Frida Kahlo, a famous Mexican artist, struggled through many hardships throughout her life. She went through chronic physical illness, a turbulent marriage, and the heartbreak of three miscarriages. Kahlo's works were seen as vulgar and shocking, but were much more profound than they seemed.
At the age of eighteen, Frida was involved in a tragic train-on-bus accident. A rod went through her abdomen, and doctors were surprised she lived. She quoted, after the accident, that the "handrail pierced me the way a sword pierces a bull." The accident dislocated her spine in several areas, and gave reoccurring pains to her shoulder, legs, and feet. In her painting The Bus, (1929) Kahlo recollects her moments before the chaos and agony. This suffering is reflected through her works where she is bedridden, sitting, or even with a mournful look upon her face. The accident changed her life, and it is shown strongly through her works.
Kahlo's relationship with Rivera also made a large impact on her art. In her painting Self-Portrait as a Tehuana, also known as Diego in My Thoughts (1943), Kahlo is depicted with Rivera's face painted across the middle of her forehead. As strange and striking as the piece looks, it represents how often Rivera is on her mind. She created this piece after their divorce, which makes it all the more depressing. Roots are also shown sprawling around Kahlo's head, meaning that she wishes to tie down Rivera to her thoughts and to keep him there eternally. Despite how Rivera treated Kahlo, he is included in many of her paintings, as both a positive and negative figure.
Frida endured three miscarriages throughout her life with Rivera, as well. In one of her most graphic paintings, My Birth (1932.) While the name is deceiving, it is mostly pointed toward her first miscarriage. Rivera inspired Kahlo to document her life through paintings, and tried to capture her birth, but this detailed and powerful painting was the result. A dead human head is shown coming out of the mother, but the mother's head is covered by a sheet, symbolizing that the death of the baby also killed Frida emotionally. It could also depict her mother's recent death. Either of these are a logical explanation to the sheet pulled over the body of the mother.
Frida's paintings are often misunderstood, and make people feel uncomfortable, which is possibly exactly what she wanted. Kahlo was realistic with her works, and did not bend the truth. She intricately demonstrated her hardships through her artwork and has made an impact on her admirers. She is honest to her audience, and did not hide a single feeling she felt toward Diego, her family, and others. Kahlo is an icon in art, life, and her works will be better understood once people dedicate their time to realizing the life and situations that inspired her to create such pieces.
