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In this written series “Women Who Metamorphosed Art:” I want to deep dive into selected female artists who contributed to art history but are rarely renowned for doing so. As education and media often highlights the contributions of male artists and their works it’s time to educate ourselves on the equal importance of female artists as well. In this series I was really hoping to stay away from more well known female artists but it was brought to my attention this week that even these women are seldom recognized or understood for the impact of their work. So, this week I am focusing on Frida Kahlo, who is well known by the general public, but not nearly as well regarded for her impact on the honesty of self portraits in the art world.
La Columna Rota, Frida Kahlo, 1944, Oil on Canvas, 40 x 30.7 cm.,
Collection de Dolores Olmedo Patino, Mexico City
Frida Kahlo was a Mexican artist who spent her life portraying the struggles she faced throughout her life, namely a series of health issues and surgeries and her complicated relationship with her husband, Diego Rivera, who was also an artist. Famously, she spent several weeks in hospital painting from her bed, ensuring there was never a barrier to stop her creating art. Yet, instead of hiding the struggles she faced, Kahlo exposed these issues in her art, not just as a way of coming to terms with these issues on her own, but to show to the public that everyone experiences pain in their life and it should be discussed rather than quietly dealt with. Specifically, she wanted to show women it was acceptable to express their emotions and acknowledge their pain at a time when societies shamed the voicing of such issues.
Notably, before Kahlo, self portraits were done in more literal terms, and whilst they revealed a lot, it was still quite surface level. For example, even looking at Van Gogh who was known for having equally deep struggles, his self portraits allude to some discomfort in his expression but it does not expose even half as much as a self portrait by Kahlo. As a Surrealist, one of Kahlo’s values was to showcase a more subconscious level of thought and emotion, taking self portraits from a mere physical representation to an exhibition of one’s inner state of mind. As a result, her portraits embody an intermerging of psychology and art and goes beyond the values of classic portraiture which is why her images always leave such a strong impression on the viewer.
Las Dos Fridas, Frida Kahlo, 1931, Oil on Canvas, 173 x 173 cm,
Museo de Arte Moderno, Mexico City
Kahlo created such a vast variety of self portraits, all equally telling and influential, but one that always comes to mind is La Dos Fridas, where Frida paints two versions of herself. On the left, Kahlo is dressed in a traditional Mexican outfit, her arteries torn out and supplied to the version of Kahlo on the right, who is dressed in ‘modern’ clothes. These two depictions represent a transformation, or ‘metamorphosis’ if you will, of Frida the year she separated from Rivera. One is deeply wounded, literally cut, with blood staining her white skirt and the other appearing stronger and healthier, but holding onto a portrait of Rivera. Kahlo essentially creates an isolated, Surrealist dreamscape of herself experiencing heartbreak, whereby she reminisces her strength which she believes herself to have gotten from Rivera, leaving her raw and weak without him. It is needless to say that Kahlo was in fact a woman with a very strong character and unafraid to show that, but painting herself as this fragile person showed people that there is a lot more lingering behind every surface. Therefore, I think that this is one of the few images that truly envisions the full concept of heartbreak, whereby there is not just the loss of a relationship, but the loss of one’s own sense of self, hence why Kahlo is such a staple figure of full, honest self-portraits.
In a time of self-referential social media, showcasing yourself and your life has become a normalised ritual, but that doesn’t necessarily mean we are actually putting our authentic selves out there. Instead it opens the question of whether or not the images we see are real or fake. Therefore, although Kahlo’s works are now dated, they are more refreshing than content you may see today because you know the honesty and authenticity are there. Kahlo therefore not only exposes her own life but exposes the importance of true self portrayal in an ever growing, artificial world.
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