kahlo to draw. She returned to where she started - painting still lifes while lying in bed. Last job Frida's painting is considered “Viva la vida!” Watermelons" (1954), however, judging by its clear lines and confident brushstrokes, it was painted long before that. The final touch was only an inscription in blood-red paint, as if carved into the ripe pulp of a watermelon. "Viva la vida!" - “Long live life!” What else, if not this daring challenge, could Frida Kahlo write, already looking into the eyes of death?

Mexican artist Frida Kahlo

Frida Kahlo (Spanish: Magdalena Carmen Frida Kahlo y Calderуn, July 6, 1907, Coyoacan - July 13, 1954, ibid.) - Mexican artist. Frida Kahlo was born into a family of a German Jew and a Spanish mother American origin. At the age of 6 she suffered from polio, after the illness she was left with a limp for the rest of her life, and her right leg became thinner than her left (which Kahlo hid under all her life). long skirts). Such an early experience of the struggle for the right to a full life strengthened Frida’s character.

At the age of 15, she entered the Preparatorium (National Preparatory School) with the goal of studying medicine. Of the 2,000 students in this school, there were only 35 girls. Frida immediately gained credibility by creating, with eight other students, closed group

"Cachuchas." Her behavior was often called shocking. In the Preparatorium, her first meeting took place with her future husband, the famous Mexican artist Diego Rivera, who worked in Preparatory school

At age 18, Frida was involved in a serious accident, the injuries from which included a broken spine, a broken collarbone, broken ribs, a broken pelvis, eleven fractures in her right leg, a crushed and dislocated right foot, and a dislocated shoulder. In addition, her stomach and uterus were pierced by a metal railing, which seriously damaged her reproductive function. She was bedridden for a year, and health problems remained for the rest of her life. Subsequently, Frida had to undergo several dozen operations, without leaving the hospital for months. Despite her ardent desire, she was never able to become a mother.

It was after the tragedy that she first asked her father for brushes and paints. A special stretcher was made for Frida, which allowed her to write while lying down. A large mirror was attached under the canopy of the bed so that she could see herself. The first painting was a self-portrait, which forever determined the main direction of creativity: “I paint myself because I spend a lot of time alone and because I am the topic that I know best.”

In 1929, Frida Kahlo became the wife of Diego Rivera. The two artists were brought together not only by art, but also by common political beliefs - communist. Their stormy living together became a legend. In the 1930s Frida lived for some time in the USA, where her husband worked. This forced long stay abroad, in a developed industrial country, made the artist more acutely aware of national differences.

Since then, Frida had a special love for Mexican folk culture and collected ancient works applied arts, even in Everyday life carried National costumes.

A trip to Paris in 1939, where Frida became a sensation at a thematic exhibition of Mexican art (one of her paintings was even acquired by the Louvre), further developed patriotic feelings.

In 1937, Soviet revolutionary leader Leon Trotsky briefly took refuge in the house of Diego and Frida. It is believed that his too obvious infatuation with the temperamental Mexican forced him to leave them.

“There were two accidents in my life: one was when a bus crashed into a tram, the other was Diego,” Frida liked to repeat. Rivera's latest betrayal is adultery with her younger sister Christina - almost finished her off. In 1939 they divorced. Diego later confesses: “We were married for 13 years and always loved each other. Frida even learned to accept my infidelity, but could not understand why I choose those women who are unworthy of me, or those who are inferior to her... She assumed that I was a vicious victim own desires. But it is a white lie to think that divorce will end Frida’s suffering. Won't she continue to suffer?"

Frida admired Andre Breton - he found her work worthy of his favorite brainchild - surrealism and tried to recruit Frida into the army of surrealists. Fascinated by the Mexican common life and skilled artisans, Breton organized the All Mexico exhibition after returning to Paris and invited Frida Kahlo to participate. Parisian snobs, fed up with their own inventions, visited the exhibition of handicrafts without much enthusiasm, but the image of Frida left a deep imprint in the memory of bohemia.

Marcel Duchamp, Wassily Kandinsky, Picabia, Tzara, surrealist poets and even Pablo Picasso, who gave a dinner in Frida’s honor and gave her one “surreal” earring - everyone appreciated the uniqueness and mystery of this person. And the famous Elsa Schiaparelli, a lover of everything unusual and shocking, was so carried away by her image that she created the Madame Rivera dress. But the hype did not mislead Frida about the place of her painting in the eyes of all these “sons of bitches.” She did not allow Paris to adapt herself, she remained, as always, in “non-illusion.”

Frida remained Frida, not succumbing to any lures of new trends or fashion trends. In her reality, only Diego is absolutely real.

“Diego is everything, everything that lives in minutes of no-clocks, no-calendars and empty no-looks is him.” They got married a second time in 1940, a year after the divorce, and remained together until her death. In the 1940s Frida's paintings appear in several notable exhibitions. At the same time, her health problems are getting worse. Medicines and drugs designed to reduce physical suffering change it

Shortly before her death, her right leg was amputated, her suffering turned into torture, but she found the strength to open the last exhibition in the spring of 1953. Shortly before the appointed hour, those gathered heard the howl of sirens. It was in an ambulance, accompanied by an escort of motorcyclists, that the hero of the occasion arrived. From the hospital, after surgery. She was carried in on a stretcher and placed on a bed in the center of the hall. Frida joked, sang her favorite sentimental songs to the accompaniment of the Mariachi orchestra, smoked and drank, hoping that alcohol would help relieve the pain.

That unforgettable performance shocked photographers, reporters, fans, just like the last posthumous one on July 13, 1954, when with her body wrapped in the banner of the Mexican communist party, crowds of fans came to the crematorium hall to say goodbye.

Despite a life full of pain and suffering, Frida Kahlo had a lively and liberated extroverted nature, whose daily speech was littered with profanities. Having been a tomboy (tomboy) in her youth, she has not lost her ardor in later years. Kahlo smoked heavily, drank alcohol in excess (especially tequila), was openly bisexual, sang obscene songs and told equally obscene jokes to the guests of her wild parties.

In the works of Frida Kahlo, the influence of Mexican folk art and the culture of pre-Columbian civilizations of America is very strong. Her work is full of symbols and fetishes. However, there is also a noticeable influence European painting— Frida’s passion for, for example, Botticelli was clearly evident in her early works.

Madonna really wanted to play her role in the biopic. But Salma Hayek became Frida in the film of the same name, and the image of a life-loving, shocking Mexican artist she did amazing!

Biography of Frida Kahlo

First hit

It’s a pity that the actress was not given an Oscar for this work (high Academy Awards were awarded for makeup and soundtrack, and Hayek remained a nominee). By the way, relatives of those about whom a biographical feature film is being made often remain dissatisfied with the interpretation of events and the image dear to them. But here it turned out the other way around - the artist’s niece was delighted with Salma’s transformation.

Who is she, this woman, who has suffered so much torment and pain, a legend of Mexico, the pride of this Latin American country, pouring out her experiences on canvas?

First, let's try to pronounce this long Mexican name: Magdalena Carmen Frida Kahlo Calderon, married to de Rivera.

For some reason, fate presented her with unpleasant surprises almost from birth. Born in July 1907 to a Mexican mother (Frida was a half-breed - her father had German roots), the girl became seriously ill at the age of 6. Childhood polio, a disease that has now been learned to be easily dealt with through vaccinations, was a serious diagnosis back then. The baby withstood this first test steadfastly. She was not paralyzed, only had a slight limp, and one leg became a little thinner.

An accident that twisted the body, but not the soul

The first “bells” from the mocking fate only made the girl clench her teeth tighter - later this skill was very useful to our heroine. Frida grew up cocky and very athletic. She managed to become one of the “chosen ones”: almost no girls were accepted into the prestigious Preparatory school. Kahlo wanted to become a doctor and was a very diligent student. It was at this school that she first saw her future husband, the then eminent painter Diego Rivera: he was engaged in interior design.

Dreams about medicine in literally this word was run over by a tram. It was with him that a bus with passengers collided. Unfortunately, Frida was among them. As if that tiny polio “injection” wasn’t enough for fate, she decided to chain the girl to the bed in a different way. She was only 18, but she seemed to be chained in a shell. Multiple fractures of the spine, pelvis, right leg, ribs, in addition, it was as if she had been nailed with a metal rod - right in the stomach. How did she survive this accident?

A year in bed - there is something to despair about. But Frida did not give up. That's when she took up her brushes. A simple device allowed the girl to draw while lying down; a mirror was placed above her. And the artist’s debut was a self-portrait - later she would paint a great many of them, it would be main theme Frida's creativity.

Experts classify her as a surrealist, but Kahlo’s style of painting was closer to the art of primitivists, and she was also inspired by Mexican folk motifs.

Fiery passion

Frida believed in the ideals of communism, almost boasted of her bisexuality, smoked like a steam locomotive, did not shy away from tequila, and could cover her interlocutor with a “three-story” obscenity. A certain masculinity was hidden by long skirts and bright colors of clothing (she loved national dresses).

That meeting with Rivera at school left a mark on her heart, and she chose him as the “man of her life,” marrying him in 1929. He was 21 years older and couldn’t miss a single more or less attractive model: a fat and early-flabbed middle-aged womanizer. An odd couple (they called themselves “the elephant and the bird”)!

But the power of his talent, his cheerful, passionate nature so attracted the rebellious Frida that she could not resist this love throughout her not very long life.

Yes, she also had other men (even Trotsky fell under the millstone of her wild charm - expelled from Soviet Russia, he lived with the Rivera couple for some time), and there were women. But she only loved her Diego. He became her guru in painting; she listened to his advice and learned from him.

Rivera had a long-term job in the States in the 1930s, and his wife followed there. This “business trip” weighed heavily on her, where she felt even more connected to her native culture.

Recognition and death

Participation in the Paris exhibition opened Frida to Europe (the Louvre is interested in her paintings), followed by other prestigious exhibitions.

More and more energy and nerves are spent on sorting out the relationship with an unfaithful spouse, motherhood turns out to be impossible: terrible youthful traumas make themselves felt. The terrible pain is only briefly relieved by strong medications, which almost turns into addiction.

Frida keeps a diary (this is a chronicle of her suffering) and writes feverishly, creating one picture after another: it is as if she knows that there is little time left.

Only a year before his death, the authorities organized a personal exhibition of Kahlo. The hero of the occasion could not come to her “benefit” on her own; like a queen, she was brought right on the bed. Even at the end of the journey, fate could not resist the next blows: gangrene, amputation of almost half of the right leg (it was then, during the accident, that it suffered the most: 11 fractures).

In July 1954, Frida passed away. A “lying down” lifestyle provoked fluid stagnation in the lungs, which caused inflammation and death. There is a version that she simply could not bear further torment and took too many drugs. There was no autopsy, but the entry in the diary about his imminent departure can hardly be considered a suicide note. And it is unlikely that this strong-willed woman, not broken by any blows of fate, would have given up so easily.

The President of Mexico himself came to say goodbye to Frida. A year later, the Blue House, where she was born, became a museum.

The best works of Frida Kahlo

The most famous works artists are self-portraits or scenes from own life. Including very famous picture“Two Fridas”, “Self-Portrait with Parrots”, “Little Doe”.

She also painted her husband (“Portrait of Diego Rivera”).

But surrealism manifested itself in the works “My Dress is There”, “Moses” (“The Core of Creation”) - with many recognizable faces of tyrants and deities.

The Tate Gallery exhibited Frida's work "Roots" several years ago (it later went up for auction for $5.6 million). In the same British gallery was held (with great success) and a personal exhibition of the artist.

Frida Kahlo's work has always gravitated towards surrealism, but the relationship was ambiguous. Founder of surrealism Andre Breton, traveling in Mexico in 1938, was fascinated by Kahlo’s paintings and definitely classified Frida Kahlo’s paintings as surrealism. Thanks to the initiative of Andre Breton, the exhibition of Frida Kahlo's paintings at the Julian Levy fashion gallery in New York , and Breton himself wrote the preface to the catalog of works, after the exhibition half of Frida’s paintings were sold. Andre Breton proposed organizing an exhibition in Paris, but when Frida Kahlo, who did not speak French, arrived in Paris, an unpleasant surprise awaited her - Breton did not bother to pick up the works of the Mexican artist from the customs service. The event was saved by Marcel Duchamp, the exhibition took place 6 weeks later. She did not become financially successful, but critical reviews were favorable, Frida Kahlo's paintings were praised by Picasso and Kandinsky, and one of them was bought by the Louvre. However, Frida Kahlo, having a quick temper, was offended and did not hide her dislike for, “ crazy crazy sons of bitches surrealists" She did not abandon surrealism immediately, in January 1940. she took part ( with Diego Rivera) V International Exhibition Surrealism, but later furiously argued that she had never been a true surrealist. “ They thought I was a surrealist, but I wasn't. Frida Kahlo never painted dreams, I painted my reality,” said the artist.

Frida began to be annoyed by the far-fetched and pretentiousness of surrealism. The noisy gatherings of surrealists seemed childish to her, and one day in her hearts she accused them of " Such intellectual sons of bitches cleared the way for all the Hitlers and Mussolinis".

Latin American art and Frida's paintings

National motifs are of particular importance in the work of Frida Kahlo. Frida Kahlo knew the history of her homeland brilliantly. Frida had a special love for Mexican folk culture and collected antique works applied arts, even in everyday life she wore national costumes. Frida Kahlo's paintings are very much influenced by Mexican folk art and the culture of pre-Columbian civilizations in America. Her work is full of symbols and fetishes. The ideas of her paintings are encrypted in the details, background, figures appearing next to Frida and the symbolism is revealed through national traditions and is closely related to the Indian mythology of the pre-Hispanic period. And yet, in Frida’s paintings, the influence of European painting is also noticeable.

Experts believe that the 1940s are the era of the heyday of Frida Kahlo’s creativity, the time of her most interesting and mature works.

From the biography of Frida Kahlo

At the age of 18, Frida Kahlo gets into a serious accident. She was traveling on a bus that collided with a tram and was seriously injured as a result. Her life began to suffer painful months of motionless inaction. It was at this time that she asked her father for a brush and paints. A special stretcher was made for Frida, which allowed her to write while lying down. A large mirror was attached under the canopy of the bed so that Frida could see herself. She started with self-portraits. " I write myself because I spend a lot of time alone and because I am the subject I know best" - said Frida Kahlo.

Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera

At 22, Frida Kahlo became the wife of a famous Mexican artist Diego Rivera. Diego Rivera was 43 years old at the time. The two artists were brought together not only by art, but also by common communist beliefs. Their stormy life together became a legend. Frida met Diego Rivera back in adolescence, when he painted the walls of the school where Frida studied. After injury and temporary forced confinement, Frida, who painted many paintings during this time, decides to show them to a recognized master. The paintings made a great impression on Diego Rivera: “ Frida Kahlo's paintings conveyed a vital sensuality, complemented by a ruthless, but very sensitive, ability to observe. It was obvious to me that this girl was a born artist.».

Frida Kahlo died of pneumonia a week after celebrating her 47th birthday, on July 13, 1954. Farewell to Frida Kahlo took place at Bellas Artes - the Palace of Fine Arts. IN last way Frida, along with Diego Rivera, was seen off by Mexican President Lazaro Cardenas, artists, writers - Siqueiros, Emma Hurtado, Victor Manuel Villaseñor and other famous Mexican figures. In the last years of the 20th century, Frida Kahlo became the subject of a cult that was rationally inexplicable.