Frida Kahlos Creativity as a Reflection of Her Suffering - Case Study Example

Frida Kahlo’s Creativity as a Reflection of Inner Pain and Suffering Few people would argue that to understand the artists work, it is necessary to be familiar with his/her life, and vice versa, the knowledge of the artist’s work gives a better understanding of his/her life and motives, which prompted the artist to create a certain kind of pictures. Some lives are the evidence of the existence of an omniscient superhuman fate that can be often unfair to those whom it sends the test. That is how the fate treated the famous Mexican artist Frida Kahlo. Her life is a special case, since all her pictures seem to speak and even scream about the tragic fate of a little strong woman, who all her life fought against the cruelty of her fate. Kahlo’s paintings are full of human emotions such as bitterness, contempt, hatred, resentment, as well as joy, jubilation and even optimism. This makes the work of the artist especially intimate allowing the viewers to find in it what they like most. This paper examines the life of Frida Kahlo in its its indissoluble unity with the work of the artist, which can be seen as the embodiment of the most important topics for Kahlo, namely physical disability resulting in an inability to have children as well as unhappy marriage. Frida Kahlos art is so autobiographical that the viewer can easily read a line of her amazing life. "Naive" creativity of the artist consistently captures all stages of her spiritual and physical development. Birth and death, physical injury and pain, love and passion in her paintings cannot be attributed to any "style". The paintings seem to be created by the blood of the heart of the author, her lifeblood. “Her work, which seems to impinge on both Surrealist and Magical Realist worlds, brings together the purportedly disparate realms of fantasy and reality; mythology and rationality; native Mexican votive art and European high art” (Haynes 1). The inexorable fate first knocked on the door of Frida by sending her a hard form of polio, the consequence of which was a lifelong limp (Kettenmann 10). Getting older Frida was aware of her loneliness, and this loneliness will affect all of her work. The forced difference from others will not only be a bitter note of her work, but also the seed from which a future genius will sprout. Subsequent events in the life of the artist determine the tragedy of her talent. At eighteen, Frida is experiencing a terrible blow of fate: September 17, 1925 she gets into a terrible accident (Kettenmann 17). As a result, Frida receives a lot of fractures. The operations could not help solve Frida’s health problems, and the rest of her days, Frida was doomed to unbearable pain in her back. At the same time, the forced immobility seems to give her spiritual strength and she begins to draw on a special easel, fortified over the bed. Her own reflection in a mirror serves the model for the painting. In this period, the artist created one of the most famous self-portraits. Unbearable pain splashed onto the canvas. Further personal and creative life of Frida is directly related to her husband Diego Rivera who was a Mexican artist as well. The life of the pair was similar to a volcanic eruption, which faded and then came to life with renewed vigor. As a result, their turbulent life together has become a legend. They married in 1929, when Diego was 43 and Frida - 22. Diego was huge and thick; his enormous appearance looked even more convincingly near a small and fragile Frida. Not only art, but also the political namely communist beliefs brought together two artists (Helland 8). Diego and Frida were actively involved in the political life of the period between the two world wars. In 1930, Frida lived in the United States, where her husband worked. This long stay abroad made her yearn for her homeland and feel a national pride. At that time, the career of Frida goes uphill, while family life was close to collapse. She painfully experiences the betrayals of her insatiable giant. Not less sufferings, Frida survived due to the inability to have children as a result of the numerous injuries and illnesses that Frieda experienced at an early age. Doctors have not provided a final judgment with respect to Frida’s ability to have children, and still hoping for posterity, the woman hardly bears two pregnancies – the first one from Diego Rivera, and the second one, being tired of his endless betrayals, from her lover. Both pregnancies end in failure. As a result, Frida draws the paintings screaming about motherhood, some of which depict the horrific images of dead children, and even abortion. Inability to become a mother is a bitter motive for her work (Little 33). Another favorite theme of the artist is the psychological duality of her personality. Looking at the painting The Two Fridas (1939), allows one to see the duality of its author. “Both faces remain calm and impassive, both a testament to Kahlo’s strength, and a poised depiction that would serve to comfort Kahlo through the period of turmoil” (Little 37). Some Frida’s self-portraits are ironic, others demonstrate Frida’s attitude to her Diego, whom she both passionately loves and passionately hates. The theme of suffering permeates sufficiently large number of paintings by the artist. Suffering is represented in its various forms. An example of the expression of the suffering of Frida’s tortured body can be considered her painting The Broken Column (1944). This painting is full of strength of expression of physical pain: Frida is depicted with a huge pin, piercing her body, which is completely studded with nails. Other forms of Frida’s suffering are expressed by the suffering from unrealized parent instinct since similar to any woman Frida always wanted to have children but cruel fate did not allow her to do it. This was one of the tragic motives for the artist’s work. Despite this, it will be wrong to focus on the suffering and misery as the only motives of Kahlo’s creativity. In fact, in the paintings of the artist, the viewer can observe not only suffering, but also irony, a riot of colors, deep philosophy, as well as black humor (skeletons tied to dancers), excessive naturalism (bleeding organs of the human body), and paradoxes. For this reason it is possible to agree that “Frida Kahlo painted herself but she also unveiled the stories of women who give birth to pools of blood” (qtd. in Bakewell 165). To sum up, the magnetism of Frida Kahlo as a woman and as the artist can be explained by the fact that she was a strong and courageous woman who was not afraid to admit that she was suffering primarily as a woman who longs for love and understanding. Kahlo’s fate is the fate of an unhappy woman who was unable to find happiness in her personal life because she faced numerous infidelities of her husband and could not have children. Having children could give her the strength, but alas, Frida was deprived of this opportunity. For this reason, she had to look for the source of spiritual strength and fortitude in herself. Art has become a force that prevented Kahlo go crazy. Art inspired Kahlo and simultaneously was the way through which Frida could pour out her soul and somehow get a small relief. Frida’s life was full of tragedy and disappointment. However, in spite of the burden, the woman found the strength to move on and create unique masterpieces. There is no doubt that for many modern women the life and work of Frida Kahlo are a wonderful example of the female resilience and courage able to draw inspiration even from personal experiences and suffering. I regard Frida Kahlo as a major figure in history because she embodies the ideal of not only a strong but also insanely talented woman whose paintings continue to fascinate and attract the viewers attention. Her significance lies in the fact that by using artistic means she could expose her feminine soul and tell the whole world about the wealth of the female soul as having the ability to dream, to love, to hate, and to suffer. Works Cited Bakewell, Liza. “Frida Kahlo: A Contemporary Feminist Reading.” A Journal of Women Studies 13. 3 (1993): 165-189. Web. 17 Nov. 2014. Haynes, Anna. “Frida Kahlo: An Artist In Between.” eSharp 6.2 (2006): 1-18. Print. Helland, Janice. "Aztec Imagery in Frida Kahlos Paintings." Womans Art Journal 11 (1990/1991): 8-13. Print. Kettenmann, Andrea. Frida Kahlo, 1907-1954: Pain and Passion. Cologne, Germany: Taschen. 2003. Print. Little, Stacey. “Frida Kahlo’s Autobiography: A Life in Painting.” Cross-sections 5 (2009): 31-40. Print. Read More