Today we’re honouring Frida Kahlo. Born July 6, 1907, Coyoacán, Mexico City, Mexico, Frida Kahlo was a Mexican painter known for her many portraits, self-portraits, and works inspired by the nature and artifacts of Mexico. Inspired by the country's popular culture, she employed a naïve folk art style to explore questions of identity, postcolonialism, gender, class, and race in Mexican society. She died July 13, 1954, at the devastatingly young age of 47. Here are a few facts and quotes. But please visit the website, fridakahlo.org for more info and to view her pieces.
Two famous movies have been made on her life:
Numerous articles, books and documentaries have been made about Kahlo's life and art, including the bestseller Frida: The Biography of Frida Kahlo (1983) by Hayden Herrera. The movie 'Frida, Naturaleza viva' was released in 1983 and was a huge success. In 2002 another biographical film 'Frida', in which Salma Hayek plays her role, grossed over $US 50 million and won two Academy Awards.
She is known as the master of Self-Portraits
In her career, Frida Kahlo created 143 paintings out of which 55 are self-portraits. Kahlo said, "I paint myself because I am so often alone and because I am the subject I know best." Her self portraits often include interpretations of physical and psychological wounds. Frida Kahlo's self-portraits are considered among the finest ever created. Her most famous self-portrait is perhaps Self-Portrait with Thorn Necklace and Hummingbird.
She became famous a couple of decades after her death
Kahlo died 20 days after her 47th birthday on July 26, 1954. A few days before her death, she wrote in her diary: "I hope the exit is joyful - and I hope never to return - Frida". Kahlo was moderately successful during her lifetime and it was only several years after her death that her work became widely acclaimed. During her lifetime she was mainly known in Mexico as Rivera's wife, now she is popular worldwide and Rivera is known as her husband.
“I used to think I was the strangest person in the world but then I thought there are so many people in the world, there must be someone just like me who feels bizarre and flawed in the same ways I do. I would imagine her, and imagine that she must be out there thinking of me too. Well, I hope that if you are out there and read this and know that, yes, it's true I'm here, and I'm just as strange as you.” ~ Frida Kahlo
Sources: Facts and Quotes: FridaKahlo.org / Fan Art: Clipart: clipartstation.com/frida-kahlo-clipart/