Frida kahlo is the most famous female artist
in history. She deviated from the traditional portrayal of female beauty in art, and instead
chose to paint raw and honest experiences. A near-fatal bus accident at 18, left Frida
crippled and in chronic pain her whole life. But she managed to make a virtue out of adversity,
and astonishing original art out of her pain. she was a Mexican, female artist, who was
disabled, in a male-dominated environment, in post-revolutionary Mexico. A feminist
icon who broke all social conventions and produced some of the most haunting
and visionary images of the 20th century. In 1939, Frida Kahlo's career was taking off, but at
the same time her personal life was falling apart. It was under these circumstances that she produced
her greatest painting "The Two Fridas". Ten years previously she married Diego Rivera, a world
famous mexican artist 20 years her senior. The bizarre "beauty and the beast" dynamic captivated
the world, and they went on to have one of the most obsessive and tumultuous relationships in art
history. Their infatuation, passion and devotion was matched by jealousy, anger and betrayal. With both
of them having numerous extramarital affairs. Diego revived the indigenous mural tradition of Mexico. And Frida would pioneer a new fearless form of self-portraiture. In 1939 Frida spent three months away from Mexico and Diego. She had her first solo show in New York which was a huge success.
The Hollywood actor Edward G Robinson bought four of her works. Later that year she had a show in Paris,
once again a great success, this time the Louvre bought one of her works. Andre Breton the leader
of the Surrealists, described her paintings as being "Like a ribbon around a bomb". Her work was a
sensation and made the art world, a notorious "boys only club" sit up and look, at how the female
experience had been marginalized in our culture. At the same time she became a great
celebrity in Paris and was featured in Vogue. Not only were the lines already blurring between
her persona and her art, but the commodification of her image had also began. Frida returned to
Mexico in april of 1939, a different woman. At 32-years old she was the toast of the avant-garde art
world, an accomplished artist who had made it without her famous husband. But while she was
away Diego had also enjoyed his independence, and their relationship started to fall apart. Over the years, Diego had taken many lovers Frida had too, men and women. But Diego's affair
with her beloved sister Christina - was a step too far. Frida moved out of their house - and
Diego began divorce proceedings. She was heartbroken, she cut off her hair and
abandoned the Mexican clothes that Diego loved. It was under these traumatic circumstances
that she began to paint "The Two Fridas", which she said at the time "showed the
Frida Diego loved - and the one he didn't". I'm not sure if Frida Kahlo is a great technical painter, but
i'm sure that The Two Fridas, is a great painting. Of 143 paintings by Frida Kahlo, 55 are
self-portraits. After her accident at 18 she spent a year in bed recuperating. Her father gave
her paints, and her mother had a special easel made so she could paint in her hospital bed - and had a
mirror placed above her so she could paint herself. For someone so restricted, her own
body was a very convenient subject. The reason that most of her paintings were small,
is that so many of them were painted lying in bed. The Two Fridas was an exception. It is square. 1.73 meters by 1.73. it is almost life-size and
was Khalo's largest painting. There is actually a commercial reason
behind the change. She was getting a lot of recognition and was advised that
the large canvases were "more commercial". Frida had so many influences
on her work, straight from birth. Her father was Jewish and born in
Germany, a brilliant photographer who would take portraits of Frida from a
very young age. Frida would look straight at the camera with her characteristic defiance.
It marks the beginning of her self-made image. Her mother was Mexican and a devout Catholic.
And although Frida rejected religion, Catholic imagery filtered down into her work. Often
she would use thorns as a metaphor for martyrdom, combined here with the hummingbird an Aztec
mythological symbol. The sacred heart of Jesus would have been very familiar to her, and like Catholic images
of saints, Frida would depict herself expressionless. The Mexican revolution of 1910
reinvigorated a sense of national pride. But it also sparked off a cultural renaissance.
Artists like Diego Rivera were reviving Maya and Aztec culture in huge political murals
to create a new modern Mexican aesthetic. Frida was coming from a different angle, painting
small self-portraits inspired by mexican folk art. Her work was not directly political, but her paintings
reflected the idea that the personal is political. Long before the term was coined. A major influence was "ex-votos" also known as "retablos". Ex-votos were inexpensive paintings by self-taught artists, on small panels Often made of tin, they are deeply personal images, offered
to saints as a thank you for answered prayers. Almost any subject is possible, from
thanks for finding a missing pet, to surviving an operation. They are often
bordered by a story describing what had happened In fact Frida's mother commissioned one when
she was badly injured in the bus crash at 18. Frida would go on to emulate them in
both style and as a confessional. They were hugely influential on her work, in the way that
the images are reduced to the bare essentials And neither realism or perspective is important. Their use
of allegory and narrative would inspire Frida. Another popular tradition she drew on
was 19th century Mexican portraiture. Many of whom were skillful enough painters, but
with no formal training like Frida herself. Along with Spanish colonial portraiture, their subjects
often have blank expressions and are in a stiff artificial pose. There is a flat, rigid quality to these
paintings that we also get in Frida's art And in 1939, Frida had admired
two paintings at the Louvre, which almost certainly influenced
the composition of The Two Fridas. Her work is uniquely her own, but like her,
it emerged from multiple hybrid sources. At a time when few mexican women had the
opportunity to express themselves at all, Frida was exploring multiple identities. In The Two Fridas, a double self portrait - the darker skinned
Frida on the right is the indigenous Mexican Frida, that was adored by her husband, and the lighter skin Frida
on the left, is the European Frida that he rejected. If we look at the Mexican Frida first. This is how we think
of her, wearing a traditional "Tehuana" outfit. The indigenous Tehuana, a matriarchal society, became
a cultural symbol for the Mexican revolutionaries. By dressing the way she did she sent
a clear message of cultural identity, nationalism, AND feminism. But the Tehuana
skirts, boxed blouses, flamboyant hairstyles and facial hair, also had a more practical purpose... As a disguise. By focusing attention on her head and
shoulders, she concealed and distracted us from her disabled body. She had already
started wearing longer skirts as a child, to disguise a shorter right leg caused by polio. The
movement of the dresses also concealed her limp. And after the bus accident, she had to wear medical
corsets, because of severe spinal injuries. Over her lifetime she had more than 30 major operations.
Including in 1953, the amputation of her right leg. She would also adopt the "Huipil," a sleeveless
blouse made without fastenings, so she could drop them loosely over a back brace or a plaster cast. In 2004 a small drawing was found in the back of a wardrobe, at Casa Azul, Frida's home. It is a
self-portrait in charcoal and crayon, that shows Frida's broken body underneath a transparent
dress. She has a shattered column for a spine, a medical corset confining her torso, and a wasted right leg. Underneath the drawing, she has written in Spanish:
"Appearances can be deceiving". Yet Frida didn't adopt the indigenous clothes until her wedding day in 1929. It was in fact Diego who had suggested it - as a show of Mexican pride. So by discarding the clothes and cutting off her
hair after her divorce she was rejecting Diego. In the painting, Mexican Frida's heart remains
intact, sustained by the small portrait of Diego. Whereas European Frida's heart is disconnected from
her beloved Diego, and bleeds profusely onto her dress, A victorian lace wedding dress
similar to the one her mother wore. The portrait of Diego, Mexican Frida is holding
was owned by Frida and was with her until she died. An artery connects the portrait to her exposed
heart. It is then linked to European Frida, whose heart is even more exposed. This frida is trying
to stop the flow of blood that runs through both their veins - with surgical forceps. It is not working and
blood seeps out onto her skirt, mimicking the pattern Blood is a reoccurring theme in Frida's
work, and represents both her physical and mental suffering. As in an earlier painting, she
uses blood as a metaphor for union. But for Frida, who was unable to have children,
it also alludes to womanhood and fertility. The bleeding heart is a fundamental symbol of Catholicism,
but can also be seen as symbolic of Aztec ritual sacrifice. What is clear to me about this painting is, that although
they are suffering and broken, they are supporting each other. A connective vein unites the loved and
unloved Frida. The European and Mexican Frida. The weaker heart supports the stronger one. This is a painting about the loss of a relationship, But the duality of her identity is central to the painting. The complexities of a biracial identity, and how one balances the two sides
was a lifelong concern for Frida. As usual with her work, the background
is stylistically simple, making us focus on the two figures. The stormy skies signal turmoil and unease - and remind us of El Greco. We can compare how Frida saw herself at the start
of her marriage, with how she saw herself at the end. In "Frida and Diego", he is the colossal figure
the great artist with his palate and brushes, supporting his adoring timid wife. By contrast the
double self-portrait painted at the end of their marriage, shows that despite her suffering
she is her own woman supporting herself. Frida and Diego remarried in 1940 -
less than a year after their divorce. Their relationship was chaotic, dysfunctional
and tempestuous. But ultimately they couldn't live without each other. Both maintained that
they were the love of each other's lives. Diego rather coldly described Frida as: "The
great fact of my life", and she once said: "There have been two accidents in my life, one
was the streetcar, and the other was Diego" In 1947 The Two Fridas was acquired by
the national institute of fine arts in Mexico City, for four thousand pesos (about one thousand dollars). That was the highest price that Frida was
ever paid for a painting during her lifetime. In 1953, she had her first solo show in Mexico.
A few months later her right leg was amputated at the knee. It was the beginning of the end,
and desperately sick she died a year later. Frida Kahlo had to fight for her place in the
male-dominated art world. Nothing stopped her, not even her disabilities. She had constructed her
own identity around her politics, ethnicity and disability, and would inspire generations of female
artists who still face discrimination. But although she was moderately successful, it wasn't until
the 1970s that she achieved worldwide acclaim. Mainly known as Diego Rivera's wife in her lifetime, it wasn't until her work was rediscovered by art historians and feminists, that we now think of Diego - as Frida Kahlo's husband.
