Frida Kahlo is one of the brightest and most distinctive artists of the 20th century. Her biography contained an endless chain of personal dramas, physical suffering, passion for politics, great love and painting, for which this extraordinary woman lived.
Childhood and youth
Frida Kahlo was born in 1907 in Mexico City. The girl's father was a German Jew, her mother was a Mexican born in America. The baby lived in a friendly and fairly wealthy family, but soon fate sent her the first test - polio. The treatment was difficult and did not end very well - a lifelong limp. Peers teased little Frida, making fun of her "wooden leg". However, the rapidly growing girl was not hurt by evil jokes. She quite successfully ran, swam, boxed and played football with the yard boys. Very often, it was Frida who was the ringleader in street skirmishes - a damaged leg did not interfere with her makings of a leader. In addition, the limb, withered by the disease, was perfectly hidden by wide baggy trousers and comfortable men's boots. Growing up, Frida learned to mask the flaw by dressing up in national Mexican clothes with pleated skirts that fall to the floor. The attention was distracted by massive silver jewelry, lush colored blouses, fancy headdresses. And, of course, the girl's face is not too beautiful, but bright, lively, and memorable.
Frida was distinguished by a single-minded character, a desire to learn, and excellent abilities. She planned a career in medicine and was preparing to enter the university. But the plans were canceled out by a single trip. On a warm September day, together with a friend of Frida, get on the bus. At the nearest intersection near the market, a tram crashes into it. The result of the disaster is terrible - the spine is broken in three places, the crippled right leg - in eleven, the foot is shattered, the pelvis is crushed. And most importantly - a thick iron pin that pierced the girl's body. As the artist herself later said, it was this rough metal that deprived her of her virginity. From a terrible blow, all the clothes were torn from the body, the girl was covered with dry gold paint, which was carried by one of the passengers. Surprisingly, after terrible injuries, Frida survived, forever losing the opportunity to have children.
Artist: the beginning
Kahlo's creative biography began precisely after the disaster. After several painful operations, the girl was sentenced to bed rest. The injured leg was placed in a cast, and an ingenious orthopedic corset was put on the body, fixing and stretching the spine. To distract herself from physical suffering, oppressive loneliness and hopelessness, Frida took up a brush. Lying on her back, she attached a stretcher to the bed and worked with both hands at once, creating bright, unusual and slightly insane canvases in a naive style with bright national motives.
The main heroine of the paintings is Kahlo herself. While drawing, she created a kind, extremely frank diary, not hesitating to depict the most secret thoughts, dreams, fears and memories. Endless portraits are not at all self-centered or narcissistic. It's just that the world for the artist narrowed down to the hospital ward, and the young artist had plenty of time for introspection, reflections and plans. The parents fixed a mirror on a homemade stretcher, and the girl could study her own face for hours. Doctors did not make rosy forecasts - many believed that Frida would forever remain a cripple, confined to a bed or, at best, to a wheelchair.
However, another miracle happened - the exhausted girl got to her feet. For another two years she wore a heavy and uncomfortable corset, carefully masking it with loose blouses and colorful shawls. The recovery was incomplete - the girl was tormented by severe pains, every step was given to her with difficulty. Frida has repeatedly admitted that she lives only for the sake of painting - it was in her, and not in medicine, that she saw the future.
At 22, the artist entered the most prestigious art institute, where girls were rarely admitted. Of the 1,000 students, only 35 were of the fair sex, and Frida was undoubtedly the brightest and most talented of them. At the institute, another event took place that determined her fate - a meeting with her future husband. Among the first, original, but rather restrained works:
- “Self-portrait in a velvet dress”;
- "Portrait of Christina";
- "Two women";
- "Bus".
Diego and Frida: the union of an elephant and a dove
Diego Rivera is a successful Mexican artist with his own bold style of painting, a lover of life, a joker, an incorrigible heartthrob. He recently returned from France, was popular, was a recognized authority. It was to him that Frida came, planning to improve her style, to give the painting the lack of accuracy and firmness. The meeting resulted in a passionate romance. On the part of a twenty-two-year-old girl - all the power of feelings, awakening passion, frenzied temperament. On the part of the forty-two-year-old giant - indulgent interest, surprise, tenderness. Gradually, Rivera yields to the pressure of Frida and falls in love with her himself. A proposal follows, an explanation with the beloved's father, a crowded noisy wedding.
Family life was not calm. Frida was madly in love and jealous of her husband, who was not distinguished by loyalty. Violent scandals ended in hot reconciliation, and then again escalated into quarrels. The spouses bickered and because of disagreements in work - Rivera was enraged that the young wife dared to criticize his work. At the same time, her own work was very successful - Frida's paintings were exhibited at home and abroad. They did not bring financial well-being during their lifetime, but after the death of the artist, the works were sold at auctions for astronomical amounts. Record - $ 7 million for one of the self-portraits painted on a sheet of metal. During this period, ambiguous, frightening and piercing canvases were created:
- Self-portrait (dedicated to Leon Trotsky);
- Diego and Frida;
- "Diego in Thoughts";
- "Little Doe";
- "Self-portrait with Stalin";
- "Memory";
- Henry Ford Hospital (Flying Bed);
- "My birth";
- "A few small scratches."
The marriage lasted only five years, then the couple separated - to move in again a year later. Such a relationship will last for the artist's entire life. She herself was also not distinguished by high morality, tying up affairs not only with men, but also with women.
One of the most famous lovers of Frida was Leon Trotsky, who fled with his wife to Mexico. The Rivera couple, who shared the convictions of the revolutionary, settled refugees in their home, the romance was stormy, but short. In 1940, Trotsky was assassinated, but the relationship ended long before the tragic end. Some biographers ascribe to the artist an affair with Vladimir Mayakovsky, but there was no exact evidence of this.
The end of the creator and eternal life
In the 40s, the artist painted the brightest and most mature works. However, over the years, Frida's already fragile health deteriorated significantly. Numerous injuries made themselves felt more and more often. The injured leg was struck by gangrene, the limb had to be taken away. In recent months, the artist did not get out of bed, but continued to work. All tragic events, unfulfilled dreams and mental anguish are reflected in the canvases of this period - piercing, symbolic, sometimes terrible. The last picture was completed just 8 days before his death. Among the most striking works of the 40-50s:
- Self-Portrait with Cropped Hair;
- "Sleep";
- “Self-portrait in the Image of Tejuan”;
- Broken Column;
- "Without hope";
- "Two Frida";
- "Roots";
- "Marxism heals the sick."
Frida Kahlo de Rivera left a bright mark on Mexican and global culture. A museum has been created in her family estate, one of the most popular exhibits is an urn with the ashes of Frida herself. Personal belongings, numerous paintings and sketches, a diary that she wrote in the last years of her life are also kept here.
The memory of the artist is immortalized in documentary and fiction books, films, performances. The charisma and bright personality of a fragile, courageous, extraordinary and mysterious woman attracts creative people. Frida's spectacular appearance and the image she created inspire fashion designers, artists, musicians.
