Welcome back to Studios of Inspiration, Post number 6! Today we will explore Frida Kahlo's famous home studio.
Frida Kahlo was a Mexican surrealist painter. Born July 6, 1907 her paintings often had strong autobiographical elements and mixed realism with fantasy.
"I am my own muse" - Frida Kahlo
Contrating polio as a child left her with a skinny leg and led her to long traditional skirts that expressed her feminist and anti-colonialist ideals. Kahlo had been a promising student headed for medical school until she was injured in a bus accident at the age of 18, which caused her lifelong pain and medical problems. During her three month recovery, she returned to her childhood interest in art, painting in bed during her healing and first breakup.
Kahlo's interests in politics and art led her to join the Mexican Communist Party. She met Mexican muralist Diego Rivera. The couple married in 1929 and spent the late 1920s and early 1930s travelling in Mexico and the United States for his mural work. She developed her artistic style, drawing her main inspiration from Mexican folk culture, and painted mostly small self-portraits that mixed elements from pre-Columbian beliefs and her interior world. Kahlo often expressed her dislike for the capitalist culture of the United States.
Something that bothers me is how her image has been white-washed, and co-opted, and repackaged -- even made into products. I urge you to read more about her if this has been your primary education of her and her work. She was a communist, disabled, bisexual, and played with her identity and the way she presented herself to the world through dress. She would not be into all this derivative art depicting her with no facial hair and European beauty standard bullshit. She would be outraged by this faux-feminist-capitalist-Frida-merch shit. She often darkened her unibrow and mustache. She wore anything from the traditional Mexican skirt or men's suits. For her, getting dressed was not just a form of personal expression, but also a political stance. Get your Frida facts straight!
Frida lived a life of chronic pain, one of her greatest examples of this is in the self portrait "The Broken Column". She experienced numerous health problems related to her multiple miscariages. Not being able to carry a child caused her massive grief. She spent much of her life in and out of hospitals, operations, and recovering in bed.
Her misscarrriages led her to adopting many beloved animals. Many of whom she incorporated into her self portraits. She kept exotic birds, a fawn, monkeys, and many xolo dogs.
Upon returning to Mexico City in 1934 Kahlo made no new paintings, and only two in the following year, due to health complications. Her relationship with Diego was complex, they both had affairs, but his constant open cheating (including with her sister!) wore on the relationship. In 1937 and 1938, however, Kahlo's artistic career was extremely productive, following her divorce and then reconciliation with Rivera.
She took many lovers, both male and female, through out her life. Pictured below, are a few. The first image is of her and Diego.
In the early 40's she spent time solo in New York and Paris for exhibitions and enjoyed the company of many lovers. In 1943 she became a teacher at Escuela Nacional de Pintura. She taught in a non-hierarchical way and arranged murals for her students. When her health made it difficult to commute, her students came to her.
As Kahlo was gaining recognition in Mexico, her health was declining rapidly, and an attempted surgery to support her spine failed. Due to her spinal problems, she wore twenty-eight separate supportive corsets, varying from steel and leather to plaster, between 1940 and 1954. Her last few years we're spent at home. She painted her pain, political symbolism, and feverish still lives of fruit. When Kahlo did not have much longer to live, she had her first solo exhibition in Mexico in April 1953. She was not expected to show at the opening because her doctors had prescribed her bed rest. She has her four-poster bed moved from her home to the gallery. To the surprise of the guests, she arrived in an ambulance and was carried on a stretcher to the bed, where she stayed for the duration of the party!
Kahlo's right leg was amputated at the knee due to gangrene in August 1953. She became severely depressed and anxious, and her dependency on painkillers escalated. Despite the pain of her later years, she campained for peace and even attended protest demonstrations.
"I joyfully await the exit – and I hope never to return" – Frida
Frida Kahlo died on July 13, 1954 at age 47. The nurse, who counted Kahlo's painkillers to monitor her drug use, stated that Kahlo had taken an overdose the night she died. She had been prescribed a maximum dose of seven pills but had taken eleven. She had also given Diego a wedding anniversary present that evening, over a month in advance. Rivera, who said that her death was "the most tragic day of my life", died three years later, in 1957.
Into the studio!
These windows in her studio are unreal!
Casa Azul was made up of two sections joined by a bridge; Kahlo's was painted blue and Rivera's pink and white. Each with their own living quarters and studios. It has been turned into a museum open to the public.
I hope to one day visit her exquisite home, gardens, and studio. You can find more information and even a virtual tour on the Casa Azule website here.
Required reading:
Frida: a Biography of Frida Kahlo by Hayden Herrera
