Frida Kahlo and The two Fridas

                                       by Yoana Escamilla Santoyo 

Magdalena Carmen Frida Kahlo Calderon(1907-1954)    best known as Frida Kahlo, was born  in Coyoacan . One of Mexico’s greatest artists, her life became part  of Mexico’s history.

To summarize her life I’ll do mention of some important facts. On her adolescence Kahlo contracted Polio at the age of 18th, then she suffered a very horrendous bus crashed and after this accident she started to paint to entertain herself because she was disable to continue with her studies of medicine as she wanted.

The first aspect to point out is that almost all her paints are self-portraits. “I paint self-portraits”-Frida Kahlo once said-“because I am the person who I know best , I paint my own reality the only thing  that I know  is  that I paint  because I need to.”

Her paintings reflect not only the changes of her face and feelings but also the advance in her life and according to some critics her paintings are surreal and to this , Kahlo answers on her diary “I never paint dreams or nightmares I paint my own reality”  love, sadness, pain, lost, surgery and most often the passion for her husband  the Mexican muralist Diego Rivera and to illustrate this point , I would like to do mention of the great paint  “The Two Fridas”.

It was painted after Diego and Frida’s divorced .The two Fridas sit next to each other holding her own hand. On the right side it is Frida who represents what Diego always wanted  his loved wife , dressed it  on  Mexican  cloths and her left hand holds a little portrait of Diego from which blood flows.

On the left side there is another Frida completely different , because this woman is dressed  with a white  dress and with a broken heart and instead of  Diego’s portrait  she holds  a pair of surgical pincers  which cut off the connection  between  Diego and Frida  representing their divorced and the drops of blood symbolize the pain she feels living without him.

This masterpiece and some others are located  at Museum of modern art  in Mexico city made in oil on canvas. I traveled to Mexico city recently just to admired this painting.When I arrived to the museum there was an advertisement  in which said  that some paintings where in an exhibition in L.A. including The two fridas , in that moment I felt really sad because it was the opportunity to see  the real painting of Frida Kahlo. I will be satisfied after see it.

As has been noted  this gorgeous work has transcended  over the time , and not only make us feel amazed with the colorful and  passion she reflects on her self-portraits but also “Using her own unique "folkloric" style of painting, Frida painted the diary of her life.” (Mike Brooks).

References:

Mike Brooks .”In Loving Memory of Frida Kahlo (1907 - 1954),” [enlínea]. August of 2005. Available on the website: http://www.fridakahlofans.com/index.html Enciclopedia Espasa,  vol.6 2003 Espasa Calpe S.A.