frida kahlo research paper outline

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Writings from mural art in mexico & u.s. (w17).

Final Research Paper

Marching Forward with Frida

Frida Kahlo is undoubtedly a feminist icon of the late 20 th and early 21 st century. Her rediscovery and resulting explosion in popularity in the recent decades is not only noted by a significant increase in the market value of her artwork, but also by the mainstream recognition of her face. Images of Frida’s famous self-portraits with her striking eyes have been printed on everything from T-shirts to magnets to tennis shoes, demonstrating the “Fridamania” that has taken over the world. The image and idea of Frida has especially become linked with feminism, many seeing her life and work as a prime representation of the core ideals of the feminist movement. Although the specific goals of the feminist movement have differed over time, one easily identifiable goal being women’s suffrage, the basic tenants have remained the same. Women want equal opportunities and consideration in the political, professional, and educational realm. Feminists are people who “believe in the social, political and economic equality of the sexes” (Adichie 17). Frida is an early feminist due to her challenge of gender norms, her depiction of pain and suffering from a women’s perspective, and her commitment to spreading revolutionary ideals.

It is first important to contextualize Frida within the time period she lived and painted. Frida came of age in the early 1920s, which was right at the end of Mexican Revolution. At that time, post-revolutionary Mexico was defined by a political rhetoric that championed the previously marginalized (such as women and the mestizo) and promised a radical social transformation (Bakewell 167). However, although the Revolution was successful at overthrowing the oppressive dictatorship of Porfirio Díaz, it was relatively unsuccessful at bringing about meaningful social and political change. This sentiment is well articulated in the “Hispano-America” panel in José Clemente Orozco’s mural Epic of American Civilization at Dartmouth College (Fig. 1). Orozco is considered one of the premier  muralists of the post-revolutionary mural movement in Mexico. In this panel, we see a Mexican rebel being stabbed in the back by his own general. In the foreground, what appears to be greedy government officials hoard golden coins while other military officials clamor to get their own share of money. As evidenced by this mural, despite the utopic depictions of post-revolutionary Mexico in the murals of Diego Rivera, in this panel Orozco demonstrates how the Mexican government was still characterized by corruption and consolidation of power, with women and campesinos remaining to be marginalized (Bakewell 168). Unfortunately, the progressive political rhetoric of the Mexican Revolution did not precipitate real change for the roles of women in society, including Frida Kahlo.

In fact, the artistic world that was largely responsible for creating this new nationalist rhetoric was very much a male dominated space. The famous artists of the time, such as “Los Tres Grandes” that comprised of Orozco, David Alfaro Siqueiros, and Frida Kahlo’s husband, Diego Rivera, were tasked with using public murals to rebuild a national culture that celebrated indigeneity and inspired Mexican nationality. Frida was obviously intimately tied to the artistic world through her own artwork as well as marriage to Diego Rivera. Ironically however, Jose Vasconcelos, the Minister of Education after the Revolution, commissioned only male artists to construct these iconic murals (Pankl & Blake 5). In the process of trying to liberate one marginalized group of people, these male muralists solidified a male-centered artistic narrative.

In contrast, Frida’s art had a refreshing female perspective. Furthermore, unlike the muralists of the time, the content of her work was exclusively her own decision and drew only from her own experiences and sentiments. The muralists depended on the commissions of government officials, such as Vasconcelos, or wealthy capitalists and thus were somewhat beholden to the agenda of the people signing their paychecks. The federal patronage of these great muralists led to the paradox of “a revolutionary art becam[ing] an official art that helped legitimize an authoritarian state” (Coffey 1). Frida’s lack of popularity during her time in some ways allowed her to be a truly revolutionary artist, even more so than the Tres Grandes because she had the free will to depict and legitimize the female experience in a world that primarily valued the male perspective. Frida herself acknowledges that “I paint…whatever passes through my head, without any other consideration” (Herrera xii). The liberated and revolutionary images she ended up producing would ultimately become symbols of the modern feminist movement for the way they questioned accepted realities of the female experience. These images were viewed by many and came to represent a public sentiment, despite their private ownership in some cases.

Frida’s commitment to the Communist party in her life and work demonstrate her political activism and ardent individualism. Frida was so committed to the ideals of the Revolution that she claimed she was born in 1910, instead of her real birth year 1907 (Pankl & Blake 4). She did this in order to label herself a daughter of the revolution. She was an active member of the Mexican communist party alongside her husband Diego Rivera, their shared revolutionary politics being a driving force behind their marriage (Bakewell 167). Frida’s socialist outlook is well demonstrated in My Dress Hangs There (Fig. 2), a painting she did while living in the United States with Diego in 1933. In the image, Frida’s traditional indigenous dress hangs on a wire across a modern America background. This background includes identifiable landmarks such as the statue of liberty and Manhattan island, celebrated symbols of American democracy and capitalism. In the forefront of the image however are images of what she perceives to be the harsh reality of democracy, including piles of garbage, tenement buildings, and a collage of newspaper clippings with headlines of social unrest. (Ankori 104). Coming from Mexico, a society where women were still not allowed to vote and the political arena was still very much a male domain, Frida “took to the streets in support of the communist revolutionary movements” (Bakewell 169). Her political activism inherent in her life and work demonstrates her feminist tendency to fight for gender equality in the political realm as well as the cultural.

In addition to the explicit revolutionary and Communist content in Frida’s paintings, her art was also progressive and radical for the way it depicted the female body. The famous nude paintings drawn by Frida’s male contemporaries and predecessors were typically very objectifying of women, portraying their reclining bodies as lustful objects to be taken and enjoyed by men at their fancy. An example of the objectification of women that was popular at the time in many works of art are the Hovey Murals at Dartmouth College, which were painted by the white male artist, Walter Beach Humphrey in 1938 and which present a prime example of this tradition. In a particularly offensive panel, a group of Native American women are all gathered around naked looking at a central nude woman holding up a feathered fan (Fig. 3). There facial features are all similar, nondescript, and obviously Caucasian. Humphrey likely made their features white because he was accounting for the tastes of the perceived viewers, who in the late 1930s at Dartmouth College were predominantly the white, male students, faculty, and alumni, who would have used the Hovey Grill for their social gatherings, and who in 1938 would not have been bothered by these images that we now understand to be completely disrespectful of women. By doing so, Humphrey acknowledges that these portraits of nude women are meant for the visual pleasure of the males, completely disrespecting women as individuals and classifying them as objects of desire without capabilities beyond that of sexual pleasure. In striking contrast to the images that Hovey painted at Dartmouth College, “Frida’s nudes de-eroticize the female by representing blemished, imperfect, bloody bodies” (Bakewell 174). Many of her most famous paintings depict nude female bodies, most commonly brutally honest depictions of her own naked and broken body. What some argue is her most famous painting, My Birth is a graphic depiction of a naked women during child birth with a head coming out of her bloody vagina (Fig. 4). This is obviously not a sensual image, however it does depict an often censored reality of the female experience. Hayden Herrera claims it is “one of the most awesome images of childbirth ever made” (Herrera 188). This painting is the epitome of feminist art because not only exposes a uniquely female experience, but its graphic nature makes it a striking denouncement of the objectification of women’s bodies through art.

Thanks to the freedom of expression Frida experienced, her art was influential and provocative in many other ways beyond the reclamation of the female body. Her influence is most notably evidenced by her surge in popularity in recent decades. In 1995, her painting Self-Portrait with a Monkey and a Parrot (Fig. 5) sold for $3.2 million, the highest price ever paid for a Latin-American work of art and the second-highest amount paid for a women artist (Collins). Frida’s popularity likely stems from the revolutionary nature of her art and life, and the feminist sentiments they inspire. In the heavily male dominated artistic narrative of post-revolutionary Mexico, Frida’s art offers a refreshing female perspective. Perhaps the most outwardly feminist theme of her art is the way she questions societal gender roles through sexual ambiguity in her self-portraits. For example, in her famous Self-Portrait with a Monkey and a Parrot (Fig. 5), Frida paints herself with obvious male features, such as a unibrow and mustache. Many of Frida’s other self-portraits also depict her with masculine features such Self-Portrait with Cropped Hair (Fig. 6) in which Frida is dressed in a man’s suit and boyish haircut after having cut off her long hair, a popular sign of Mexican womanhood and female beauty (Bakewell 169). Frida is often charged with exaggerating her facial hairs and masculine features in many of her other self-portraits in order to blur the line between male and female, as additionally evidenced by Self Portrait with a Necklace and a Hummingbird (Fig. 7) and Fulang Chang and I (Fig. 8) (Bakewell 169). In doing so, she not only attacks the patriarchy but also redefines beauty. As Carlos Fuentes eloquently puts it, “The manner of conceiving beauty as truth and self-knowledge…is Kahlo’s great legacy to the women of an increasing faceless, anonymous planet, where only the ‘photogenic’ or ‘shocking’, as seen on the screens, merits our vision” (Fuentes 17). Kahlo does not abide by conventional beauty standards, but this unconventional appearance and defiance is exactly what makes her beautiful. With a legacy of redefining beauty in the 21 st century, her art inarguably makes the public question accepted realities, proving women’s ability to catalyze change in society.

The feminist movement took place in three distinct waves. Frida Kahlo lived during the “first wave” of feminist movement and died before the “second wave” occurred. The first wave of the movement occurred roughly from the 1830s to the early 1900’s and was concerned mostly with women’s suffrage, a goal that was realized in the United States in 1920 with the 19 th amendment. Surprisingly, women in Mexico only gained the right to vote in 1953 for local elections and for national elections in 1958 meaning that Frida never had the opportunity to vote during her lifetime. Frida’s active participation in the Communist party demonstrated her defiance of the political restrictions that were placed on her as a woman her and her determination to inspire change in her lifetime, which was another inspirational facet of Frida’s feminist character. The “second wave” of the feminist movement took place between the 1960’s and the 1980’s and was characterized by the fight for gender equality in the workplace, as well as for sexuality, family and reproductive rights (Dorey-Stein). More specifically, the Chicana Feminist movement was born during this time within the context of the larger Chicano movement, which fought for the rights of Mexican Americans. This subset of the feminist movement was uniquely concerned with “Chicana feminists struggle to gain equal status in the male-dominated nationalist movements and in American society” (Garcia 220). After her death in 1954, Frida became an icon of Chicana movement, because Kahlo’s Mexican identity along with her defiant and politically active life, embodied the ideals Chicanas were fighting for. Frida also embodied the larger ideals of the second wave in many ways. She fought for gender equality in the workplace in the way she fearlessly produced art in a male-dominated artistic arena (as mentioned above). Furthermore, she fought for sexual liberation in the way she blurred the line between male and female in her iconic self-portraits and engaged in relationships with both men and women. Considering these parallels between the life and work of Frida and the goals of the second wave of feminism, it is not surprise that the surge in Frida’s popularity began during this time.

The third wave of Feminism began in the 1990’s and continues through the present. This wave builds upon the legal rights and protections gained during the first and second waves of feminist struggle and aims to finish the perceived unfinished work of the second wave, including “redefine[ing] the ideas, words, and media that have transmitted ideas about womanhood, gender, beauty, sexuality, femininity, and masculinity, among other things” (Burkett & Brunell). Unsurprisingly, Frida Kahlo is also an icon of this wave, alongside other notable female figures such as Madonna, Beyoncé, and Lena Dunham. Beyond the feminist nature of Frida’s life and work, the most recent surge in her popularity is attributed to the publication of her biography by Hayden Herrera in 1983 and the making of multiple major motion pictures of her life.

There are many obvious reasons for Frida’s explosion in popularity in recent decades in relation to the feminist movement, however there might also be some less-obvious underlying psychological reasons women of today are particularly enamored with her. According to the Kirk Varnedoe, the chief curator for the Museum of Modern Art in New York city, “[Frida] clicks with today’s sensibilities- her psycho-obsessive concern with her herself, her creation of a personal alternative world carry a voltage… . [and] she fits well with the odd, androgynous hormonal chemistry of our particular epoch” (Collins). The obsessive concern with our personal identities and public perception is particularly evident in the rise of social media. This self-obsession is manifested in Frida’s self-portraits and our modern-day Instagram, Facebook, and Snapchat accounts. Where Frida differs from the modern users of social media is the way she depicts struggle alongside her strength. In a society where we spend a significant portion of our time attempting to construct a perfect and seamless public image of ourselves, we can take note from Frida’s self-portraits which offer us an autobiography in paint that depicts an unavoidable and universal struggle, defined by a resonating acknowledgement that we are not alone in our suffering.

Frida’s life was characterized by suffering, and thus, so was her art. According to her biographer Hayden Herrera, one of “the qualities that marked Kahlo as a person and as a painter [was] her gallantry and indomitable alegría in the face of physical suffering” (Herrera x). Furthermore, her depiction of pain and suffering from a uniquely women’s perspective was unprecedented for the time, making her not only revolutionary, but also feminist. The uniquely feminine issues that Frida depicted in her art range from miscarriages to divorce and more. Her piece of work that most obviously depicts the theme of miscarriage is Henry Ford Hospital (Fig. 9). This piece comes from Frida’s actual experience of having a dangerous miscarriage while living in Detroit in 1932. The piece shows Frida lying naked in a hospital bed bleeding, holding six vein-like ribbons that are attached to different objects floating around the frame. The objects include a pelvis bone, a snail, a piece of machinery, a dying flower, and perhaps most strikingly a male fetus. The flower is evocative of the famous flower drawings of one of Frida’s contemporary feminist artists Georgia O’Keeffe. O’Keefe is famous for her large-scale flower paintings that symbolized female genitalia. This was Frida’s first piece of iconic art, and marked a transition in her painting style. As noted by her husband Diego Rivera at the time, after the miscarriage “Frida began work on a series of masterpieces which had no precedent in the history of art-paintings which exalted the feminine qualities of endurance of truth, reality, cruelty, and suffering” (Herrera 144). Miscarriages are undoubtedly one of the most haunting experiences a woman can experience, and this reality is masterfully depicted in this piece. To this day, miscarriages are still considered a taboo and deeply personal topic and Frida’s willingness to depict the experience of having one so graphically yet beautifully is likely what makes this piece so gripping and iconic. This piece demonstrates Frida’s unparalleled ability to encapsulate often inexplicable female realities in her work.

Another type of suffering that inspires many of Frida’s pieces is the pain of heartbreak. Frida was famous for saying that she suffered two accidents during her lifetime, the tram accident that would leave her crippled for the rest of her life, and her love affair with Diego Rivera, claiming that he was the worse of the two (Malkin). Diego Rivera and Frida’s love affair is one of the most iconic modern love stories, characterized by fervent passion, affairs, and heartbreak. This pain of heartbreak is depicted in many of her pieces, notably in what is probably her most famous piece The Two Fridas (Fig. 10), drawn in the wake of her divorce with Rivera in 1939. In this painting, two Frida figures sit side by side on a bench holding hands. The Frida figure on the left is dressed in a white Victorian dress and the one on the right is dressed in traditional Mexican dress. Both Fridas have exposed hearts- a literal device Frida often uses to show pain in love (Herrera 278). Both Fridas are connected by a vein between their hearts. The one on the left is also pictured with another vein coming out of her heart that appears to be severed by scissors that she is holding with blood flowing from the vein onto her white dress. This appears to be a reference to her recent severance of her relationship with Diego and the pain it has caused her heart. The Frida on the right is also holding a miniature portrait of Rivera as a child, another reference to her lost husband. In the background of the image there is a grey and black stormy sky, another reminder of the turbulence in Frida’s life caused by the divorce. The Two Fridas demonstrates that Frida’s only companion is herself after the divorce, and “the doubling of herself deepens the chill of loneliness” (Herrera 279). Loneliness and heartbreak is a universal experience that transcends time periods and cultures, making this piece resonate with many people, especially women who are stuck in relationships defined by the expectation of remaining faithful wives who are dependent on philandering husbands. This piece articulates the pain of divorce, but also demonstrates the resiliency of survivors, as Frida’s unavoidable gaze commands your attention and assures you of her strength.

Beyond her tragic life story and the “unmistakable power of her face on a T-Shirt” (Malkin), Frida’s acclaimed artwork is still the defining aspect of her life that makes her one of the most iconic feminist artists of recent decades. Her ability to articulate the universal sentiment of suffering in her art is what resonates with the viewer and makes her unforgettable. As we enter a time period where feminism is no longer an exclusively women’s movement, but one supported by anyone who identifies with being oppressed and wants to end the senseless oppression of women, the messages in Frida’s paintings become more and more universal and applicable. The work of feminist movement is not over as evidenced by the recent historical Women’s March on Washington and the troubling fact that women continue to only make eighty cents to the men’s dollar (National Committee on Pay Equity). The life and work of Frida Kahlo can continue to be a source of hope and inspiration as we march defiantly and decidedly forward through the next four years and beyond.

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International Journal of Arts

p-ISSN: 2168-4995    e-ISSN: 2168-5002

2013;  3(2): 11-17

doi:10.5923/j.arts.20130302.01

Examining Frida Kahlo’s Self-portraits from the Perspective of Psychoanalysis

Abo Algasem Dadvar 1 , Hamid Kamarzarrin 2 , Roya Mansorvar 3 , Mohammad khaledian 4

1 Assistant Professor of Art Research department of Alzahra University, Tehran, I.R. of Iran

2 Assistant Professor of psychology department of Payame Noor University, PO BOX 19395 - 3697 , Tehran, I.R. of Iran

3 M.A. in Art Research department of Payame Noor University, PO BOX 19395 - 3697 , Tehran, I.R. of Iran

4 Faculty of psychology department of Payame Noor University, PO BOX 19395 - 3697, Tehran, I.R. of Iran

Copyright © 2012 Scientific & Academic Publishing. All Rights Reserved.

Since 50 works out of 143 known paintings by “Frida Kahlo” have been devoted to her “self-portraits”, this subject made us believe that self -portraits are of paramount significance among her works. Self-portrait could include many complexities mentally; hence, they are most associated with psychoanalysis. So examining Kahlo’s self-portraits psychoanalytically will open up to us new aspects of these self-portraits. Our main idea was that, Kahlo’s self-portraits –not necessarily from a mere feminine narcissism standpoint of the painter _ are indicative of ups and downs in her life. On this ground, we were able to comprehend self-portraits as “self-imaging” and suppositional that Kahlo felt towards her own self. This engenders that, she goes beyond the mere representation of her face, and remain loyal to her inner consciousness and imagination.

Keywords: Frida Kahlo, Psychoanalysis, Self-portrait, Self-imaging, Representation

Cite this paper: Abo Algasem Dadvar, Hamid Kamarzarrin, Roya Mansorvar, Mohammad khaledian, Examining Frida Kahlo’s Self-portraits from the Perspective of Psychoanalysis, International Journal of Arts , Vol. 3 No. 2, 2013, pp. 11-17. doi: 10.5923/j.arts.20130302.01.

Article Outline

1. introduction, 2. life chronicle and events affecting kahlo’s life, 3. on psychoanalysis and defining its main concepts, 4. conclusions, attached images.

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Essays on Frida Kahlo

Brief description of frida kahlo.

Frida Kahlo was a Mexican artist known for her powerful self-portraits and depiction of indigenous Mexican culture. Her work is celebrated for its raw emotion and unapologetic portrayal of pain and resilience. Kahlo's impact extends beyond the art world, as she is an icon of feminism, disability rights, and Mexican identity.

Importance of Writing Essays on This Topic

Essays on Frida Kahlo offer a unique opportunity to explore the intersections of art, identity, and activism. By analyzing Kahlo's life and work, students can gain insight into the complexities of gender, nationality, and physical and emotional pain. Writing about Kahlo also allows for critical engagement with the representation of marginalized voices in art history.

Tips on Choosing a Good Topic

• Consider themes in Kahlo's work, such as identity, pain, and resilience, and how they relate to contemporary issues.
• Explore lesser-known aspects of Kahlo's life, such as her political activism or her relationships with other artists.
• Examine the influence of Kahlo's Mexican heritage on her art and how it shapes her representation in the global art world.

Essay Topics

• The portrayal of physical and emotional pain in Frida Kahlo's self-portraits.
• The intersection of feminism and nationalism in Kahlo's art.
• The impact of Kahlo's disability on her artistic practice.
• Exploring the symbolism in Kahlo's use of indigenous Mexican imagery.
• How Kahlo's personal life influenced her artistic style and subject matter.
• The enduring legacy of Frida Kahlo's art in contemporary culture.

Concluding Thought

Writing essays on Frida Kahlo offers a rich opportunity for critical thinking and personal exploration. By delving into the life and work of this iconic artist, students can gain valuable insights into the complexities of identity, representation, and artistic expression. Embracing this topic can lead to a deeper understanding of art, history, and social justice.

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81 Frida Kahlo Essay Topic Ideas & Examples

🏆 best frida kahlo topic ideas & essay examples, 📝 interesting topics to write about frida kahlo, 👍 good research topics about frida kahlo, ❓ frida kahlo questions.

• Frida Kahlo’s Paintings Analysis Although the first painting is a symbolic self-portrait and the other one is a realistic portrait of a woman, both of these works strike the audience with the powerful depiction of the women’s experience of […]
• “Frida”: Self-Portrait With Cropped Hair by Frida Kahlo The mouth of the lady is depicted by a line that is somehow excessively curved. Further, the scale employed in the paintwork exacerbates the artist’s sense of loneliness. We will write a custom essay specifically for you by our professional experts 808 writers online Learn More
• Analysis of “The Broken Column” by Frida Kahlo The object in the picture is three-dimensional, practically does not interact with the light, is only under a direct source in the form of the sun.
• The Art of Frida Kahlo and Chicano Art She incorporated the use of Mexican and pre-Colombian art work, imagery and concepts in some of her works which included “My Nurse and I”, a self portrait that depicts Kahlo in the hands of a […]
• Rubens’ Abduction of the Daughters of Leucippus and Kahlo’s Self-Portrait with Monkey The story behind the painting aims to show viewers the ancient story about the famous characters of Castor and Pollux and their attitude toward and perception of the daughters of Leucippus in the context of […]
• Frida Kahlo’s Art Through a Biographical Study In addition, she actively emphasized in the paintings that she identifies as a Mexican and is proud of her roots. In particular, she was associated with many personalities-modernists, which contributed to the development of Frida’s […]
• Innovative Art of Frida Kahlo, Kate Chopin, and Michel Basquiat The main message expressed by the works of the three authors is that creativity should be free from the framework of stereotypes and prejudices.
• Frida Kahlo’s and Kate Chopin’s Lives and Work On the other hand, Kate Chopin is one of the most important American women writers, and during her lifetime, she was known as a feminist.
• Norton Museum of Art: Frida Kahlo’s Painting The main point of interest is the division of the different parts of the building according to the culture to which the masterpieces belong.
• The Life and Times of Frida Kahlo: Art and Design The Life and Times of Frida Kahlo is a film that celebrates the phenomenal art and experiences of the Mexican painter Frida Kahlo.
• Kahlo and Pollock Pictures Review The first I would like to tell of is the picture by Jackson Pollock named The Guardian of the Secret, 1943.
• Frida Kahlo’s Work and Her Political View Frida Kahlo is a Mexican women artist who has become a symbol of surrealism of the twenties century for many people.
• “Frida Kahlo: A Contemporary Feminist Reading” by Liza Bakewell The purpose of this action was to bring her closer to the revolution and identify her with it. Kahlo’s rise to iconic status was due to her experiences and occurrences of the time.
• Frida Kahlo’s and Material Culture She was swayed by the allure of material culture, an identity she adopted in her personality as well as her artworks.
• Frida Kahlo and Andy Warhol: Comparative Analysis
• Comparing the Self Portraits of Kathe Kollwitz, Frida Kahlo, and Paula Modersohn Becker
• Frida Kahlo and Her Animalitos: How Artist’s Love of Animals Shaped Her Character
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• Portrayal and Use of Negative Life Experiences in the Artworks of Frida Kahlo
• Frida Kahlo: Pictures Worth More Than 1,000 Words
• Overview of Frida Kahlo’s Searing Protest Letter to the President of Mexico
• Frida Kahlo’s Colors and Artistic Intimacy
• 26-Year-Old Frida Kahlo’s Compassionate Letter to 46-Year-Old Georgia O’Keeffe
• Frida Kahlo: Self-Portrait With Cropped Hair and Futago by Yasumasa Morimura
• Comparing the Art Works of Frida Kahlo and Osamu Tezuka
• Frida Kahlo’s Feelings and Perception of the World Through Her Art
• Magical Realism in Kahlo’s The Wounded Deer and Kafka’s Metamorphosis
• Frida Kahlo’s Passionate Hand-Written Love Letters to Diego Rivera
• The Role of Human Condition in Frida Kahlo Art Works
• Frida Kahlo: The Wonders Behind the Tragedies
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• Frida Kahlo: Torment and Triumph in Her Life and Art Analysis
• A Critique of the Different Works of Frida Kahlo
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• Power of Art in Speaking to the Community: Frida Kahlo and Andy Warhol
• The Life Story of Famous Mexican Artist Frida Kahlo
• Contextual Analysis of the Two Fridas by Frida Kahlo
• What Did Frida Kahlo Do That Changed the World?
• How Did Frida Kahlo Represent Herself?
• What Type of Artist Was Frida Kahlo?
• How Did Frida Kahlo Help Pave the Way for Female Empowerment?
• Why Was Frida Kahlo So Inspiring?
• How Did Frida Kahlo Influence Art?
• What Can Frida Kahlo Teach Us?
• Is Frida Kahlo Still Popular?
• What Art Techniques Did Frida Kahlo Use?
• What Stereotypes Did Frida Kahlo Break?
• What Did Frida Kahlo Do as an Activist?
• Is Frida Kahlo a Feminist Icon?
• What Mental Illness Did Kahlo Have?
• Was Frida Kahlo Permanently Disabled?
• How Did Frida Kahlo Inspire Other Artists?
• What Are the Differences Between Frida Kahlo’s and Diego Rivera’s Art?
• Why Are Frida Kahlo’s Paintings Unique?
• How Does Frida Kahlo Use Surrealism?
• What Was Frida Kahlo’s Contribution to the Hispanic Community?
• Did Frida Kahlo Have a Unibrow?
• How Did Frida Kahlo Help the Mexican Revolution?
• What Is Frida Saying About Herself Through Painting?
• Why Did Frida Kahlo Look Masculine?
• How Did Frida Kahlo Change the World Feminism?
• What Was the Accident That Gave Frida Kahlo Her Inspiration in Life?
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Frida Kahlo, in her own words: A new documentary draws from diaries, letters

Mandalit del Barco

A new documentary about Frida Kahlo's life, now streaming on Amazon Prime, tells her story using her own words and art. Leo Matiz/Fundación Leo Matiz hide caption

A new documentary about Frida Kahlo's life, now streaming on Amazon Prime, tells her story using her own words and art.

"I paint myself because that's who I know the best," the late Mexican artist Frida Kahlo once wrote in her illustrated diary. So it's fitting that a new documentary about Kahlo's life, now streaming on Amazon Prime, tells her story using her own words and art.

In the 70 years since Kahlo's death there have been countless efforts to revisit her complicated life, politics and artwork. Most famous is probably the 2002 fictional film starring Salma Hayek and directed by Julie Taymor that depicted Kahlo's tempestuous relationship with painter Diego Rivera. Many of these treatments have relied on actors, interviews with academics, art historians and contemporary artists. Filmmaker Carla Gutiérrez wanted a fresh take.

"Instead of having that historical distance of other people explaining [to] us what she meant with her art," Gutiérrez says, "I really wanted to give that gift to viewers of just hearing from her own words. We wanted to have the most intimate entry way into her heart and into her mind."

In Frida, Kahlo's words are taken from letters and diaries, and voiced by Mexican actor Fernanda Echevarría del Rivero. The film is in Spanish, with English subtitles. Archivo Manuel Álvarez Bravo, S.C. hide caption

In Frida, Kahlo's words are taken from letters and diaries, and voiced by Mexican actor Fernanda Echevarría del Rivero. The film is in Spanish, with English subtitles.

In Gutiérrez's documentary Frida, Kahlo's words are taken from handwritten letters and illustrated diaries, and voiced by Mexican actor Fernanda Echevarría del Rivero. The film is in Spanish, with English subtitles.

Gutiérrez says she wanted to get inside Kahlo's head. "What was she thinking? what was she feeling? I felt that as a Latina, somebody that grew up in Latin America, there was this connection I have with the world that created Frida."

Gutiérrez was born in Peru and saw her first Frida Kahlo painting, as a college student in Massachusetts. It was an image of Kahlo standing with one foot in Mexico, another in the U.S. "Her impressions of the United States and yearning [for] home for Mexico, that painting really reflected my own experience," says Gutiérrez. "And then I became obsessed, like millions of people around the world."

As an editor, Gutiérrez has worked on documentaries on other what she calls "badass women", including the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg , singer Chavela Vargas and chef Julia Child . But Frida is her first film as director.

The Picture Show

Frida kahlo's private stash of pictures.

She enlisted the help of Hayden Herrera, who wrote the definitive Frida Kahlo biography in 1983 . Gutiérrez' team combed through Herrera's closets and attic, looking through her archives.

"We had a good time," Herrera says. "I basically gave them all my research material."

That included transcripts of interviews with people who knew Kahlo. One of the film's archivists, Gabriel Rivera, also scoured university libraries, museums and private collections finding photos and handwritten messages.

"These letters often have little doodles on them," Rivera says. "She would, like, do kind of lipstick kisses on these letters."

The film includes the words written by or about Kahlo's contemporaries, including Diego Rivera, who she married twice, her friends such as surrealist André Breton and her lovers such as Russian revolutionary leader Leon Trotsky.

Some of Kahlo's paintings are slightly animated in the new film. Archivo Manuel Álvarez Bravo, S.C. hide caption

Some of Kahlo's paintings are slightly animated in the new film.

Gabriel Rivera says they tried to follow any lead, including a tip about some footage of Kahlo dancing in the streets of New York City with a rose stem gripped in her mouth. He discovered through writings that the film canister had been left on an airplane in the late 1960s, which Rivera said is "just devastating." They tried to find lost luggage and are still hoping it shows up one day.

But there is plenty of material they did find.

In Mexico, another archivist, Adrián Gutiérrez, was able to collect some rarely seen photos and footage of Kahlo and Rivera together, and of Rivera kissing another woman. There's footage of the Mexican revolutionary Emilio Zapata and of Red Cross workers in Mexico City bandaging trolley accident victims like Kahlo, who was famously injured as a teen. She painted about that and other pain she suffered.

For the documentary, composer Víctor Hernández Stumpfhauser created a soundtrack of electronic music with folkloric guitar and the ethereal voice of his wife, Alexa Ramírez.

Hear Mandalit del Barco's 1991 radio documentary about Frida Kahlo

"The idea was that Frida herself was so ahead of her time, with her thoughts, her ideas. She was a very modern person," says Stumpfhauser. "So we thought, well, let's let's do something modern, but of course, with a with a Mexican flair."

Gutiérrez also made the decision to slightly animate some of Kahlo's paintings. Frida's open heart beats and bleeds, tears roll down her face, and when she cuts her hair in desperation over her divorce, her scissors move and pieces of her hair fall to the floor.

Latin America

As mexico capitalizes on her image, has frida kahlo become over-commercialized.

The Salma Hayek film also animated some of Kahlo's work. But Herrera says doing so in a documentary was gutsy.

"When I saw the first animation, I thought, Oh my God," says Herrera. "But then I found it really seductive and really added so much to the understanding of her paintings. I found them very astute and actually quite witty. And they brought you closer to Frida."

Art Where You're At

5 lesser-known, late-in-life works by frida kahlo now on view in dallas.

Herrera says its remarkable that Frida mania is still very much alive.

"I think she would have been pleased that we're still talking about her, and I think she would have liked this film," she says. "Although seeing your own paintings animated might not be easy, but she might have given one of her big guffaws and laughed and thought it was amusing."

Herrera says this latest documentary is her favorite telling of Frida Kahlo, and is itself a work of art.

Detroit's 'Frida' Aims To Build Latino Audiences For Opera

Music Interviews

The villalobos brothers match music with frida kahlo.

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Essays on Frida Kahlo

Frida Kahlo is one of the most notable women painters in the world, which makes writing a Frida Kahlo essay a task of great difficulty as well as significance. Her international recognition is due to her bold and elaborate art pieces of outstanding creativity, as well as her distinctive personal style. In good essays on Frida Kahlo, one usually notes that Frida’s works showcase her personal life journey and artistic vision in a way that is both realistic and surrealistic, but so unmistakably her own. We here are true fans of Frida Kahlo, which is why we can gladly assist you with your Frida Kahlo essays. You are also welcome to check these handpicked Frida Kahlo essay samples to help kickstart your creative essay writing process.

One of the most famous paintings by Frida Kahlo is titled Self-portrait The painting depicts the Mexican artist in a hospital bed covered with blood. It shows her swollen belly, which remains covered with six thin red filaments. Frida was a victim of a natural abortion in 1932. The painting is...

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Frida Kahlo, Mexico's most outstanding female craftsman, painted severely legal self-representations that find her mental reaction to difficulty. She was once conceived on July 6, 1907, in Coyoacan, a suburb of Mexico City. When she was six years of age, she contracted polio which left her with a twisted...

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A new film tells Frida Kahlo's story in her own words for the first time

Frida Kahlo's distinct image and iconic paintings are omnipresent art symbols recognizable by most people even 70 years after her death, creating a false sense that everything there is to say about the Mexican painter has already been said.

But filmmaker Carla Gutiérrez cuts through that by doing what no one has done before in retelling the legendary artist’s story on-screen: use Kahlo's own words.

In her new documentary film "Frida," Gutiérrez uses the painter’s illustrated diary , intimate correspondence and candid print interviews to verbalize the artist’s innermost thoughts. Those emotions beautifully come to life through the lyrical animation of Kahlo's unforgettable artwork.

The combination of these elements in Gutiérrez’s feature film directorial debut results in a refreshing narrative that is as introspective as Kahlo’s paintings, most of which are self-portraits.

“I really felt that there was an intimacy that we could capture with our film and bring her in a different way to viewers,” Gutiérrez told NBC News. “For us, it was about always capturing the essence of Frida and her spirit.”

In the film, the earnest delivery of voiceover actor Fernanda Echevarría del Rivero as Kahlo allows the audience to feel an even bigger affinity to the artist, as if she was the one telling us her deepest secrets from her childhood and her adulthood.”

Kahlo’s voice has remained a mystery for years. There is one  recording believed to contain the sound and tone of the artist’s voice , according to Mexico’s Fonoteca Nacional, which archives old radio shows and other kinds of recordings. The Kahlo Family has denied this, saying that as far as they know, " there are no records of Frida’s voice ."

The voiceovers in "Frida" are effectively used to deliver poignant revelations about Kahlo and her life. At times, they are so personal, it almost feels like we should not be listening to them.

In her letters and diary, Kahlo wrote about the ups and downs of her relationship and marriage to acclaimed muralist Diego Rivera, her romance with the Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky, and some of her first memories questioning the Catholic faith, as well as gender roles.

Viewers also get to go inside Kahlo's mind as she recovered from a life-threatening accident that left her with fractures in her spine, leg, collarbone and pelvis — injures that resulted in multiple miscarriages and dozens of surgical procedures later in her life.

"There is a way of approaching biographies where you just list all the things that happen in somebody's life. But for me, it's really more important to capture the spirit of somebody and the emotional journey of that person," Gutiérrez said.

To accomplish this, she and her team got unrestricted access to research materials that have never been shown to the general public before.

It took them two years to parse through everything and create a unique cinematic experience for those who have loved Kahlo for years and others who are just learning about her legacy.

Gutiérrez said the experience of reading Kahlo's writings and getting to know about her feelings firsthand "made me really feel her a lot, in a closer way, in a more intimate way.”

“It just made her into a more normal woman that is facing the normal things that we all face,” she said.

Audiences get to see, hear and feel a multitude of Kahlos — at times rebellious and seductive, fearless and defiant, lonely and vulnerable, insecure and fragile.

As a woman who lived with physical disabilities, explored and challenged gender norms, remained politically active and lived a tumultuous love life, the film provides a satisfying ending that makes us gain a new understanding of Kahlo's last painting: a still life of watermelons with the Spanish words "Viva la Vida" (Live Life).

It brought meaning to "that symbol, that sometimes is a little bit reductive," Gutiérrez said.

"Frida" will be available to stream on Amazon starting Thursday.

Nicole Acevedo is a reporter for NBC News Digital. She reports, writes and produces stories for NBC Latino and NBCNews.com.

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The ‘Frida’ Documentary Animated Kahlo’s Paintings. Deal with It.

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At the world premiere of Frida during the 2024 Sundance Film Festival, audiences couldn’t stop talking about director Carla Gutierrez’s choice to animate Frida Kahlo’s paintings throughout the documentary about the artist — and not always in a good way.

“We knew that it was a bold decision,” Gutierrez told IndieWire of the conversation that sprang up around the film. “Obviously, when you’re putting out a film and you’re getting the first reactions, you take them really intensely, and it’s just like, ‘Oh, OK.’ But we had so many conversations about what we meant and what we wanted to do with animation , that a lot of the things that people brought up or questioned were actually questions that we posed ourselves through the process.”

“The concept was it’s her voice,” Gutierrez said. “So, her voice is also the art, right? That’s the way that I always thought about it. So it’s her voice in every way. From the very, very beginning, it was like, ‘How do we show her internal world?’ She can carry a lot of her story with her own words. But what are the ways that we’re going to be able to immerse ourselves in her internal world and her emotions?”

The animation of Kahlo’s paintings provides a surprisingly deep appreciation of her inner turmoil but also a visceral sense of the freedom that painting gave her. In Kahlo’s own words (heard in the exclusive clip below), “painting completed my life.” The documentary then cuts to several of Kahlo’s paintings, all subtly animated in ways that force us to engage with them in a fresh way.

“As we see Frida painting at the end of her life and we hear her tell us how art completed her life in the face of so much loss, I wanted to show emblematic paintings that portrayed the grief and loss during Frida’s lifetime,” Gutierrez said. “’The Tree of Hope’ represents the many surgeries she underwent in the last years of her life. ‘Memory’ is about the heartache she suffered during her separation from Diego Rivera. ‘Henry Ford Hospital’ is about the loss of a pregnancy. ‘The Broken Column’ shows her broken body because of a brutal accident when she 16. These were the losses Frida suffered, but painting her experiences allowed her to release her pain and find catharsis.”

The ways in which we interact with art in museums or galleries are more immediate than in the flat, two-dimensional ways they appear in film, which raised a question for Gutierrez as she worked on “Frida”: “How do we guide the audience through the art so that they pay attention to that emotional detail in the painting that I want them to pay attention to within the narrative?” Gutierrez said, pointing out the ways in which the film’s animation seeks to circumvent that barrier and bring the same sense of immediacy to Kahlo’s work as when viewing it in person.

“It was just so wonderful to be in collaboration with this group of Mexican women animators,” Gutierrez said. “We were kind of a little obsessive with our research. When we were grading the color of our paintings, we had the Taschen Frida book. [But the animators] would go to Casa Azul to look at the color of the actual paintings because we weren’t sure about the published color. So yeah, it’s a little obsessive!”

“Frida” is now streaming on Prime Video.

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