Frida Kahlo was a Mexican painter born in 1907 who has since become a cultural icon and important figure in Mexican, feminist, and art history. A few reasons she is an inspiration of mine are the surrealism and vulnerability in her art, a reverence for her land/culture, and the joyful subversion of normative gender standards – she proudly lived her values with and I hope to maintain that same courage-with-style in my life.
In 2017 I was able to visit her home “La Casa Azul” in Coyoacan, Mexico City. The charming blue home is now a museum, and it was one of the most memorable afternoons of my life to be within the walls where she cried, dreamed, painted, fucked, wrote, loved, and died. To see her actual paints and brushes, her decorated leg prosthetic, to sit in the shade of the trees on the patio – trees alive with her exhalations – to walk the same cobblestone streets, dodging cars.. magical. I highly recommend going if you ever visit Mexico City (which I also recommend). I think she would be proud of her legacy in many ways, but I also think as an anti-capitalist she would have major issues with what has come to be known as “Fridamania” and the extent to which her likeness alone has become an apolitical commodity.
An accident at 18 changed the course of her life forever, physically and mentally. Her body was consumed by pain and she experienced lifelong medical problems. It was while bed-ridden she focused on developing her painting skills. The aspiring professional was also becoming politically active around the same time she met her future husband, the painter Diego Rivera. These pivotal moments as a young woman shaped the trajectory of her life’s work, as a person and an artist. Traveling was another experience that made significant impacts on her life and the development of her values. She solidified her political beliefs being exposed to other ways of living, and it was also through travel that she further developed and became recognized for her artistic style. Kahlo has the distinction of being the first Mexican artist whose work was held in the Louvre collection, regardless of gender. This is a significant accomplishment for any living artist, even moreso for a woman and a woman of color in the 1930s. She was a truly groundbreaking and revolutionary force. Legend.
Pain and dreams inspired much of Kahlo’s work. This is always what drew me to her, as those are some of my lifetime preoccupations as well. She was her own muse. I think this inspiration reflects a value in self-expression, to develop an intimate knowledge of the self through honest reflection to then be able to express it, satisfying the drive and actualizing through art. It is courageous to share such vulnerability and I believe that quality is what makes her work remain so powerful to this day. Being a woman of color who paints herself was a way to claim space for the perspective and experience of women like her, challenging under-representation as creators in the art world and paving the way with paint.
What I like about Frida Kahlo’s “Self-Portrait with Cropped Hair” painting as an exploration of identity is how she demonstrates identity as being an active construction; a dynamic and living state. It’s something you have power over changing and that you have for yourself, regardless of how society wants to identify you. This painting is seen as a response to Kahlo establishing an identity outside of the one constructed of her by Diego Rivera, who loved her long hair and colorful flair. They split and she said fuck it (relatable). As a piano player, I also love the notations along the top. It comes from a folk song and the lyrics read, “Look, if I loved you it was because of your hair. Now that you are without hair, I don’t love you anymore.” I think when I finally cut my hair, I’ll recreate that painting.
She has famously said she paints her own reality, not identifying with genres like “folk art” or “surrealism.” Reality to Kahlo is not limited to the physical and waking realm, but a state that includes dreams and nightmares just the same. Reality is an all-encompassing experience where the impossible is not always irrational. This perspective allows for an unrestricted expression of the self which can then be projected back out into the world. To see new realities unfolding can inspire one to change their own.
Kahlo’s love of Mexican life is reflected in the backgrounds and as subjects of her still life paintings, incorporating the colorful fruits, plants, and animals around her. I think that Mexico was her greatest muse, not only the land but also through herself being a Mexican woman. As an official cultural ambassador through the Ministry of Education, Kahlo was dedicated to creating more opportunities for young Mexican artists, teaching students when she was in good enough health. Perseverance, community, creativity, and bravery are some qualities I recognize in Frida Kahlo and ones which inspire me to live my values, love my communities, continue creating, and to remain fierce in the face of pain and struggles. These pieces “Viva la Vida” and “Marxism Will Give Health to the Sick” were the last paintings she completed before her death in 1954 and seem appropriate to end with. Viva la Vida, y Frida!
(adapted from my 2024 humanities and aesthetics assignments)
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