The story behind this great woman: Frida Kahlo

Transgressive and innovative. An icon of freedom. So was the Mexican painter Frida Kahlo, a woman in many ways ahead of her time. Even today, Frida’s images continue to stamp t-shirts, mugs and a series of other objects as a kind of tribute to a woman whose ideas, in some cases, make more sense today than in the time in which she lived. Recently, July 6th, his 111th birthday was celebrated.

At the awesome.clubwe present its history.

She has polio, and her parents encouraged her to play a variety of sports as part of her treatment for the disease. These modalities, as you can imagine, were not very popular with girls at the time.

Health problems brought Frida closer to her father, who worked very hard for her rehabilitation. He also had his problems – in this case, epileptic seizures – and it was Frida who helped him during crises. The suffering of both, as you can imagine, ended up creating a very strong bond between father and daughter.

Frida attended the famous National Preparatory School in Mexico City, which at the time had about 35 women for a total of 2,000 students. Her goal was to study medicine.

The artist suffered a serious accident in 1925 while traveling on a bus. As a result, she broke her spine in 3 parts, in addition to fracturing 2 ribs, her collarbone, her pelvic bone and her right leg – this one was broken into no less than 11 pieces. In the same accident, a piece of iron passed through her uterus, which is why she was never able to be a mother.

Before the sad accident, Frida didn’t give a damn about the fine arts. But having been bedridden for so long, she ended up embracing painting and making it the centerpiece of her life.

Frida belonged to the Mexican Communist Party, which had the painter Diego Rivera as one of its militants and they met there. They had never spoken until Frida decided to present her work to Rivera, who was impressed and recommended that she continue painting.

Diego and Frida were married in 1929. And they themselves ironically called the union “the marriage of the elephant and the dove”. He, big and obese and she, small and thin.

As is often the case in relationships between two geniuses, the story of Diego and Frida was filled with love and hate and infidelity on both sides. One of the worst cases was the betrayal, on the part of Diego, with Frida’s sister, Cristina. After that, Frida got back with a series of betrayals, having affairs with both men and women. The more than expected result was a breakup. A year later, however, Frida and Diego resumed their marriage.

The Soviet leader lived in exile for a period in Frida’s house in Coyoacán, a district in Mexico City — the place that, incidentally, houses the Azteca Stadium, where Brazil won the third world football championship in 1970.

In 1953, the only exhibition of the artist in her country took place while she was still alive. By this time, she had been hospitalized for a year due to health problems and the doctors forbade her from participating in the exhibition. But a strong woman like Frida would not give up easily and she ended up going to the exhibition in an ambulance.

After her death, on July 13, 1954, Frida’s ashes were taken to a house-museum dedicated to the artist’s life and work. There, one can also find her last work, a painting entitled “Live life” which ended up, decades later, serving as the inspiration for the biggest hit by the English band Coldplay. Vocalist Chris Martin says he was inspired by this exact work to name the record.

In her work, Frida represented herself in an ambiguous, androgynous way, exaggerating some masculine characteristics, such as eyebrows and a mustache. Therefore, she ended up being considered a feminist heroine of her time, having revolutionized the way in which the female figure was represented.

As we have already said, the band Coldplay named their greatest hit after a painting by Frida. But it was not only the English who revered the painter. The band Red Hot Chilli Peppers was inspired by Frida to compose the song “Scar tissue”. The lyrics deal with the scars of life.

The work entitled “Self-portrait — El marco” was the first painting by a Mexican artist to be purchased by the Louvre Museum in Paris.

Toy maker Mattel created a Frida-inspired Barbie doll as a tribute to the Mexican artist. Her niece, who owns her image rights, didn’t like the idea and filed a lawsuit against Mattel. As a result, the doll was no longer sold.

Although she was considered by artists like André Breton as a representative of the surrealist movement, Frida never agreed with that label. She said that she did not paint dreams, but only represented, on canvas, her own life and suffering.

Frida Kahlo died early, at just 47 years old. She had a short life, but, as you can see, quite intense, considering all the suffering she went through.

That feeling is alive in what, they say, were his last words:

“Feet, why do I want them if I have wings to fly?”

Did you know the story of Frida Kahlo’s life?

Tell us in the comments!