Frida Kahlo Biography Essay Example for Free

Frida Kahlo Biography Essay Frida Kahlo was born on July 6th, 1907, Coyoacà ¡n, Mexico City, Mexico in her father’s beloved ‘Blue House.1’ She died at the age of 47 in her beloved blue house on Tuesday, July 13th, 1954. Frida Kahlo is one of Mexico’s most famous artists and represents resilience and strength. She was a surrealist and her artwork reflected visual honesty. Due to her weak and fragile body after her accident she went through 30 operations on her spine and made constant visits to the hospital. In spite of so much pain Frida Kahlo channeled that and her emotion into her art. Frida Kahlo had these paradoxical qualities, where on the one hand she’s this goddess that represents strength and resilience whereas on the other hand she can was similar to a man, she was crude like men; she smoked, drank alcohol, swore and told dirty jokes to frighten guests. Although Frida suffered an immense amount of physical and emotional pain she was always an outgoing person. People were stunned by her beauty and wherever she went, people stopped in to stare at her. Men wanted her and women wanted to be her. Beautiful, intelligent, and extremely talented Kahlo was considered one of the most desirable women of her time. She was romantically linked with movie stars, artists, and politicians of many different nationalities. During her separation from Diego, Frida engaged in several affairs with both men and women. Diego turned a blind eye at her relationships with women but was enraged by her love affairs with men. At the age of 6 Kahlo’s got polio and her right leg and foot became deformed despite her father’s efforts to regain some muscle mass the leg remained deformed which Kahlo covered with long dresses and skirts.1 She had a limp her whole life and received the nick name ‘peg-leg-Frida’ due to how skinny her right leg was. During 1922 the Mexican Renaissance movement began and the government sponsored local artists to paint murals in churches, schools, libraries and public buildings. Diego Rivera, a man who would play a major role in Kahlo’s life, painted murals while Kahlo would hide, since students were forbidden to be in the auditorium, and watch him for hours. Rivera was often called ‘panzon’ which means fat belly being as he was a 300 pound man. Kahlo got into an accident while on a bus with Alejandro on September 17th, 1925. The accident would change her life. A pipe went through her hip bone and out the pelvic bone as a result she broke her pelvic bone, spinal column and sustained other severe injuries which the doctors believed she would not survive. Kahlo endured 30 operations in her lifetime to correct the damage from the accident. Doctors said she’d never conceive a child full term due to her fractured pelvis. Kahlo originally planned on becoming a doctor but now bedridden for several months she received paints and brushes from her father, her mother had a carpenter construct and easel to place on her bed and a mirror was also installed on the canopy above her so she could paint self-portraits. Kahlo’s father Wilhelm Kahlo thought Frida to be his favourite out of the four daughters he has with her mother Matilde Calderà ³n Kahlo. Frida Kahlo’s father often said, â€Å"She is the most intelligent of all my daughters and the most like me.2† Out of the 143 painting Frida Kahlo did in her lifetime 55 were self-portraits of her. She often said, â€Å"I paint self-portraits because I am so often alone because I am the subject I know best.2† Near the end of 1927 Kahlo’s life returned to a sort of ‘normal’ state and in 1928 at a party Kahlo – from a distance saw Diego Rivera again for the first time since the accident. Later Kahlo gave Rivera some of her work which he admired and told her she had talent. Kahlo said, â€Å"I never paint dreams, I painted my own reality, I paint whatever passes through my head without any other consideration.2† Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera got married on August 21st, 1929, a civil ceremony was held in the town hall of Coyoacà ¡n.1 Kahlo wore clothes borrowed from her Indian maid. Diego was 42 years of age, 6’1 and 300 pounds and Frida was 22 years of age, 5’3, 98 pounds.2 Kahlo’s mother did not approve, however her father did on the basis that Rivera could pay for Kahlo’s hospital bills. After the ceremony while the party was in full swing Rivera apparently got obnoxiously drunk, broke a man’s pinky finger, smashed several items and brandished his pistol. Kahlo was furious with Rivera’s behaviour and argued with him eventually leaving in tears. Kahlo tried to have children but due to the condition of her pelvis she couldn’t carry a child full term. Rivera didn’t want children, partly because his line of work required him to move constantly. While in New York with Rivera in 1932 Kahlo – who was 3  ½ months pregnant – had another miscarriage. On July 4th she was hospitalized at the Henry Ford Hospital where she spent thirteen days recovering during which she painted the well known ‘Henry Ford Hospital’ which documents her tragic event in a very disturbing, graphic yet honest style. When Kahlo received word in early September of 1932 that her mother was terminally ill she went home immediately. Although her relationship with her mother remained distant her whole life she still loved her tenderly. Her mother passed away on September 15th 1932.2 Kahlo was not impressed with the United States, in fact during 1933 – when she went back to New York to be with Rivera she created a painting called ‘My Dress Hangs Here’ which expressed her discontentment with the United States, its social decay and its fundamental human values. In 1934 Kahlo had to abort her third pregnancy at three months at which time she also went through a appendectomy, a surgical removal of the appendix, and an operation on her foot to remove three toes due to gangrene. Soon after she found out that Rivera was having an affair with her younger sister Christina whose husband had abandoned her with two children. Due to this devastating discovery Kahlo separated herself from Rivera feeling betrayed by the two people she loved the most in the world. During 1936 the Spanish Civil War erupted. Kahlo and Rivera worked on behalf of the Republicans, raising money for Mexicans fighting against Franco’s forces. Later in 1937 Kahlo and Rivera helped out an exiled Soviet communist Leon Trotsky and his wife Natalia who stayed at the ‘Blue House’ with them.1 Kahlo and Trotsky had an affair during their stay. Soon after Rivera became aware of Kahlo and Trotsky’s affair and in his rage got a divorce in 1939. Rivera’s rejection made Kahlo more open about her love affairs with women. On December 8th, 1940 Rivera – who is now 54 years old and Kahlo – now 33 got remarried on Kahlo’s two conditions, no sex, and no money, Kahlo took care of herself financially. Kahlo and Rivera were at a constant state of love and war throughout their lives. On April 14th, 1941 Kahlo’s father died of a heart attack at which time Kahlo and Rivera moved into her father’s beloved ‘Blue House.’ For the next two years Kahlo’s notoriety continued to grow and her paintings were shown in Mexico City, New York, Boston and Philadelphia.2 After her father’s death Kahlo’s health slowly diminished, she endured spinal taps, confinement in 28 different corsets and over the next decade several radical operations on her back and leg. Kahlo became depressed in 1944 and kept a journal expressing her emotional feelings through both text and drawing which was later used to better understanding the woman and her art.2 Despite the pain and high dosage of pain killers Kahlo continued to paint, these were shown later in group exhibitions in Mexico. During 1950 Kahlo was hospitalized again and went through seven operations on her spine after which she spent nine months at the hospital recovering. Knowing Kahlo was near her end Lola Alvoraz Bravo held a solo exhibition for Kahlo in Mexico through April 13th-27th of 1950 at the Galeria de Arte Contemporaneo.2 Although Kahlo’s doctors told her she wasn’t well enough to attend she did so anyways from the comfort of her very own bed which was transported by truck to the gallery. In August, 1953 Kahlo’s right leg from the knee down was amputated due to the spread of gangrene. A fitted prosthetic was made for her but due to her addiction to pain killers and her love for alcohol she was not allowed to use it often. Frida Kahlo died on a Tuesday afternoon on the 13th of July in 1954 in her ‘Blue House’ which she was born into 47 years prior. The cause of death was reportedly ‘pulmonary embolism.’2 Suicide was suspected due to Kahlo’s severe depression, but this suspicion was never confirmed. Over 600 mourners passed by Frida Kahlo’s coffin in the Palacio da Bellas Artes. She was dressed in her favourite hupil from the Yalalag district and over-accessorized with jewels. Once asked what to do with her body when she dies Frida Kahlo replied: â€Å"Burn it, I don’t want to be buried I have spent enough time lying down, just burn it!†2 And so Frida Kahlo was cremated, her ashes placed in a pre-Columbian urn which is on display at the ‘Blue House.’ On November 24th, 1957 at the age of 71 Diego Rivera died of heart failure in his San Angel studio in Mexico. The next year on July 12th, 1958 the ‘Blue House’ was officially op ened as the ‘Museo Frida Kahlo.’2