The bride's parents called their union "the marriage of an elephant and a dove." Indeed, the groom was 21 years older than the bride, one hundred kilograms heavier, two heads taller, outwardly ugly, but was known as a desperate womanizer.
Diego Rivera was called the Toad Prince - for all his bulky, awkward appearance, he was endowed with enormous charm - full of brilliant humor, vitality, sensuality and tenderness. This attracted women. In addition, by the time of his second marriage, Rivera had long since become famous as a muralist. He received orders from both private art connoisseurs and the Mexican government.
Since 1922, Rivera was a member of the Mexican Communist Party, in 1927-28 he visited the Soviet Union, and a few years before that he hosted Mayakovsky. In Mexico City, all the boys knew the famous artist’s house. And here's the sensation: Diego is marrying some unknown girl from Coyoacan, a nearby suburb of Mexico City.
The bride's name was Frida Kahlo. She was born into the family of photographer Guillermo Calo, a Hungarian Jewish emigrant, and local beauty Matilda Calderon. Matilda gave birth to her husband two girls. The eldest, Frida, who looked like her mother, became her father’s favorite. She was distinguished by a lively mind, irrepressible temperament and capricious character. Frida's rapid run through the school corridors resembled the flight of a bird. This was especially surprising to those who knew that at the age of six the girl suffered from polio.
The bird's flight ended in 1925, when Frida turned eighteen. The bus she was traveling in crashed into a tram at full speed. Frida seriously injured her spine and pelvis, broke her ribs and collarbone. The treatment lasted several years. The girl underwent thirty-three operations, changed twenty-eight corsets, and was tormented by constant pain. It seemed that the spirit was the only thing that survived in her body. “I’m alive, and in addition I have something to live for,” she told her mother. “For the sake of painting.” It was painting that brought Frida and Diego Rivera together.
She noticed the overweight man painting the walls in the courtyard of the preparatory school while she was sitting at her desk. And a few years later I decided to show him my drawings. Perhaps out of fear and embarrassment the girl behaved impudently. I was afraid that the master would not talk to the girl. But the master did not drive him away. On the contrary, I was very interested. It’s just not clear what struck Diego more: her drawings or herself. One way or another, soon the venerable artist asked Frida’s father for her hand. Like all fathers, Guillermo was jealous of his daughter’s groom. When the matter took a serious turn, he tried to cool the lover’s ardor: “My daughter will remain sick for the rest of her life. Think about it, and if you don’t think twice about getting married, I will give my consent.”
Frida appeared at the wedding in all the splendor of her bright ugliness. A jade necklace of the pre-Columbian era adorned her neck, heavy pendant earrings glittered in her ears, and a long skirt in the national style covered her sore legs. Frida, beaming with happiness, could not help but arouse the evil jealousy of Diego’s ex-wife, Lupe Marin. A tipsy Lupe lifted up the bride’s skirt and shouted: “Look, these are the matches this fool traded my delicious legs for!”
A scandal broke out. Out of frustration, the groom took too much, smashed a lot of things and, in addition, shot someone’s finger. The newlyweds quarreled, and Frida went to her parents. Only a few days later Rivera managed to bring her home.
Soon after the wedding, Lupe Marin visited the newlyweds again. She looked around the house like a proprietor, went to the market with Frida, helped her choose kitchen utensils and other utensils, then taught her to cook Rivera’s favorite dishes. She explained that Diego usually has breakfast at his workplace. Food should be brought there in a basket covered with a napkin with the inscription “I adore you.” Lupe adopted this custom from Mexican peasant women.
The newlyweds' delights in love were interspersed with violent quarrels. Rivera had no intention of giving up his habits: he still spent a lot of time with his ex-girlfriends. In addition, he did not tolerate criticism. And Frida, who had an artistic flair, never denied herself the pleasure of pointing out the master’s flaws. He threw his brush in a rage, showered his wife with curses and left the house. And when he returned, as a sign of reconciliation, he showered her with gifts - beads, earrings, pendants. 
Frida loved jewelry. It doesn't matter what they were made of - precious stones or cheap glass, gold or tin. Indian blood made itself felt. The girl loved colorful Mexican clothes and multi-colored laces in her hair.
Frida perceived her famous husband as a big child. She often depicted him as a baby lying in her arms. After severe injuries, Frida could not have children and gave all her unspent maternal feelings to her husband. She bathed him in the bathtub, throwing a bunch of toys into it. True, the couple did not give up hope of having offspring. Three times doctors recognized Frida as pregnant, and three times the pregnancy ended in miscarriage. In the hope of more qualified medical care, Rivera took his wife to the United States.
Frida didn't like the United States. “Secular society irritates me,” she wrote in her diary, “and all these rich people infuriate me, because I saw thousands of people in the most terrible poverty, completely without food, without shelter, this made the strongest impression on me. How terrible it is to see rich people partying day and night while thousands and thousands of people are dying of hunger... Although I am very interested in the industrial development of the United States, I find that Americans are completely devoid of sensitivity and good taste... They live like in a huge chicken coop, where it is very dirty and uncomfortable. Houses are like ovens, and all the conveniences they talk about are a myth. I don’t know, maybe I’m wrong, but I’m just telling you how I feel.”
The trip did not bring Frida happiness. In Detroit, she fell ill, so much so that the doctors once again found a reason to declare her childless. The experiences were expressed in paintings whose names speak for themselves: “Henry Ford Hospital”, “Flying Bed”.
From that time on, a new stage began in Frida’s work, about which Diego said this: “... She begins work on a whole series of masterpieces that the history of painting has never known - paintings that glorify the perseverance of a woman in the face of harsh truth, inexorable reality, human cruelty, bodily and mental torment."
Rivera himself did not sit idle in the United States. Nelson Rockefeller commissioned him to paint a mural on the wall of Radio City (now Rockefeller Center). Diego portrayed capitalism as “brutal financial tycoons and corrupt women in the last stages of syphilis.” And above this panorama he placed portraits of Marx, Engels, Lenin, Trotsky and other revolutionary leaders. These portraits, especially the image of Lenin, displeased the customer. He demanded that the person “who could offend the feelings of so many people be replaced with some neutral character.” Frida advised her husband not to compromise, and as a result, all the work was destroyed by order of Rockefeller.
The passion for the ideas of revolution, which initially united Diego and Frida, soon became the cause of family drama. In 1936, fleeing Stalin’s persecution, the “demon of the revolution” Leon Trotsky and his wife Natalya Sedova arrived in Mexico. Diego and Frida, enthusiastic admirers of the Russian revolution in general and Trotsky in particular, met the disgraced couple and invited them to their place. Since no one was expecting emigrants from Russia in Mexico, this invitation turned out to be very opportune.
In fact, Lev Davydovich found himself completely dependent on Diego and Frida. But none of them paid attention to this. The warmest friendships began between the men. The women also became friends with each other. Trotsky called the Mexican “the greatest guide” of the October Revolution. “These are not just paintings,” he wrote about Rivera’s frescoes, “not objects of passive aesthetic contemplation, they are a living part of the class struggle.”
The idyll collapsed because of Trotsky’s ardent love for Frida. Their romance turned out to be bright, but very short. Most likely, Frida did not experience any special feelings for Trotsky. On her part, this was probably revenge on her husband for his countless love affairs, especially for his affair with her beloved sister Christina. However, no matter how hard Frida tried to avoid scandal, Diego found out about her affair with his close friend. Trotsky had to quickly look for another place to live. He found himself in the Mexican wilderness with almost no means of support and was soon brutally killed by an agent sent by Stalin.
And in the Rivera family the atmosphere became increasingly tense. Diego did not want to forgive his wife. Frida could not recover from the shock caused by her husband’s relationship with her sister. In 1939, the couple decided to separate. Frida went to New York. Trying to forget Rivera, she started one affair after another. And soon terrible pain began in the spine, and the kidneys began to fail.
At this time she created the masterpiece “The Two Fridas”. This is a double self-portrait. The first Frida, in a Mexican costume, is happy and loved, she holds a medallion with the image of Diego. The second, in European dress, is lonely and unhappy. A medical needle with a tube sticks out of her arm. Blood flows through this tube, life leaves.
And yet, despite such a sad picture, Frida hoped that her beloved would return. He actually found her in a San Francisco clinic. By this time, she had undergone one severe operation and was preparing for a second, also serious one. According to doctors' forecasts, she had to spend the rest of her days in bed without taking off her rigid corset.
Diego knelt down in front of her and begged for forgiveness. The feeling between the former spouses flared up with renewed vigor. Happy Rivera left to put his house in order, and she sent him letters full of love: “Diego, soon we will unite forever, without scandals and everything else - to just love each other. I love you more than ever. Your little girl Frida." In 1940 they married for the second time.
There is no doubt that Rivera, despite all his hobbies, never stopped loving Frida. He wrote: “She had an elegant, nervous body and a gentle face. Long hair, dark thick eyebrows connected at the bridge of the nose. They looked like the wings of a blackbird, and from under them two amazing brown eyes looked at me.”
And here is Frida’s confession: “No one will ever understand how much I love Diego. I want one thing: that no one hurt him or bother him, or deprive him of the energy that he needs to live. Live the way he likes - write, look, love, eat, sleep, be alone, meet with friends, but just don’t lose heart.” Note that these words were written by a woman bedridden. “I’m not sick,” she said. - I'm broken. But I’m happy to live as long as I can draw.”
Perfume "Shocking" Before her illness, in 1938, Frida Kahlo, at the invitation of the writer Andre Breton, brought her works to Paris and created a sensation there. One of the paintings was bought by the Louvre. Even her famous husband was not given such an honor. However, the Mexican woman captivated the discerning French not only with her painting, but also with her exotic appearance. Portraits of Frida appeared on the covers of magazines. The trendsetter of high fashion, Elsa Schiaparelli, created the famous “Madame Rivera” dress and the “Shocking” perfume to go with it, thereby establishing a whole direction and style.
In the world of high fashion, the memory of the amazing Mexican woman is still alive. In 1998, Jean Paul Gaultier created an entire collection of clothes under the motto “Frida”. It was demonstrated by girls with fused eyebrows and crowns of black hair decorated with flowers and ribbons.
She really loved flowers. She generally loved everything that was created by nature. Fertility symbols are found in many of her paintings: flowers, fruits, monkeys, parrots. They are entwined with ribbons, necklaces, vines, blood vessels and thorny thorn branches. She recognized the right to life for everything that lives, even for that which can injure or kill. This is love - the great celebration of life.
Frida didn't want to die. In 1954, eight days before her death, she painted a still life of cut watermelons against a dark background. On the flesh, red as blood, you can read: “VIVA LA VIDA!” (“Long live life!”). This symbol of love conquering death was invented by the artist. And on one of the last pages in her diary Diego found this poem:
I was able to do a lot
I will be able to walk
I can draw
I love Diego more
What I love about myself
My will is great
My will is alive.
Frida Kahlo painting:
Viva la Vida, 1954 
There is a district of Coyoacan in Mexico City, where at the intersection of Londres and Allende streets you can find a sky-blue house built in a colonial style, famous throughout Mexico. It houses a museum of the famous Mexican artist Frida Kahlo, the exhibition of which is entirely dedicated to her difficult life, extraordinary creativity and enormous talent.
The house, painted a bright blue, has belonged to Frida's parents since 1904. Here in 1907, on July 6, the future artist was born, who at birth was named Magdalena Carmen Frida Kahlo Calderon. The girl's father, Gulermo Calo, a Jew who came to Mexico from Germany, was engaged in photography. Mother Matilda was a native of America and of Spanish origin. Since childhood, the girl was not in good health; polio, suffered at the age of 6, left a mark on her life forever; Frida was lame in her right leg. Thus, fate struck Frida for the first time. (with a visit to the Frida Kahlo Museum)
Frida's first love
Disability failed to break the child’s character and strong spirit, despite his disability. She, along with the neighboring boys, went in for sports, hiding her developmentally delayed short leg under trousers and long skirts. Throughout her childhood, Frida led an active life, striving to be the first in everything. At the age of 15, she was selected for preparatory school and was going to become a doctor, although even then she showed interest in painting, but considered her hobby frivolous. It was at this time that she met and became interested in the famous artist Diego Rivera, telling her friends that she would certainly become his wife and give birth to a son from him. Despite all his external unattractiveness, women were madly in love with Rivera, and he, in turn, reciprocated their feelings. The artist took pleasure in making the heart that loved him suffer, and Frida Kahlo did not escape this fate, but a little later.
Fatal coincidence
One day, on a rainy September evening in 1925, trouble suddenly came to the lively and funny girl. A fatal coincidence of circumstances collided with the bus in which Frida was traveling with a tram car. The girl received serious injuries, almost incompatible with life, according to doctors. She had broken ribs, both legs, and the limb, which had suffered from an illness in childhood, was damaged in 11 places. The spine received a triple fracture, the pelvic bones were crushed. The metal railings of the bus pierced her stomach, possibly depriving her of the joy of motherhood forever. Fate dealt her its second crushing blow. And only great fortitude and a huge thirst for life helped 18-year-old Frida survive and undergo about 30 operations.
For a whole year, the girl was deprived of the opportunity to get out of bed; she was terribly burdened by forced inactivity. It was then that she remembered her interest in painting and began to paint her first paintings. At her request, her father brought brushes and paints to the hospital. He designed a special easel for his daughter, which was located above Frida’s bed so that she could paint while lying down. From this moment the countdown began in the work of the great artist, which at that time was expressed mainly in her own portraits. After all, the only thing the girl saw in the mirror hanging under the bed canopy was her face, familiar to the smallest detail. All the difficult emotions, all the pain and despair, were reflected in Frida Kahlo’s numerous self-portraits.
Through pain and tears
Frida's titanic strength of character and her indestructible will to win did their job, the girl got to her feet. Shackled in corsets, overcoming severe pain, she finally began to walk on her own; this was a huge victory for Frida over fate, which was trying to break her. At the age of 22, in the spring of 1929, Frida Kahlo entered the prestigious National Institute, where she again met Diego Rivera. Here she finally decides to show him her work. The venerable artist appreciated the girl’s creations, and at the same time became interested in her. A dizzying romance broke out between a man and a woman, which ended in a wedding in August of the same year. 22-year-old Frida became the wife of a 43-year-old fat man and womanizer, Rivera.
New breath of Frida - Diego Rivera
The newlyweds' life together began with a stormy scandal right during the wedding, and seethed with passions throughout. They were connected by great, sometimes painful feelings. As a creative person, Diego was not distinguished by fidelity and often cheated on his wife, without particularly hiding this fact. Frida forgave, sometimes in a fit of anger and in revenge on her husband, she tried to have affairs, but the jealous Rivera nipped them in the bud, and quickly put the presumptuous wife and potential lover in their place. Until, one day, he cheated on Frida with her own younger sister. This was the third blow that fate, the villain, dealt to the woman.
Frida's patience came to an end and the couple separated. Having left for New York, she tried in every possible way to erase Diego Rivera from her life, had dizzying novels one after another and suffered not only from love for her unfaithful husband, but also from physical pain. Her injuries were increasingly making themselves known. Therefore, when doctors offered the artist surgery, she agreed without hesitation. It was during this difficult time that Diego found a fugitive in one of the clinics and again proposed marriage to her. The couple were together again.
Works of Frida Kahlo
All of the artist’s paintings are strong, sensual and individual; they echo incidents and events in the life of a young woman, and many show the bitterness of unfulfilled hopes. For most of her family life, Frida was eager to conceive and bear a child, despite her husband’s categorical refusal to have children. All three of her pregnancies, unfortunately, ended in failure. This fact, disastrous for Frida, was the prerequisite for painting the painting “Henry Ford Hospital,” in which all the pain of a woman who never managed to become a mother spilled out.
And the work entitled “Just a Few Scratches,” which depicts the artist herself bleeding from wounds inflicted by her husband, reflects the depth, cruelty and tragedy of the marital relationship between Frida and Diego.
Leon Trotsky in the life of Frida Kahlo
An ardent communist and revolutionary, Rivera infected his wife with his ideas; many of her paintings became their embodiment and were dedicated to prominent figures of communism. In 1937, at the invitation of Diego, Lev Davidovich Trotsky stayed in the couple’s house, fleeing political persecution in hot Mexico. Rumor attributes a romantic background to the relationship between Kahlo and Trotsky; the allegedly temperamental Mexican woman won the heart of the Soviet revolutionary and, despite his venerable age, he became interested in her like a boy. But Frida quickly became bored with Trotsky’s obsession, reason prevailed over feelings, and the woman found the strength to break off the short romance.
The vast majority of Frida Kahlo’s paintings are imbued with national motifs; she treated the culture and history of her homeland with great devotion and respect, collecting works of folk art and giving preference to national costumes even in ordinary everyday life. The world appreciated Kahlo’s works only a decade and a half after the start of her creative career, at the Paris exhibition of Mexican art, organized by a devoted admirer of her talent, the French writer Andre Breton.
Public recognition of Frida's work
Frida’s works created a real sensation, not only in “mere mortal” minds, but also in the ranks of venerable artists of that time, among whom were such famous painters as P. Picasso and V. Kandinsky. And one of her paintings was honored and was placed in the Louvre. However, these successes left Kahlo quite indifferent; she did not want to fit into the framework of any standards, and did not consider herself to be part of any of their artistic movements. She had her own style, unlike others, which still puzzles art critics, although due to the high symbolism, many considered her paintings to be surreal.
Along with universal recognition, Frida’s illness worsens, having undergone several operations on the spine, she loses the ability to move independently and is forced to transfer to a wheelchair, and soon loses her right leg altogether. Diego is constantly with his wife, caring for her, refusing orders. Just at this time, her long-time dream is being realized: the first large personal exhibition opens, to which the artist arrives in an ambulance, straight from the hospital, and literally “flies” into the hall on a sanitary stretcher.
Frida Kahlo's legacy
Frida Kahlo died in her sleep, at the age of 47, from pneumonia, being recognized as a great artist, her ashes and death mask are still kept in the house - a museum, opened two years after her death, in the house where all her life passed. not an easy life. Everything related to the name of the great artist is collected here. The decor and atmosphere in which Frida and Diego lived have been preserved with impeccable precision, and the things that belonged to the spouses, it would seem, still retain the warmth of their hands. Brushes, paints and an easel with an unfinished painting, everything looks as if the author is about to return and continue working. In Rivera's bedroom, on a hanger, his hats and overalls are waiting for their owner.
The museum preserves many of the great artist’s personal belongings, clothes, shoes, jewelry, as well as objects reminiscent of her physical suffering: a boot from her shortened right leg, corsets, a wheelchair and an artificial leg that Kahlo wore after the amputation of a limb. There are photographs of the spouses everywhere, books and albums are laid out and, of course, their immortal paintings. (you can visit the Frida Kahlo Museum in ours)
When you enter the courtyard of the “blue house,” you understand how dear the memory of the legendary woman is to Mexicans due to its ideal cleanliness and decoration, and the strange figurines made of red clay placed everywhere tell visitors about the couple’s love for works of art from pre-Columbian America.
Viva la vida!
For the people of Mexico, and for all of humanity, Frida Kahlo will forever remain a national heroine and an example of enormous love of life and courage. Despite the pain and suffering that went hand in hand with her all her life, she never lost her optimism, sense of humor and presence of mind. Isn’t this what the inscription made on her last painting, 8 days before her death, says: “Viva la vida” - “Long live life.”
The life story of the inimitable Mexican artist, communist and rebel Frida Kahlo, who, despite her physical ailments, drove men crazy. Today, her works hang in the best museums in the world and sell out at auctions in a matter of seconds.
At the age of 18, Frida was in a terrible accident: the bus she was riding on collided with a tram.
The result is a triple fracture of the spine, a triple fracture of the pelvis, eleven fractures of the bones of the right leg, a crushed foot, fractures of the collarbones and ribs. On top of everything, Frida found herself literally impaled on an iron railing, which pierced her stomach and uterus.
The doctors saved her, she spent a year in bed in an orthopedic corset, but the pain remained forever. Unbearable physical suffering resulted in brilliant and equally sick painting - a kind of autobiographical sur-confession.
A wheelchair and a cast are her almost constant means of transportation and outfit. 32 operations, long months in hospitals.A special stretcher that allowed you to write while lying down.
But I wanted to live.She tried to waltz in the stroller, and painted butterflies on the cast - “I laugh at death so that it doesn’t take away the best that is in me...”
From 1944 until her death in 1954, Frida kept a diary.It sat in a locked archive of the Mexican government for forty years before it was published, becoming an instant bestseller.
170 pages with watercolors and collages, memories of childhood, notes about illness and painful love for her husband: “There were two accidents in my life: one was when a bus crashed into a tram, the other was Diego.”
“Diego is the beginning, Diego is my child, Diego is my friend, Diego is the artist, Diego is my father, Diego is my lover, Diego is my husband, Diego is my mother, Diego is myself, Diego is everything.”
She sought the love of the great Mexican macho for a long time.Diego Rivera was 20 years older, scary, fat and adored by women.The list of his mistresses was incalculable. And yet, Frida vowed to marry him and have a son.
The first came true - the sexy lame woman with fused eyebrows still won the heart of the famous painter.
But the passionate dream of a child remained a dream, the result of that accident was three miscarriages and severe depression, aggravated by Diego’s constant infidelities.
"I tried to drown my sorrows, but these bastards learned to swim..."
Rivera himself liked to portray himself as a fat toad with someone's heart in his hand.
The more I love women, the more I want to make them suffer,” he said.
In the end, Rivera seduced Kahlo's younger sister, Christina, which was the last straw, and he and Frida divorced.
But a year later they got married again; Frida couldn’t live without Diego.
True, she did not make a respectable wife. Frida had a lively and liberated extroverted nature, and her daily speech was littered with foul language. A tomboy in her youth, she retained her zest in later years. Kahlo smoked heavily, drank alcohol in excess (especially tequila), was openly bisexual, sang obscene songs and told equally obscene jokes to the guests of her wild parties.
Frida’s connection with Trotsky was not advertised for a long time - in the 1960s, the paintings of the communist Diego were very popular in the USSR, but no one remembered his wife.
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This is because while in Mexico, the legendary Soviet People's Commissar first became close to the Rivera family on the basis of Marxist ideas, but soon completely lost his head over Frida.
“You gave me back my youth and took away my sanity. With you, I feel like a seventeen-year-old boy,” Trotsky wrote in one of his love letters to Kahlo.
Rivera suddenly became terribly jealous. It was rumored that if it weren’t for Mercader’s ice ax, Trotsky would definitely have died a painful death from Diego’s heavy hand.
The disease progressed.Frida was taken to her first solo exhibition by ambulance and wheeled into the hall on a gurney.
Smiling, with a flower in her hair and an invariable cigarette.
She painted this picture eight days before her death.
Viva la vida - “Long live life.”
I drew a sunny watermelon while lying down, with an amputated leg, and finally added:
“I look forward to leaving cheerfully and hope never to return. Frida"
And yet the best words in Frida’s diary, which should become a slogan for everyone, are these: Tree of hope, stand up straight.
Frida Kahlo de Rivera or Magdalena Carmen Frida Kahlo Calderon is a Mexican artist best known for her self-portraits.
Biography of the artist
Kahlo Frida (1907-1954), Mexican artist and graphic artist, wife, master of surrealism.
Frida Kahlo was born in Mexico City in 1907, in the family of a Jewish photographer, originally from Germany. Mother is Spanish, born in America. She suffered from polio at the age of six, and since then her right leg has become shorter and thinner than her left.
At the age of eighteen, on September 17, 1925, Kahlo was in a car accident: a broken iron rod from a tram's current collector stuck in her stomach and came out at her groin, shattering her hip bone. The spine was damaged in three places, two hips and a leg were broken in eleven places. Doctors could not vouch for her life.
The painful months of motionless inaction began. It was at this time that Kahlo asked her father for a brush and paints.
For Frida Kahlo, they made a special stretcher that allowed her to write while lying down. A large mirror was attached under the canopy of the bed so that Frida Kahlo could see herself.
She started with self-portraits. “I write myself because I spend a lot of time alone and because I am the subject I know best.”
In 1929, Frida Kahlo entered the National Institute of Mexico. During a year spent in almost complete immobility, Kahlo became seriously interested in painting. Having started walking again, she attended art school and in 1928 joined the Communist Party. Her work was highly appreciated by the already famous communist artist Diego Rivera.
At 22, Frida Kahlo married him. Their family life was seething with passions. They could not always be together, but never apart. They shared a relationship that was passionate, obsessive and sometimes painful.
An ancient sage said about such relationships: “It is impossible to live either with you or without you.”
Frida Kahlo’s relationship with Trotsky is shrouded in a romantic aura. The Mexican artist admired the “tribune of the Russian revolution”, was very upset about his expulsion from the USSR and was happy that, thanks to Diego Rivera, he found shelter in Mexico City.
Most of all in life, Frida Kahlo loved life itself - and this magnetically attracted men and women to her. Despite the excruciating physical suffering, she could have fun from the heart and carouse widely. But the damaged spine constantly reminded of itself. From time to time, Frida Kahlo had to go to the hospital and almost constantly wear special corsets. In 1950, she underwent 7 spinal surgeries, spent 9 months in a hospital bed, after which she could only move in a wheelchair.
In 1952, Frida Kahlo's right leg was amputated at the knee. In 1953, Frida Kahlo's first solo exhibition took place in Mexico City. In not a single self-portrait does Frida Kahlo smile: a serious, even mournful face, fused thick eyebrows, a barely noticeable mustache above tightly compressed sensual lips. The ideas of her paintings are encrypted in the details, background, figures appearing next to Frida. Kahlo's symbolism is based on national traditions and is closely connected with Indian mythology of the pre-Hispanic period.
Frida Kahlo knew the history of her homeland brilliantly. Many authentic monuments of ancient culture, which Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo collected throughout their lives, are located in the garden of the Blue House (house museum).
Frida Kahlo died of pneumonia a week after celebrating her 47th birthday, on July 13, 1954.
“I look forward to leaving cheerfully and hope never to return. Frida."
The farewell ceremony for Frida Kahlo took place at Bellas Artes, the Palace of Fine Arts. Frida, along with Diego Rivera, was accompanied on her last journey by Mexican President Lazaro Cardenas, artists, writers - Siqueiros, Emma Hurtado, Victor Manuel Villaseñor and other famous figures of Mexico.
The work of Frida Kahlo
In the works of Frida Kahlo, a very strong influence of Mexican folk art and the culture of pre-Columbian civilizations of America is noticeable. Her work is full of symbols and fetishes. However, the influence of European painting is also noticeable in it - Frida’s passion for, for example, Botticelli was clearly evident in her early works. The work contains the style of naive art. Frida Kahlo's painting style was greatly influenced by her husband, artist Diego Rivera.
Experts believe that the 1940s are the artist’s heyday, the time of her most interesting and mature works.
The genre of self-portrait dominates in the work of Frida Kahlo. In these works, the artist metaphorically reflected the events of her life (“Henry Ford Hospital”, 1932, private collection, Mexico City; “Self-portrait with dedication to Leon Trotsky”, 1937, National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington; “Two Fridas”, 1939, Museum of Modern Art, Mexico City; “Marxism Heals the Sick,” 1954, Frida Kahlo House Museum, Mexico City).
Exhibitions
In 2003, an exhibition of Frida Kahlo's works and photographs was held in Moscow.
The painting “Roots” was exhibited in 2005 at the Tate Gallery in London, and Kahlo’s personal exhibition in this museum became one of the most successful in the history of the gallery - about 370 thousand people visited it.
House-museum
The house in Coyoacan was built three years before Frida was born on a small piece of land. With thick exterior walls, a flat roof, one floor of living space, and a layout that kept the rooms always cool and all opening onto the courtyard, it was almost the epitome of a colonial house. It stood just a few blocks from the central city square. From the outside, the house on the corner of Londres Street and Allende Street looked just like others in Coyoacan, an old residential area in the southwestern suburbs of Mexico City. For 30 years, the appearance of the house did not change. But Diego and Frida made it the way we know it: a house in a predominant blue color with elegant high windows, decorated in a traditional Indian style, a house full of passion.
The entrance to the house is guarded by two giant Judases, their twenty-foot-tall papier-mâché figures making gestures as if inviting each other to conversation.
Inside, Frida's palettes and brushes lie on the work table as if she had just left them there. Next to Diego Rivera's bed lies his hat, his work robe, and his huge boots. The large corner bedroom has a glass display case. Above it is written: “Frida Kahlo was born here on July 7, 1910.” The inscription appeared four years after the artist’s death, when her house became a museum. Unfortunately, the inscription is inaccurate. As Frida's birth certificate shows, she was born on July 6, 1907. But choosing something more significant than the insignificant facts, she decided that she was born not in 1907, but in 1910, the year the Mexican Revolution began. Since she was a child during the revolutionary decade and lived among the chaos and blood-stained streets of Mexico City, she decided that she was born along with this revolution.
Another inscription adorns the bright blue and red walls of the courtyard: “Frida and Diego lived in this house from 1929 to 1954.”
It reflects a sentimental, ideal attitude towards marriage, which again is at odds with reality. Before Diego and Frida's trip to the USA, where they spent 4 years (until 1934), they lived in this house negligibly. In 1934-1939 they lived in two houses built especially for them in the residential area of San Angel. Then followed long periods when, preferring to live independently in a studio in San Angel, Diego did not live with Frida at all, not to mention the year when both Rivers separated, divorced and remarried. Both inscriptions embellished reality. Like the museum itself, they are part of the legend of Frida.
Character
Despite her life of pain and suffering, Frida Kahlo had a lively and liberated extroverted nature, and her daily speech was littered with profanities. A tomboy in her youth, she retained her zest in later years. Kahlo smoked heavily, drank alcohol in excess (especially tequila), was openly bisexual, sang obscene songs and told equally obscene jokes to the guests of her wild parties.
Cost of paintings
At the beginning of 2006, Frida’s self-portrait “Roots” (“Raices”) was valued by Sotheby’s experts at $7 million (the original estimate at auction was £4 million). The painting was painted by the artist in oil on sheet metal in 1943 (after her remarriage to Diego Rivera). That same year, this painting sold for US$5.6 million, a record for a Latin American work.
The record for the cost of Kahlo's paintings remains another self-portrait from 1929, sold in 2000 for $4.9 million (with an initial estimate of 3 - 3.8 million).
Commercialization of the name
At the beginning of the 21st century, Venezuelan entrepreneur Carlos Dorado created the Frida Kahlo Corporation Foundation, to which the relatives of the great artist granted the right to commercially use Frida’s name. Within a few years, there was a line of cosmetics, a brand of tequila, sports shoes, jewelry, ceramics, corsets and lingerie, as well as beer with the name of Frida Kahlo.
Bibliography
In art
The bright and extraordinary personality of Frida Kahlo is reflected in works of literature and cinema:
- In 2002, the film “Frida” was made, dedicated to the artist. The role of Frida Kahlo was played by Salma Hayek.
- In 2005, the non-fiction art film “Frida against the Background of Frida” was shot.
- In 1971, the short film "Frida Kahlo" was released, in 1982 - a documentary, in 2000 - a documentary film from the "Great Artists" series, in 1976 - "The Life and Death of Frida Kahlo", in 2005 - the documentary "Life and the times of Frida Kahlo."
- The group Alai Oli has a song “Frida”, dedicated to Frida and Diego.
Literature
- The diary of Frida Kahlo: an intimate self-portrait / H.N. Abrams. - N.Y., 1995.
- Teresa del Conde Vida de Frida Kahlo. - Mexico: Departamento Editorial, Secretaría de la Presidencia, 1976.
- Teresa del Conde Frida Kahlo: La Pintora y el Mito. - Barcelona, 2002.
- Drucker M. Frida Kahlo. - Albuquerque, 1995.
- Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera and Mexican Modernism. (Cat.). - S.F.: San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, 1996.
- Frida Kahlo. (Cat.). - L., 2005.
- Leclezio J.-M. Diego and Frida. - M.: KoLibri, 2006. - ISBN 5-98720-015-6.
- Kettenmann A. Frida Kahlo: Passion and Pain. - M., 2006. - 96 p. - ISBN 5-9561-0191-1.
- Prignitz-Poda H. Frida Kahlo: Life and Work. - N.Y., 2007.
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Paintings by a Mexican artist
My nanny and me
She was destined to endure pain: 32 operations, a wheelchair and a cast to support her broken spine. Her mad love for her husband was replaced by the same hatred, devotion - by numerous novels. Frida Kahlo became a legend during her lifetime.
“Wooden Leg”: how Frida became a cripple
In the suburbs of Mexico City there was a building that was called the Blue House because of the cobalt paint on the walls. The family of a German Lutheran emigrant lived here Guillermo Calo and beautiful Mexican women with Indian roots Matilda. On July 6, 1907, their third daughter was born - Frida.
At the age of six, the girl suffered from polio. After the illness, her right leg became shorter and much thinner than her left. Frida subsequently hid this physical defect all her life under long skirts or men's trousers.
But she couldn’t hide her lameness, which is why the boys teased her with her “wooden leg.” But Frida could stand up for herself and punish the offenders. She practiced boxing and generally loved sports. And her sharp mind and lively character made her a leader in any company.
In 1922, the famous Mexican artist Diego Rivera painted ceilings at the National Preparatory School. He periodically heard a girl's voice shouting insults at him. But he could not find the hooligan herself, hiding behind the columns.
Some time later, when Diego and his second wife Lupe Marin was working on scaffolding when a student was pushed into the classroom. The girl asked permission to watch the work of the great artist. She did not take her eyes off the man, and this began to irritate Marin.
The woman began to make sarcastic remarks about the young fan, and then could not stand it and approached the girl closely with a menacing look. But the student calmly met the gaze of the artist’s wife, which delighted the woman. At the end of the day, the girl, leaving, said only two words, “Good night,” and Rivera recognized the voice of that same hooligan.
Frida Kahlo at age 12. Source: wikipedia
Two accidents: fate cruelly tested Frida Kahlo
On September 17, 1925, Frida was traveling by bus on urgent business. The driver lost control and crashed into the tram. A terrible accident forever changed the life of 18-year-old Kahlo, who simply miraculously managed to get out of the other world.
She spent several years in a hospital bed. After the collision, she had a triple fracture of the spine in the lumbar region, a triple fracture of the pelvis, a broken collarbone and ribs, the foot of her right leg was crushed and dislocated, in addition, the bones in her leg were broken in 11 places. And this is not counting dislocations and bruises.
But the worst thing is that the girl was practically impaled on a metal railing that pierced her stomach and uterus. From that day on, Frida learned not only to live again, then sit and walk, but also to endure constant, unbearable pain.
Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera. 1932 Photo: Carl Van Vechten. Source: wikipedia She had to spend several months in a cast, then lie motionless in bed. And it was at this time that she asked to make her a special stretcher so that she could draw while lying down. Frida asked to fix a mirror on the ceiling and began to paint her self-portrait.
After many months, when Kahlo could move independently, she came to Diego Rivera, who was painting a mural in the building of the Ministry of Education, and asked him to look at some of her works. According to Diego’s recollections, he immediately realized that this was a real artist. And during the conversation, he remembered the girl who shouted insults at him, and then looked at his work in fascination. Rivera later wrote that it was at that moment that Frida became the most important part of his life. And Kahlo admitted that two accidents happened to her: a collision between a bus and a tram and a meeting with Diego Rivera.
The betrayal of her husband and sister almost broke Frida
On August 21, 1929, Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo got married. The girl's parents were against this marriage. Rivera, ugly, fat, of enormous height, who does not miss a single skirt, would hardly have improved after his third marriage. But he was famous and rich, which was a significant plus.
And Frida's parents gave up. True, Diego showed himself in all his glory on his wedding day: he got drunk, started fighting with his friends, and then fired a gun at them. Kahlo was so angry with her fiancé that she did not leave her father and mother’s house for several days.
Frida dreamed of giving birth to Diego's child, although he was against it. She became pregnant three times, but due to injuries received in the accident, she was unable to bear the baby. Due to constant pain, she spent several months in hospitals. At the same time, Diego, who was 21 years older than his wife, was not bored and started affairs on the side.
Artists, actors, writers, and communists gathered in their house, since both were passionate admirers of Marxism and were members of the Mexican Communist Party.
Frida smoked a lot, loved tequila and strong words. She constantly egged her husband on, as she was very worried about his love of love. And then she herself began to have affairs on the side, including with women. But after learning that Rivera was having an affair with her younger sister Christina, Frida left her husband because she could not bear the betrayal of two close people. The couple reconciled a few months later, but since then they have preferred to live separately.
Frida and Diego. Photo: Carl Van Vechten.
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