Biography

Frida Kahlo de Rivera - mexican artist, best known for her self-portraits.

Mexican culture and the art of the peoples of pre-Columbian America had a noticeable influence on her work. Art style Frida Kahlo is sometimes characterized as naïve art or folk art. The founder of surrealism, Andre Breton, ranked her among the surrealists.

She was in poor health all her life - she suffered from polio from the age of six, and also suffered a serious car accident as a teenager, after which she had to undergo numerous operations, which influenced her entire life. In 1929, she married the artist Diego Rivera, and, like him, supported the Communist Party.

Frida Kahlo was born on July 6, 1907 in Coyoacan, a suburb of Mexico City (she later changed her year of birth to 1910 - the year of the Mexican Revolution). Her father was photographer Guillermo Calo, originally from Germany. A widely accepted version, based on Frieda's claims, was that he was of Jewish origin, but later research suggests that he came from a German Lutheran family whose roots can be traced back to the 16th century. Frida's mother, Matilda Calderon, was Mexican with Indian roots. Frida Kahlo was the third child in the family. At the age of 6, she suffered from polio; the illness left her with a limp for the rest of her life, and her right leg became thinner than her left (which Kahlo hid under long skirts all her life). Such an early experience of the struggle for the right to a full life strengthened Frida’s character.

Frida was involved in boxing and other sports. At the age of 15 she entered the “Preparatorium” (National preparatory school), one of best schools Mexico to study medicine. Of the 2,000 students in this school, there were only 35 girls. Frida immediately gained authority by creating the closed group “Cachuchas” with eight other students. Her behavior was often called shocking.

In the Preparatorium, her first meeting took place with her future husband, the famous Mexican artist Diego Rivera, who worked at the Preparatory School on the painting “Creation” from 1921 to 1923.

At the age of eighteen, on September 17, 1925, Frida was involved in a serious accident. The bus she was traveling on collided with a tram. Frida received serious injuries: a triple fracture of the spine (in the lumbar region), a fractured collarbone, broken ribs, a triple fracture of the pelvis, eleven fractures of the bones of the right leg, crushed and dislocated right foot, dislocated shoulder. In addition, her stomach and uterus were pierced by a metal railing, which seriously damaged her reproductive function. She was bedridden for a year, and health problems remained for the rest of her life. Subsequently, Frida had to undergo several dozen operations, without leaving the hospital for months. Despite her ardent desire, she was never able to become a mother.

It was after the tragedy that she first asked her father for brushes and paints. A special stretcher was made for Frida, which allowed her to write while lying down. A large mirror was attached under the canopy of the bed so that she could see herself. The first painting was a self-portrait, which forever determined the main direction of creativity: “I paint myself because I spend a lot of time alone and because I am the topic that I know best.”

In 1928 she joined the Mexican Communist Party. In 1929, Frida Kahlo became the wife of Diego Rivera. He was 43 years old, she was 22. The two artists were brought together not only by art, but also by common political beliefs - communist. Their turbulent life together became a legend. Many years later, Frida said: “There were two accidents in my life: one was when a bus crashed into a tram, the other was Diego.” In the 1930s, Frida lived for some time in the USA, where her husband worked. This forced long stay abroad, in a developed industrial country, made her more acutely aware of national differences.

Since then, Frida had a special love for Mexican folk culture, collecting ancient works of applied art, even in Everyday life wore national costumes.

A trip to Paris in 1939, where Frida became a sensation at a thematic exhibition of Mexican art (one of her paintings was even acquired by the Louvre), further developed patriotic feelings.

In 1937, Soviet revolutionary leader Leon Trotsky briefly took refuge in the house of Diego and Frida; he and Frida began an affair. It is believed that his too obvious infatuation with the temperamental Mexican forced him to leave them.

In the 1940s, Frida's paintings appeared in several notable exhibitions. At the same time, her health problems are getting worse. Medicines and drugs designed to reduce physical suffering change her state of mind, which is clearly reflected in the Diary, which has become a cult among her fans.

In 1953, her first personal exhibition took place in her homeland. By that time, Frida could no longer get out of bed, and she was brought to the opening of the exhibition hospital bed.. Soon, due to the onset of gangrene, she was amputated right leg below the knee.

Frida Kahlo died on July 13, 1954 from pneumonia. Shortly before her death, she left the last entry in her diary: “I hope that my departure will be successful and I will not return again.” Some of Frida Kahlo's friends suggested that she died of an overdose, and her death could not have been accidental. However, there is no evidence for this version, and no autopsy was performed.

Farewell to Frida Kahlo took place at the Palace of Fine Arts. In addition to Diego Rivera, the ceremony was attended by Mexican President Lazaro Cardenas and many artists.

Since 1955, Frida Kahlo's Blue House has become a museum in her memory.

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 hasn't lost 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.

Creation

In the works of Frida Kahlo it is very noticeable strong influence Mexican folk art, the culture of pre-Columbian civilizations of America. Her work is full of symbols and fetishes. However, the influence of European painting is also noticeable in it - in early works Frida's passion for, for example, Botticelli was clearly evident. The work contains the style of naive art. Big influence Frida Kahlo's painting style was 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.

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).

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 the prevailing blue color with elegant high windows, decorated in 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 the sentimental ideal attitude to marriage, which is again 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.

Commercialization of the name

IN beginning of XXI 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, 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.

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 - documentary from the series “Great Women Artists”, in 1976 - “The Life and Death of Frida Kahlo”, in 2005 - the documentary “The Life and Times of Frida Kahlo”.

The group Alai Oli has a song “Frida” dedicated to her.

Heritage

Asteroid 27792 Fridakahlo, discovered on February 20, 1993 by Eric Elst, was named in honor of Frida Kahlo on September 26, 2007. On August 30, 2010, the Bank of Mexico issued a new 500-peso note, which featured Frida and her 1949 painting, Love's Embrace of the Universe, Earth, (Mexico), I, Diego, and Mr. on the back. Xólotl, and on the front side of which her husband Diego was depicted. On July 6, 2010, on the anniversary of Frida's birth, a doodle was released in her honor.

In 1994, American jazz flautist and composer James Newton released an album inspired by Kahlo, entitled Suite for Frida Kahlo, on AudioQuest Music.

Introduction

I chose as my theme research work biography of the artist Frida Kahlo - the end of the form, the beginning of the form - an unusually lively and vibrant biography of the famous Mexican artist - this is a fascinating story of rebellious art, romantic beliefs, eccentric love affairs and endless physical suffering. After her death, not only canvases remained, but also the burning lines of this biography, in which there is unbending will, endless pain and, of course, love, which is not given to everyone. Young people read her diaries, gays and lesbians raised her voices, feminists perceive her life itself as a guide to action. Frida is so many-sided and great. And although more than half a century has passed since her death in 1954, admiration for this legendary woman has not faded to this day.

end of form, beginning of form On the threshold of the third millennium, the West, along with other stormy, often short-lived hobbies, was overwhelmed by a wave of “freedomania,” but interest in the work and personality of Frida Kahlo turned out to be viable. Her paintings hang in the Louvre, the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and sell for millions of dollars. This woman became one of the idols of the 20th century, Hollywood is fighting for the right to film her memories, ballets are created based on her memories, poems are dedicated to her, and the diary, printed in facsimile, is constantly republished.

American feminists consider Frida Kahlo their forerunner; lesbians and gays hold her up; during her lifetime, even the “Pope of Surrealism,” Andre Breton, counted her in her camp, although Frida herself was always irritated by the far-fetched and pretentiousness of surrealism. The noisy gatherings of the surrealists seemed childish to her, and one day in her hearts she accused them of the fact that “such intellectual sons of bitches cleared the way for all the Hitlers and Mussolini.” Frida Kahlo (in Spanish Magdalena Carmen Frida Kahlo y Calderon). Born July 6, 1907 in the city

She is the third daughter of Gulermo and Matilda Calo. Her father is a photographer, Jewish by birth, originally from Germany. Her mother is Spanish, born in America. Frida Kahlo fell ill with polio at the age of 6, after which she was left with a limp, and her right leg became thinner than her left “Frida is a wooden leg” -

her peers teased her cruelly. And she, in defiance of everyone, swam, played football with the boys and even took up boxing. I put 3-4 stockings on my leg to make it look healthy.

The physical defect was helped to hide by trousers, and after marriage - by long national dresses, which are still worn in the state of Oaxaca and which Diego liked so much. For the first time Frida

appeared in such a dress at their wedding, borrowing it from a maid. Such an early experience of fighting for the right to a full life strengthened Frida’s character. At the age of 15, she entered the “Preparatorium”

(National Preparatory School) with the aim of studying medicine. Of the 2,000 students in this school, there were only 35 girls. Frida immediately gained credibility by creating with eight others

students closed group "Kachuchas". Her behavior was often called shocking. In the Preparatory, her first meeting took place with her future husband, the famous Mexican artist Diego Rivera, who worked on paintings at the Preparatory School from 1921 to 1923

"Creation" On the rainy evening of September 17, 1925 (Frida was only 18), one of the two tragedies of her life occurred! The car in which Frida was traveling with her school friend,

collided with a tram. The blow was so strong that the guy was thrown out of the car. But he escaped easily with only a concussion. The damage she received was very serious: a broken iron rod of the tram's current collector stuck in the stomach and came out in the groin, crushing the hip bone. The spine was damaged in three places, two hips and a leg were broken. There was a fracture of the collarbone. The pelvis was broken. Eleven fractures in her right leg, crushed and dislocated

right foot, dislocated shoulder. In addition, her abdomen and uterus were pierced by a metal railing, which seriously damaged her reproductive function. The right leg, withered by polio,

myelitis, was broken in eleven places. During the accident, the iron rod also tore off Frida’s clothes, and on the tram, one of the passengers was carrying shiny paint with them when they arrived

The doctors saw this picture: Frida, naked, covered in blood and shimmering in the sun in this paint, this picture amazed the doctors and passers-by with its kind of unearthly beauty.

Thirty-two times Frida was on the operating table. This is a kind of world record. In addition, she was constantly haunted by the thought of a possible manifestation of hereditary

illness: her father suffered from epilepsy.. Doctors could not vouch for her life, but she won! She was bedridden for a year, and health problems remained for the rest of her life.

Subsequently, Frida had to undergo several dozen operations, without leaving the hospital for months.

hospitals. Despite her ardent desire, she was never able to become a mother. It was at this time that she asked her father for a brush and paints. A special stretcher was made for Frida, which allowed

write while lying down. A large mirror was attached under the canopy of the bed so that Frida could see herself. She started with self-portraits, which forever determined the main direction of her work.

“I write about myself because I spend a lot of time alone and because I am the subject that I know best.” The beloved, famous “Blue House,” nicknamed because of the indigo-colored walls so beloved by the Indians, became a hospital for her. The second tragedy of her life Frida became the Spanish-Indian Diego Rivera (whose full name is Diego Maria de la Concepción Juan Nepomuceno Estanislao de la River y Barrientos de Acosta y Rodriguez) He was the very “first guy” among the Mexican painters of that time, and only Alfaro Siqueiros could compete with him. He was a sincere communist, a fighter against the bourgeoisie, and a popular speaker among the common people.
Diego was huge and fat. Hair growing in clumps, bulging from excitement or, conversely, eyes covered with swollen eyelids. He resembled a cannibal, but a “good cannibal,” as he said about

Diego Maximilian Voloshin, who met him in Paris. There, Diego, by the way, left his first wife, the Russian artist Angelina Belova, when he decided to go to the rescue

to the revolted Mexican people. Rivera liked to portray himself as a fat-bellied frog with someone's heart in his hand. Women always adored him, Diego reciprocated,

but once admitted: “The more I love women, the more I want to make them suffer.” Their first meeting occurred when Frida, as a teenager, saw Diego Rivera, painted

crumbling the walls of the Higher Preparatory School. He struck her childhood imagination, she tracked him down, teased him with “old Fasto,” tried to attract attention, and one day, as if anticipating their common future, she declared to her school friends: “I will definitely marry this macho and give birth to a son from him.” Diego then time burned with love for the tall beauty Guadalupe

Marin, who later became the mother of his two daughters. A few years later, having recovered from a car accident, Frida came to Don Diego to prove her self-portraits created during the terrible

the year she spent in bed, shackled in an orthopedic corset. Tina Modotti, a female photographer and, perhaps, Diego’s own woman at that time, with a fate now no less famous than that of

Frida, her close friend and comrade-in-arms in the Union of Young Communists, became the link between them. The wild Rivera had already broken up with his second wife, Lupe Marin, and nothing stopped him from falling in love with a twenty-year-old artist, witty, brave and talented. He was also captivated by Frida’s extraordinary intellect, nurtured on a Europeanized education. Therefore, only Frida was allowed to criticize his painting, even impartially. That did not prevent them from highly appreciating and deeply understanding each other’s creativity. On their wedding day, Diego showed his explosive temper. The 42-year-old newlywed drank a little too much tequila and began firing a pistol into the air. The exhortations only inflamed the revelry artist. The first family scandal occurred. The 22-year-old wife went to her parents. After waking up, Diego asked for forgiveness and was forgiven. The newlyweds moved into their first apartment, and then into the now famous “blue house” on Londres Street in Coyaocan, the most “bohemian” area of ​​Mexico City, where they lived for many years. Their family life seethed with passions. They couldn't always be together

but never apart. They shared a relationship, according to one of the friends, “passionate, obsessive and sometimes painful.” In 1934, Diego Rivera cheated on Frida with her younger sister Christina, pose-

who bashed him. He did this openly, realizing that he was insulting his wife, but did not want to break off relations with her. The blow for Frida was cruel. Proud, she did not want to share her pain with anyone - she just splashed it out on the canvas. The result was a picture, perhaps the most tragic in her work: a naked female body covered with bloody wounds. Next to him, with a knife in his hand, with an indifferent face, is the one who inflicted these wounds. "Just a few scratches!" - the ironic Frida called the canvas. After Diego's betrayal, she decided

which also has the right to love interests. This infuriated Rivera. Allowing himself liberties, he was intolerant of Frida’s betrayals. The famous artist was painfully jealous. One day, having caught his wife with the American sculptor Isama Noguchi, Diego pulled out a pistol. Unfortunately, he didn’t shoot. Frida Kahlo’s relationship with Trotsky was 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. In January 1937, Leon Trotsky and his wife Natalya Sedova went ashore in the Mexican port of Tampico. They were met by Frida - Diego was then in the hospital. The artist brought the exiles to her “blue house”, where they finally found peace and quiet. Bright, interesting, charming Frida (after a few minutes of communication, no one noticed her painful injuries) instantly captivated the guests. The almost 60-year-old revolutionary was carried away like a boy. He tried in every possible way to express his tenderness. Sometimes he touched her hand as if by chance, sometimes he secretly touched her knee under the table. He wrote passionate notes and, putting them in a book, handed them over right in front of his wife and Rivera. Natalya Sedova guessed about the love affair, but Diego, they say, never found out about it. “I’m very tired of the old man,” Frida allegedly said one day in a circle of close friends and broke off the short romance. There is another version of this story. The young Trotskyist allegedly could not resist the pressure of the tribune of the revolution. Their secret meeting took place in the country estate of San Miguel Regla, 130 kilometers from Mexico City. However, Sedova kept a vigilant eye on her husband: the affair was nipped in the bud. Begging his wife for forgiveness, Trotsky called himself “her old faithful dog.” After this, the exiles left the “blue house”. But these are rumors. There is no evidence of this romantic connection. They divorced in 1939. But in 1940 they got back together and lived until their death) Diego later confesses: “We were married for 13 years and always loved each other. Frida even learned to accept my infidelity, but she could not to understand why I choose those women who are unworthy of me, or those who are inferior to her... She assumed that I was a vicious victim of my own desires... But it is a white lie to think that divorce will end Frida's suffering.

The brilliant Mexican artist Frida Kahlo was often called a female alter ego. Critics classified the author of the work “Wounded Deer” as a surrealist, but throughout her life she disowned this “stigma”, declaring that the basis of her work is not ephemeral allusions and a paradoxical combination of forms, and the pain of loss, disappointment and betrayal, passed through the prism of personal worldview.

Childhood and youth

Magdalena Carmen Frida Kahlo Calderon was born three years before the Mexican Revolution, on July 6, 1907, in the settlement of Coyoacan (a suburb of Mexico City). The artist's mother Matilda Calderon was an unemployed fanatical Catholic who kept her husband and children strictly, and her father Guillermo Calo, who idolized creativity and worked as a photographer.

At the age of 6, Frida suffered from polio, as a result of which her right leg became several centimeters thinner than her left. Constant ridicule from her peers (in her childhood she had the nickname “wooden leg”) only strengthened Magdalena’s character. To spite everyone, the girl, who was not used to being depressed, overcame pain, played football with the guys, went swimming and boxing classes. Kahlo also knew how to competently disguise her flaw. Long skirts, men's suits and stockings worn on top of each other helped her in this.

It is noteworthy that in her childhood Frida dreamed not of becoming an artist, but of becoming a doctor. At the age of 15, she even entered the National Preparatory School “Preparation”, where the young talent studied medicine for a couple of years. Lame-footed Frida was one of 35 girls who received an education along with thousands of boys.

In September 1925, an event occurred that turned Magdalena’s life upside down: the bus on which 17-year-old Kahlo was returning home collided with a tram. The metal railing pierced the girl’s stomach, pierced the uterus and came out in the groin area, the spine was broken in three places, and even three stockings could not save the leg, crippled by a childhood illness (the limb was broken in eleven places).

Frida Kahlo (right) with her sisters

The young lady lay unconscious in the hospital for three weeks. Despite the doctors' statements that the injuries received were incompatible with life, the father, unlike his wife, who never came to the hospital, did not leave his daughter a single step. Looking at Frida’s motionless body wrapped in a plaster corset, the man considered her every breath and exhalation a victory.

Contrary to the predictions of medical luminaries, Kahlo woke up. After returning from the other world, Magdalena felt an incredible craving for painting. The father made a special stretcher for his beloved child, which allowed him to create while lying down, and also attached a large mirror under the canopy of the bed so that his daughter could see herself and the space around her while creating works.

A year later, Frida made her first pencil sketch, “Crash,” in which she briefly sketched the disaster that crippled her physically and mentally. Having firmly found her feet, Kahlo entered the National Institute Mexico, and in 1928 she became a member of the Communist Party. At that time, her love for art reached its apogee: Magdalena sat at an easel in the afternoon. art studio, and in the evenings, dressed in an exotic outfit that hid her injuries, she went to parties.

Graceful, sophisticated Frida certainly held a glass of wine and a cigar in her hands. The obscene witticisms of the extravagant woman made guests of social events laugh non-stop. The contrast between the image of an impulsive, cheerful person and the paintings of that period imbued with a sense of hopelessness is striking. According to Frida herself, behind the chic of beautiful clothes and the gloss of pretentious phrases hid her crippled soul, which she showed to the world only on canvas.

Painting

Frida Kahlo became famous for her colorful self-portraits (70 paintings in total), distinctive feature which was a fused eyebrow and lack of a smile on the face. The artist often framed her figure with national symbols (“Self-portrait on the border between Mexico and the USA”, “Self-portrait as Tehuana”), which she was extremely knowledgeable about.

In her works, the artist was not afraid to expose both her own (“Without hope”, “My birth”, “Just a few scratches!”) and the suffering of others. In 1939, a fan of Kahlo’s work asked her to pay tribute to the memory of their mutual friend, actress Dorothy Hale (the girl committed suicide by jumping out of a window). Frida painted The Suicide of Dorothy Hale. The customer was horrified: instead of a beautiful portrait, a consolation for her family, Magdalena depicted a scene of a fall and a lifeless body bleeding.

The work entitled “Two Fridas,” which the artist wrote after a short break with Diego, is also worthy of attention. Kahlo’s inner self is presented in the painting in two guises: Mexican Frida, whom Rivera madly loved, and European Frida, whom her lover rejected. The pain of loss is expressed through the image of a bleeding artery connecting the hearts of two ladies.

World fame came to Kahlo when the first exhibition of her works took place in New York in 1938. However, the artist’s rapidly deteriorating health also affected her work. The more often Frida lay on the operating table, the darker her paintings became (“Thinking of Death”, “Mask of Death”). In the post-operative periods, canvases were created, replete with echoes of biblical stories - “The Broken Column” and “Moses, or the Core of Creation.”

By the opening of an exhibition of her work in Mexico in 1953, Kahlo could no longer move independently. The day before the presentation, all the paintings were hung, and the beautifully decorated bed where Magdalena lay down became a full-fledged part of the exhibition. A week before her death, the artist painted the still life “Long Live Life,” which reflected her attitude towards death.

Kahlo's paintings had a huge influence on modern painting. One of the exhibitions at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago was dedicated to Magdalena's influence on the art world and included works by contemporary artists for whom Frida became a source of inspiration and role model. The exhibition was titled “Footloose: Contemporary Art after Frida Kahlo.”

Personal life

While still a student, Kahlo met her future husband, Mexican artist Diego Rivera. In 1929, their paths crossed again. The following year, the 22-year-old girl became legal wife 43-year-old painter. Contemporaries jokingly called the marriage of Diego and Frida the union of an elephant and a dove ( famous artist was much taller and fatter than his wife). The man was teased as a “toad prince,” but no woman could resist his charm.

Magdalena knew about her husband's infidelity. In 1937, the artist herself began an affair with, whom she affectionately called “the goat” because of gray hair and beards. The fact is that the couple were zealous communists and, out of the kindness of their hearts, sheltered a revolutionary who had fled from Russia. It's all over loud scandal, after which Trotsky hastily left their house. Kahlo was also credited with an affair with a famous poet.

Without exception, all Frida's amorous stories are shrouded in mystery. Among the artist's alleged lovers was singer Chavela Vargas. The reason for the gossip was candid photographs of girls in which Frida, dressed in a men's suit, was drowned in the arms of the artist. However, Diego, who openly cheated on his wife, did not pay attention to her hobbies for representatives of the weaker half of humanity. Such connections seemed frivolous to him.

Despite the fact that the married life of the two stars visual arts was not exemplary, Kahlo never stopped dreaming of children. True, due to injuries, the woman was never able to experience the happiness of motherhood. Frida tried again and again, but all three pregnancies ended in miscarriage. After another loss of a child, she took up a brush and began to paint children (“Henry Ford Hospital”), mostly dead ones - this is how the artist tried to come to terms with her tragedy.

Death

Kahlo died a week after celebrating her 47th birthday (July 13, 1954). The cause of the artist's death was pneumonia. At Frida's funeral, which took place with all pomp at the Palace of Fine Arts, in addition to Diego Rivera, there were painters, writers and even ex-president Mexico Lazaro Cardenas. The body of the author of the painting “What the Water Gave Me” was cremated, and the urn with the ashes remains to this day in the Frida Kahlo House Museum. Last words in her diary were:

“I hope that leaving will be successful and I will not return again.”

In 2002, Hollywood director Julia Taymor presented the autobiographical film “Frida” to film lovers, the plot of which was based on the story of the life and death of the great artist. The role of Kahlo was played by an Oscar winner, theater and film actress.

Literary writers Hayden Herrera, Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clezio and Andrea Kettenmann have also written books about the fine art star.

Works

• "My Birth"
• "Mask of Death"
• "Fruits of the Earth"
• “What did the water give me?”
• "Dream"
• “Self-Portrait” (“Diego in Thoughts”)
• "Moses" ("Core of Creation")
• "Little Doe"
• "Embrace of Universal Love, Earth, Me, Diego and Coatl"
• "Self-portrait with Stalin"
• "Without hope"
• "Nurse and Me"
• "Memory"
• "Henry Ford Hospital"
• "Double Portrait"

July 6 will mark the 108th anniversary of the birth of the most famous mexican woman 20th century - Frida Kahlo / Frida Kahlo.

• The famous Mexican artist Frida Kahlo, famous for her eccentricity and unique talent, was born in 1907 in the capital of Mexico. The girl's parents were a Jewish artist who moved from Germany and a Spanish woman born in America. Such an unusual combination of genes could not but affect the character of Magdalena Carmen Frida Kahlo y Calderon.
• Unfortunately, very early, at the age of six, she was seriously ill with polio. The disease affected the child’s development; the girl’s right leg stopped growing and subsequently became shorter and thinner than the left.
• Twelve years later, another misfortune happened to the future artist - she got into a car accident, during which the iron fittings of a tram pierced her body, passing through her stomach and hip bone. The doctors could not immediately guess what the result of the surgical treatment of the victim would be, because they identified a spinal injury in three places. The injury led to immobility, which confined the young girl to bed for a long time.

  Frida Kahlo is bedridden




• The tragic event still had a positive result, because inaction quickly became unbearable for Kahlo - she took up her brush. At first, the girl painted self-portraits. A mirror was hung above her bed so that Frida could see herself in it.

  
  

• After a while, Kahlo decided to study; in 1929, she entered the National Institute of Mexico. The energetic Mexican woman, full of love for life, did her best to start walking again. But even after getting rid of the cage-bed and feeling freedom of movement again, Frida does not give up favorite hobby– painting. She attends classes at art school, perfecting your unique style.
• In 1928, Kahlo joined the Communist Party, and soon her work was highly appreciated by Diego Rivera, a famous artist with communist views in Latin America. The acquaintance continued, and the talented couple became husband and wife.

  

• Between Diego and Frida there was a passionate, expressive relationship, covered in an aura of romance. The couple loved life, always had an active life position, and were at the center of public life. Even Diego’s numerous infidelities could not change his loving wife’s attitude towards him.
• The spinal injuries she experienced did not go unnoticed; Frida often experienced severe and excruciating pain. But this did not stop her from actively communicating with people, having fun, and attracting the attention of many men. Periodically, she needed to go to the hospital to improve her condition a little. Wearing a special corset also made life very difficult; Frida very rarely parted with it. And in 1952, unfortunately, due to complications, her leg had to be amputated at the knee.

  Frida Kahlo on the cover of Vogue magazine (1937)

  
  

• But health problems did not become a reason to quit painting. On the contrary, in 1953, Frida Kahlo offered her first solo exhibition to the attention of art connoisseurs. Her paintings, mostly self-portraits, allowed many to see the unique beauty of the artist. There may not be a smile on her face, but it attracts, makes you stop and slowly examine every feature.
• Another passion of the famous artist is the history of her beloved Mexico. She, like her husband Diego Rivera, collected various cultural and artistic monuments. Collected exhibits on given time stored in the Blue House.

  
  

• The bright life of the eccentric artist, unfortunately, ended prematurely. When Frida was only 47 years old, she fell ill with pneumonia. The weakened body could not bear this disease, and Frida died at such a young age. This was a great loss for Mexico, for fans of Kahlo’s talent all over the world. It is worth noting that at the artist’s funeral there were not only her friends, but also many famous writers, artists, Mexican President, Lazaro Cardenas.

The life of Frida Kahlo in the artist's diary

IN last year Frida Kahlo's life kept a diary, which will be very interesting to see for those who study her biography and work. On the pages of her diary she wrote down her thoughts, made sketches and collages. The name that appears most often in the records is Diego. The artist loved her husband very much; she considered him a lover, a brother, a child, a creative colleague, and a mentor. Numerous entries in the diary, which consists of 170 written pages, are addressed to Diego. You can read in it both childhood memories and her painful complaints about the disease and all the difficulties that are associated with it. Kahlo kept her candid notes for 10 years, but they can illustrate her entire life.

Frida Kahlo while working with a Mexican boy

Features of Frida Kahlo's creativity and its connection with the culture of Mexico

The main style direction of Kahlo’s paintings is surrealism, which is also filled with colorful Mexican motifs. This is exactly how Andre Breton, the founder of the surrealist school, defined the Mexican style. But Frida herself had a very negative attitude towards such an assessment of her works, as well as towards those who considered themselves surrealists. She considered everything depicted on her canvases to be an illustration of real, real life.

Kahlo's work was highly appreciated by famous artists not only Latin America, but also the USA and Europe. Frida's works were exhibited not only in her homeland, but also in Paris. True, the exhibition was poorly organized. When, at the invitation of Andre Breton, Frida arrived at her exhibition in the French capital, it turned out that the paintings were still at customs. And they appeared before the audience only six weeks later. But this did not stop the artist from getting a large number of amazing reviews. Moreover, one of the paintings was added to its collection by the magnificent Louvre, and this says a lot.

If Frida Kahlo carefully fenced herself off from surrealism, she never hid the influence of Mexican folk art on her works. In her paintings this influence is manifested very subtly and elegantly. It is clear that Frida loves her homeland, its history and culture. She wore national costumes with pleasure, this can be seen even in numerous portraits. Often in the paintings you can see various symbols characteristic of Mexican applied art. Ancient Indian mythology and national traditions influenced his creativity. But, against the backdrop of such characteristic Mexican motifs, the paintings also illustrate the influence of painting by European artists. The combination of different schools and traditions, coupled with complex life milestones, and an expressive character became the basis of a unique style.

Frida Kahlo paintings

The list of paintings by the Mexican artist is very large. Many of the works are unique self-portraits, which Frida began to paint while still motionless after a terrible car accident. In her portraits, Kahlo is often depicted in national Mexican costumes. Many of the works are known all over the world; they were exhibited several times both during Kahlo’s life and after her death. Such paintings include the unique canvas “Two Fridas”, “Little Doe”, “Broken Column”, “Self-Portrait. Loose hair." Also in the list of creative achievements:

1. "Moses" (1945)
2. "My Dress There or New York" (1933)
3. "Fruit of the Earth" (1938)
4. "The Suicide of Dorothy Hale" (1939)
5. "What the Water Gave Me" (1947)
6. "Self-Portrait" (1930)
7. "Bus" (1927)
8. "The Girl in the Mask of Death" (1938)
9. "Dream" (1940)
10. "Still Life" (1942)
11. "Mask" (1945)
12. "Self-Portrait" (1948)
13. "1945 Magnolias" and many others.

Frida Kahlo paints a portrait

The last work, the still life “Viva la vida” (translated as “Long live life!”) perfectly shows the attitude towards the world around this amazing woman, whose path was very difficult and painful.
Some of Kahlo's paintings need to be not only looked at, but even solved. This is a complex painting, attractive and bewitching. You can see Kahlo's paintings in museums in Mexico and other countries, as well as in private collections.

Frida Kahlo House Museum

In the house where I was born famous artist, an interesting and fascinating museum has been organized. The room itself was erected several years before Frida’s birth in Coyocan (a suburb of Mexico City). The architecture of the building is consistent with national Mexican traditions. This, after organizing the museum, became a great advantage and added a certain flavor to the exhibition. During her lifetime, Frida and her husband significantly improved both the exterior and interior. They decorated the room in Indian traditional style and painted it blue. The furnishings of the house have been preserved as they were during the artist’s time.

Memory of the artist

The life of a unique Mexican woman inspired many film workers and musicians to create works of art dedicated to Frida.

• Film "Frida" (2002). The role of the artist was played by another famous representative of Mexico, Salma Hayek.
• Film "Frida against Frida's background" (2005). Non-fiction art strip.
• Documentary film “The Life and Times of Frida Kahlo” (2005).
• Short film "Frida Kahlo" (1971).
• "The Life and Death of Frida Kahlo" (1976).

In 1994, the famous US jazz flutist released an entire album dedicated to the artist, Suite for Frida Kahlo. And in 2007, an asteroid was named in honor of the artist.

Frida Kahlo's image and style:

Salma Hayek in the movie "Frida" photo

Other photos of Frida Kahlo

Frida Kahlo with her favorite monkey

An artist who left a bright mark on history in spite of everything, controversial, bright, hysterically frank and unhappy, possessing everything and nothing at the same time. Feminist and representative icon sexual minorities. Kahlo Frida.

early years

Kahlo was born on July 6, 1907 in Mexico City. As the third child in a family of a “Jewish” German and a Mexican mother with an Indian child, she grew up without worries until she contracted polio at the age of 6.

She was not able to heal completely, as the disease withered her right leg, causing lameness, which Frida hid until her last days with the help of trousers and long skirts of national dresses. Frida Kahlo (her biography shows this) only hardened herself from these adversities, despite her young age. Despite everything, the future artist decided to lead as much as possible active life, attending sports clubs and preparing to become a doctor. Eyewitnesses claim that they could not believe the problems with her leg, as Kahlo “moved through the corridors with the swiftness of a swallow.” It would seem that the problems have been overcome, there is a future and endless scope for activity ahead, but fate decided otherwise.

Accident

At the age of 18, Kahlo Frida was involved in a car accident - the bus in which she was traveling with her friend was rammed by a tram. The companion escaped with minor injuries, while the artist herself suffered almost everything possible, among the main injuries were: a fracture of the spine in three places, a practically crushed pelvis and foot, and broken ribs. Among other things, an iron rod pierced her stomach, reducing the possibility of ever becoming a mother to a minimum. Contrary to all forecasts, Frida Once again showed up and survived. Over the course of many years, she underwent more than thirty operations, was bedridden, and covered in plaster. Cynical and scary is the fact that it was because of this tragedy that the girl first picked up a brush. out of loneliness and thoughts that tore apart her mind, she began to paint self-portraits.

It was not easy to do this lying down, but a special stretcher and a mirror located above the bed helped in this endeavor. Subsequently, the artist Frida Kahlo expressed most of her torment and aspirations in self-portraits; all her work was built on them. Such a step was not due to narcissism. Judge for yourself: for endless minutes, hours, days, she was left to herself, digging, learning, looking. All that flow of emotions, strength and despair through which she perceived the world was reflected in her. The face on the canvas as a mediator between the external and the internal. Quarrelsome, funny, harsh and outrageously frank, the center of joy and life - this is how those around her saw her, but the real Frida Kahlo (paintings, photos, diaries will not let you lie) was gnawing at herself from the inside, trying to snatch from fate what was due to her.

Diego

The inner core, the hardness of which even titanium would envy, did not fail this time either - Frida got to her feet, but did not give up painting. Every step, every breath she took was now accompanied by constant pain, but it didn’t matter - she endured it and was ready to move on. Kahlo found herself in the brush, but lacked self-confidence, so she decided to seek advice from an artist already known at that time. Again, the mockery of fate - she went to get stronger and find confidence, but found the greatest pain of her life.

Diego was impressed both by the paintings and by the artist herself, and after some time he asked Frida’s father for her hand. All the love, trepidation and emotions of the moment were absorbed by Frida Kahlo’s diary, which she kept for the rest of her life. The Kahlo couple even perceived the possibility of such a union with indignation, calling it “a marriage between an elephant and a dove,” and this was not an exaggeration - Rivera was two decades older, a hundred pounds heavier and generally had the appearance of a good-natured cannibal. However, due to his incredible charisma, talent and sense of humor, he was known as a conqueror of women’s hearts, which is why “ogre” practically became his middle name - he tied and devoured beautiful and talented women. After another serious conversation with his beloved’s father, officially accepting and recognizing the fact that Frida would have precarious health for the rest of her life and would never give him children, the “ogre” received a blessing for the marriage. Eyewitnesses claim that the wedding itself was the quintessence of their future life- fragile bride in national costume, richly decorated with the decorations and flowers she so loved, and the elephant-like groom, a celebration of madness and ex-wife Rivera, who lifted Kahlo’s skirt in front of everyone, exclaiming: “Look what matches Diego exchanged mine for. The apotheosis was the finger of one of the guests, which the groom accidentally shot off in a fit of frustration. Truly, whatever you call the yacht, that’s how it will float.

Living together

It was a volcano, without exaggeration. Kahlo Frida, passionate and passionate, practically idolized her husband, recognizing his talent, but at the same time allowing herself to point out flaws in his work. Diego got mad, destroyed everything that came to hand, and left the house, but always returned. To be fair, it is worth noting that he did not raise his hand to his wife, although he had not disdained such gestures before - he almost stabbed one of his mistresses, who bore him a daughter. This is probably due to the fact that he recognized her as an equal - both in spirit and in talent. However, this did not stop him from ruffling the skirts of all the women that crossed his path. Frida Kahlo, whose photo you can see below, was tormented, suffered, but did not stop loving.

Five years of dancing together on a powder keg ended in a noisy breakup, but they never learned to live separately from each other - a year later they got back together. The husband's infidelities continued, as did the wife's torment. In an effort to somehow take revenge, the artist also went on a rampage, letting both men and women into her bed. Naturally, Diego tore and threw, because, in his opinion, what is available to Jupiter is not allowed to the bull.

Leon Trotsky

Frida Kahlo, whose biography is very dramatic, together with her husband, was an ardent admirer of ideology. In 1936, the latter, persecuted by Stalin, set his feet to hot, hospitable Mexico at the invitation of Rivera, in order to honor his followers with his presence. However, upon arrival they were met by Frida, since the day before her husband had been hospitalized with kidney inflammation.

Having escorted them to her ancestral home, she, driven by the desire to hurt her husband more, decided to test her charms on Trotsky. Surprisingly, Leo succumbed, replacing revolutionary fever with baser emotions. The piquancy of the situation was added by the fact that he came to visit with his wife, managing to cheat on her with Kahlo almost under her nose. He became an ally in this matter since the wife spoke only Russian, but the woman could not ignore the intensity of the air and the glances that her husband threw at the artist. All this led to a break in relations between the Trotsky couple, after which Lev moved to the estate of a friend of Rivera. He wrote letter after letter to Frida, encountering a lukewarm response. The revolutionary was anything but blind. Having accepted the fact that Kahlo Frida did not want him, he asked to return to his wife. The trip to Mexico became fatal for Trotsky - in 1940 he was killed by an NKVD officer.

Creation

All of Kahlo’s works are distinguished by their bright individuality; it is impossible to single out a single mediocre painting, no matter the canvas, it is a nugget. However, in everything she wrote, there is the bitterness of hopes that are not destined to come true. Somewhere it is frank, somewhere it is barely noticeable, drowned out by an ode to nature in all its riot and triumph of life. Pain and passion seemed to become her brushes. Whatever the work, there is juiciness, violence, excess and such a chilling depth that you can read the story on your lips. These are not so much the paintings that Frida Kahlo wrote, but rather books in which the whole tragedy of a restless soul is written out syllable by syllable. Let's look at some of her paintings that reflect the moment.

Henry Ford Hospital

This painting, painted in 1932, is the focus of Frida Kahlo's pain as a woman and mother.

The canvas depicts the artist herself, who lost her child in this ill-fated hospital. Due to the terrible injuries suffered after the accident, Kahlo was not able to bear the baby, however, despite her fragile health and the warnings of doctors, she became pregnant three times, each time hoping for a miracle that never happened. The work shows us Frida lying on a sparse hospital bed, covered in blood. The body is round, still retaining the memory of being prepared to feed a child. Three ribbons that connect the artist with an unborn child, a snail - the slow progress of pregnancy, and the pelvic bones that caused the tragedy. In the background is dry, soulless America, which cannot give peace. The real Frida Kahlo also shows stingy anguish. Photos from that period show pursed lips, eyebrows like the wings of an alarmed bird and endless hopelessness in dark eyes.

A Few Small Nips

And this picture, created in 1935, fully describes what happened to Kahlo during life together with Rivera.

Another confirmation of this is her phrase in which she described two accidents in her life - the bus and Diego.

The Two Fridas

With her work, which appeared in 1939, Kahlo Frida showed an ambivalent sense of self.

On the one hand, a healthy woman, full of strength, possibilities and hopes, which an artist could become not only in her soul, but also in reality, on the other, a harsh, weakened reality. Wherein circulatory system they have something in common, they are one.

End

In the forties, Kahlo finally gave up. Her health became worse and worse; due to gangrene, her leg was amputated, but this did not help avoid the end - on July 13, 1954, the artist died.

The strength of her spirit did not leave her even for a minute; eight days before her death, she managed to complete the painting, glorifying the life that she did not have time to fully enjoy.

Present day

History is kind to those who had the courage to break out and prove themselves, even if they got burned along the way. The family estate in Mexico, which became the beginning and end for the artist, is now the Frida Kahlo Museum, which houses an urn with her ashes. Setting and general atmosphere the houses are carefully preserved in order to convey to descendants at least a piece of the spirit, life and light that was inherent in Kahlo during his lifetime. The memory of Frida does not give way - films are made about her, both documentaries and feature films. Can't do without strange phenomena- a photo recently leaked online showing the artist next to the Russian poet Vladimir Mayakovsky. It caused a stir, biographers tried to rummage through all those written confirmations of the heroes’ movements, photos, in order to find out whether their meeting could actually happen.

Until now, they have not come to a common denominator, but there is a high probability that the photograph, which depicts a half-naked armed Frida Kahlo and Mayakovsky on the left hand, is not a fake. Regardless of how true the photo is, the mesmerizing attractiveness of this couple is difficult to deny.