Frida Kahlo And Her Husband Diego Rivera example essay topic

Frida Kahlo was an incredibly amazing woman. Her life was filled with physical as well as emotional pain. She endured more in her short life than most people will ever have to face. But she endured. She put her emotions into her painting, and as it were, she wore her heart on her canvas. Her work is a rare blend of true emotion, heartbreak, love, and life, as well as death.

Most of her paintings were self-portraits. She said, "I paint self-portraits because I am the person I know best. I paint my own reality. The only thing I know is that I paint because I need to, and I paint whatever passes through my head without any other considerations". She recorded her life in paint. Her imagery and style were very original, dramatic, and courageous.

Her husband, the famous Mexican muralist Diego Rivera, said: "Frida is the only example in the history of art of an artist who tore open her chest and heart to reveal the biological truth of her feelings. The only woman who has expressed in her work an art of the feelings, functions, and creative power of woman". Frida Kahlo was a bright young woman who had no intentions of being the famous artist that she would become. Frida Kahlo, was born on July 6th, 1907, in Coy oac " an, Mexico. Frida's entire life was plagued with suffering, Stricken with Polio at the age of six, one of her legs would remain smaller than the other permanently, which of course attracted stares and teasing from other children. At first, her dream was to attend medical school and become a famous doctor.

However, on September 17, 1925 on her way home from school, she was involved in a tragic bus accident that had a serious impact on her life. was found barely alive, with a handrail pierced deeply in her slender body. She was in an unbearable pain. In addition, to the terrible wound in her abdomen, her spine had been fractured in three places; she had also suffered a fractured pelvis, a dislocated shoulder, two broken ribs, and shattered bones in her right leg and foot. It was while recovering from her extensive injuries in the hospital that Frida began to paint. Although Frida's family sacrificed almost all they had in order to get her the best available care, but she never fully recovered, and was forced to used braces and custom made corsets in order to be able to just walk and stand.

Frida's parents even had a special easel custom made to accommodate her condition. Frida gave up on becoming a doctor, and decided to continue painting. Her accident had not only changed the course of her life, it would also prove to be a main source of inspiration for her work, which was mostly comprised of sometimes disturbing self-portraits, images of death, and suffering. PIC This tragedy inspired Frida's first painting. This retablo, or votive offering, was Khalo's first and only painting of the 1925 bus accident. The figure at the upper left is the Virgin of Sorrows, and the writing to the bottom expresses the Kahlos' gratitude to the Virgin for sparing the life of their daughter.

In 1929, the 22 year-old Frida marries the 43 year old Diego Rivera, a famous painter of murals who would soon thereafter become her husband. The two were drawn together on many levels, first off, was art, then Communism, and also their interest in traditional Mexican Indian culture. Frida Kahlo and her husband Diego Rivera went to the United States when Diego Rivera became tired of being hounded in his homeland, Mexico. While in America Diego was the center of attention. However Frida was disgusted by American customs. In America Frida lingered in the shadows of Rivera because she was only viewed as his wife.

Frida became homesick in the U. S and this inspired her to paint. PIC Kahlo painted Self-portrait on the Border Line Between Mexico and the United States. The painting vividly contrasts the mechanized culture of the United States with the fertile, mythic allure of Mexico; the Mexican flag in Kahlo's hand clearly indicates her preference. Her artwork seemed to be a dream world pulling a person into the canvas, to experience her emotions. Although the couple did share intense passion, Frida was never able to have children. She been left barren by her accident, She had several miscarriages, which caused her to be horribly depressed.

She purged her emotions on her canvas. Her paintings are often violent-looking, bloody, and severe. But they simply represent the truth of what was happening to her. Since she could not be a mother, Frida lavished her attention on her many pets: dogs, cats, monkeys, and birds, as well as on her plants. PIC Her plants and animals often are featured in her self-portraits, taking the place of children.

Frida and Diego divorced in 1939, but they remarried in 1940, realizing their passion was stronger than their physical needs, and that their relationship could work if they tried to control their temperaments. Their divorce inspired Frida to paint. Yet a year later she and Diego remarried. PIC The Two Frida, was painted around the time she and Diego got a divorce.

One Frida is the loved Frida, dark-skinned and wearing Mexican dress, holding a picture of Diego. She is holding hands with the other Frida, who is paler and in European dress and who has a broken, exposed heart. Her torn emotions are clearly displayed on the canvas. Frida's health got even worse in 1950 and she was hospitalized for a year. She had more operations and her leg had to be amputated for the reason it was infected with gangrene.

Because of this she wrote in her diary: "Feet, what do I need them for, if I have wings to fly?" She still painted in bed when she could, painting had become a tremendous source of spiritual support for her. Yet the pain was becoming unbearable and she wanted to die. She was suffering more than ever in her life. She was preoccupied with death. Her paintings reflected her depression, often including skeletons and other grim images. She eventually died on July 13, 1954.

She had died in her sleep, apparently from an embolism. Though there is a fair bit of speculation that she took her own life, escaping the pain of her existence. Once again she was inspired to paint. PIC In the painting Tree of Hope, again we see two Frida's. One is in bright Tehuana costume and guards over the injured Frida, who is seen on a hospital gurney with surgical cuts on her back. She had numerous operations (about 35 in her life), she had to wear a steel corset to support her spinal column, and was frequently in the hospital.