The Two Fridas is an image of self- nurture: Frida comforts, guards and fortifies herself” (Herrera, 1983, 279). The painting goes on to show how without Diego she is all she has. She felt hurt and in pain
In like manner, Frida’s suffering throughout her life had a huge impact on her long term career. Also, “By distilling and depicting the emotions surrounding her traumatic accident and subsequent medical complications, Kahlo painted experiences that people could recognize and relate to—feeling pain, being hospitalized, and fearing isolation.” (Pain and the Paintbrush: The Life and Art of Frida Kahlo.) Moreover, her artistic output was dominated by self-portraits that often showed her suffering. This was due to Kahlo’s poor health, from illnesses like the poliomyelitis virus, which weakened and deformed her body, and chronic pain, which inevitably became prominent themes in her artwork.
Frida Kahlo created many glorious pieces. One of her most intriguing pieces is The Two Fridas. The image is quite symbolic and meaningful. Kahlo was a Mexican artist greatly known for her self portraits and the pain, passion and feminism of her paintings. The name of the piece I choose to analysis is Las dos Fridas, also known as The Two Fridas. This painting was created in 1939 by Frida Kahlo. Kahlo created this painting shortly after her divorce with her then husband Diego Rivera. It is said that the painting is used to represent the different sole characteristics of Frida. One of the images represents the traditional Frida in Tehuana costume with a broken heart, the other is seen as an modern day independent Frida. The period of the artwork
The physical qualities of Diego Rivera’s “Two Women and a Child” feature an oil on canvas medium. In this painting, Rivera utilizes the fresco technique which according to “A Beginners Guide to the Humanities” is a painting on a surface of plastered wall or ceiling, usually applied when the plaster is wet. Using the fresco technique allows any work of art to have a durable consistency and matte finish. The shapes of the figures have curvilinear lines to accentuate the curves and swirls of their bodies.
Diego started painting one year after his twin brother died, on the walls of his home at the young age of three. Due to him painting on the walls, Diego’s parents installed chalk boards and canvases on them, for his pleasure. His paintings didn’t get serious until he was 10. Throughout Diego’s life he was married 5 different times. Diego was married twice before he met Frida at the age of 42, about ten years later they got a divorce due to their unfaithfulness to each other but then remarried about a year later.
Each artist paints and or sculpts pieces that show human emotions, religious symbolism, and extreme detail. Leonardo da Vinci is the first artist to be discussed because of his popularity. He is best known for the Mona Lisa. The Mona Lisa was a portrait of a woman that developed a meaning, people said it’s a symbol of the Renaissance information which came from this quote. “The Mona Lisa was originally this type of portrait, but over time its meaning has shifted and it has become an icon of the Renaissance perhaps the most recognized painting in the world.”
This essay examines one of the many self-portrait paintings by Frida Kahlo called ‘broken column’ (1944). In this painting Kahlo portrays herself as a complete full bodied woman while also reflecting her broken insides. She stands alone against a surreal barren fissured landscape that echoes the open wound in her torso. A broken stone column replaces her damaged spine and is protected by a white orthopaedic corset, while sharp nails pierce into her olive naked flesh. Frida is partially nude except for the corset and white bandages. The painting is at eye level so you are face to face with Kahlo’s severe agony and pain.
The artist masterfully expresses various human forms of suffering through a process of engraving the original piece on a wooden stamp, and repeatedly stamping it onto other papers. The work was refined after every few weeks, until the stamp was completely ruined. This engraving is meant to evoke emotions more frightening than any
Frida’s style of work is categorized to be surrealist, however, she did not consider it to be surrealist art work because her art was based off to be more autobiographical paintings. The influence of her work comes from psychological and physical painful events that occurred to her during childhood, her early years of adulthood, her husband’s unfaithfulness. Frida had interest in her mixed ancestry of German-Mexican along with the immense amount of nationalism in her husband’s artwork influenced her artworks to be dealing with issues of national identity.
For instance, the item at top left shows the anatomy and the complexity of being pregnant (Self Portrait as a Tehuana, Autorretrato como Tenhuana, Frida). The baby boy in the middle of the painting symbolizes the baby Deigo she thought she would never have (Self Portrait as a Tehuana, Autorretrato como Tenhuana, Frida). The snail shows how slow and agonizing the miscarriage was (Self Portrait as a Tehuana, Autorretrato como Tenhuana, Frida). The machine in the bottom left was used to symbolize the cold machines they used on her at the hospital (Self Portrait as a Tehuana, Autorretrato como Tenhuana, Frida).
Diego Rivera is a painter and a muralist who had an abstract style in his work. Most of his themes were depicting the lives of the Mexican people. As for Frida Kahlo, she is a self-portrait artist whose style was representational. Her themes were depicting her agony of her medical condition and the sufferings she went through on her miscarriages. In 1933, the couple had a controversial collaboration of a mural called the “Man at the Crossroads” in New York City RCA building which featured Vladmir
Art, the expression of human ability or imagination. Art is usually expressed visually, but should not only be limited to what you see, It can also be what you hear, or how a piece of art makes you feel. Art is timeless and today we still can appreciate work that was done many years ago. My favorite artist is Ed Roth. He was an artist, cartoonist, illustrator, pinstriper and custom car designer.
Throughout history, art has been used to explore the identity of individuals and of society. Two artists who encapsulate both society and their own identities through their works are, Frida Kahlo and Cindy Sherman. Frida Kahlo (1907- 1954) was a Mexican painter known for her "surrealist" self-portraits. Kahlo's paintings "The Two Frida's" and "Self-portrait with cropped hair" embody Kahlo's personal struggles with her identity throughout her life. Contrastingly, Cindy Sherman (1954- ) is an American photographer and film director knows most famously for her controversial portraits.
One great notion I have developed over the years is that every human has gone through some meaning experiences in his/her life that he/ she can identify with when such experience is depicted through an artwork, painting, photography, or any form of media. After coming in contact with Dorothea Lange’s Migrant Mother, 1936, artwork (fig 4.151), I feel more connected to this artwork because it speaks directly to me and draws my attention to my personal life experience. This artwork is more of Leo Tolstoy’s definition of art that views art from a social prospective. Lange’s Migrant Mother artwork shows a mother’s strength and determination in the time of extreme need. Observing this artwork, we can conclude that the there’s always a strong, natural
Her later works were inspired by her living alone in Mexico and representing many people. Including the focus of her woman retrospective exhibition at the National Library in December 1929, which was advertised as "The First Revolutionary Photographic Exhibition In