Knowing Frida Kahlo

SELF PORTRAIT WITH NECKLACE OF

THORNS

Oil on cavas. 47 x 61 cm. Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center Art Collection, University of Texas, EE.UU. By 1939 Frida had divorced Diego Rivera. It is the failure of her love experience that she portrays in this work. She will use natural symbols for this and will combine Christian and indigenous values.

The necklace of thorns, like a crown of Christ, represents the strangulation and wounds caused by Rivera's betrayal. From these branches hangs the dead body of a hummingbird, symbol of "luck in love" according to Mexican tradition or symbol of Huitzilopochtli, god of war. The hummingbird is stalked at the same time by a black cat, a bad omen, which perches on Frida's left shoulder.

On her right shoulder, the domestic monkey that Diego Rivera would have given her. The monkey, playing, pulls the necklace, causing the thorns to sink into her chest.

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FRIDA KAHLO

Coyoacán, Mexico city 1907 - 1954.

Hello, I am Frida Kahlo, one of the most important and famous Mexican artists in the world of the twentieth century.

I was born in the blue house in Coyoacán on June 6, 1907, a small town on the outskirts of Mexico City, I was the third daughter of four (Matilde, Adriana and Cristina) of the photographer Guillermo Kahlo, a German nationalized Mexican immigrant, and by Matilde Calderón. My father, besides being a photographer, was very fond of painting. He was hardworking, affectionate and very understanding, I always had a very close relationship with him and we talked about everything, I told him all my secrets, I felt that he understood me perfectly, I learned a lot from him to paint and take photographs. My mother was nice but very religious, we often argued because we thought very differently from her, but she always loved her very much.

I was a very active and outgoing girl, I loved sports and wanted to be a doctor when I grew up. At the age of six I suffered from poliomyelitis, a disease that weakens the muscles of the entire body and left me one leg shorter and thinner than the other, the recovery lasted nine months. My father encouraged me to do the exercises every day, and thanks to him and his patience I regained mobility. Going back to school was very hard, the children called me "Lame Frida" and laughed at me. I was lonely so I created my own fantasy world. Once the trauma was overcome, I became a true athlete: soccer, wrestling and swimming. My spirit of improvement surprised my family and I discovered my own strength ..

I loved my parents' house. I played for hours with my sister Cristina in the yard. I had a happy childhood, and every time I felt lonely or sad I would return to that house.

In 1910 the Revolution broke out in Mexico, a war that lasted 10 years. In 1920 the situation of the family changed with the new regime. My father lost his job and had to sell everything until he mortgaged the house. It was a difficult time for my parents. I continued with the idea of being a doctor so I enrolled in the National Preparatory School considered the best in the country. It was there that I met the Cachuchas, a group of young intellectuals who met in the library to study and discuss art, politics and philosophy ... those topics interested me a lot! .. and I met my boyfriend Alejandro Gómez Arias, the leader of the group.

At the age of eighteen I had a terrible accident that changed the course of my life, while I was returning home, the bus in which I was traveling collided with a tram, I was seriously injured, I had fractures all over my body, I spent more than one year lying in bed unable to move, my parents gave me a box of paints, brushes and canvases, that's how I started painting.

I was barely able to walk again, and little by little I left the house I began to frequent political, artistic and intellectual circles on the arm of my Cachuchas friends.

Alexander went to Paris and over time he became very important. It was then that I met the painter Diego Rivera thanks to my friend Tina Modotti, one of the most important Italian photographers of the time. Diego and I got married for the first time in 1929, we had an incomprehensible relationship for many, very free and open, strange but we loved each other very much and we understood each other in a very deep way. I admired him a lot although I did not understand him in some things. He was one of the most important people in my life and in my work, because I always painted what I experienced and how I felt and he was always present until my death. I know he adored me.

In 1953 my health was beginning to decline rapidly. Finally, I passed away in the blue house on July 13, 1954, leaving an important legacy as a character that inspires struggle, strength, and seeing the beauty of life.