FRIDA KAHLO

The first great exhibition about Mexican artist Frida Kahlo (1907/1954) is from 9 June until 9 October at Tate Modern Museum in London. It’s a great opportunity for look at her paintings. She is one of the most influential artists of the twentieth century.

Frida began painting after a grave traffic accident (her spinal column was broken) when she was eighteen years old (1925).

She was in hospitals a long time and after that, met Diego Ribera. He was a famous Mexican muralist and they were married in 1929.

Their marriage was very complicated because Diego had a lot of affairs (the most important with Frida’s sister) and in the end they divorced in 1940.

One time Frida said “I suffered two accidents in my life. One in which a streetcar knocked me down… the other accident is Diego”

She painted a lot of about her marriage and her feeling about Diego. Really, she painted about her thoughts and her suffering: “I paint my own reality. The only thing I know is that I paint because I need to, and I paint whatever passes trough my head without any other consideration”

But, it’s very important to emphasize her self-portraits. She painted a lot of them because she needed to show her reality: “I paint self-portraits because I am the person I know best”.

At the end of her life she was very ill. We can see in the last paintings a lot of topics about religion and ideology. She tried to commit suicide a couple of times and today her death is still a mystery. But, her work as an influencial surrealist, is very important and shows Mexican art.

I recommend a visit to this exhibition, it may be a great experience for you.