Essay Sample on Lessons from Frida Kahlo's Works of Art

Introduction

Painting is one of the most common tools which artists use to share their thoughts, feelings, and experiences with the wider society. One artist that appears to have succeeded in this trade is Mexico's 20th-century famous artist, Frida Kahlo. Born in Coyoacan, Mexico, Kahlo experienced a nearly-fatal road accident that changed the path of her career from an idealist medical student to one of the greatest Mexican artists of all time. In his biography, Frida: a Biography of Frida Kahlo, Herrera documents the life of Kahlo extensively as an artist and a wife; clearly bringing to the fore how Kahlo's social life experiences influenced her works of art. Kahlo is depicted as a bold, resilient and shameless young woman who uses art to highlight the female experience in Mexican and American social settings. This is seen in works such as A Few Small Nips, In Memory, My parents, Grandparents and I, and The two Nudes in the Forest.

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Four Works of Frida Kahlo the Reflected the Source of her Inspiration

A Few Small Nips is perhaps the most captivating piece of Kahlo which reflected the emotional trauma she was undergoing after leaving Detroit for Mexico alongside her husband, Diego Rivera. At the time, both Kahlo and Rivera were sick. Worse still, Kahlo's husband blamed her for orchestrating their departure from the United States to Mexico, a place where the husband considered unfavorable to his career and business compared to New York and other parts of America. This blame and the fact that Rivera was ill devastated her emotionally. However, it is the affair between Rivera and Christina, her sister, which inflicted so much pain that she decided to communicate the situation through art.

The painting features a man who had stabbed her girlfriend to death. In the painting, the man holds high a dagger over the lifeless body of his girlfriend. The man appears undaunted despite the body lying in a pool of blood. As pointed by Herrera, the murderer represents masculinity, and how the glorification of this trait contributed to cruelty against women in the Mexican society. Besides, the painting, to a large extent, conveys the additional pain Rivera was causing to Kahlo in addition to the bodily injuries she nursed as a result of the road accident. These were the small nips in her life in the sense that they brought occasional sadness in spite of her resolve that she would not allow her health condition to rob her happiness- she had also resolved not to be bothered by her husband's philandering lifestyle. Yet she appeared to be hurt by Rivera's affair with Christina. They were the 'small happenings' that often undermined her resolve to remain positive. The painting is quite illuminating in so far Kahlo's life was concerned because it reflected her dilemma in dealing the consequences of her medical condition.

In Memory is another artwork that reflects the inspiration that Kahlo received by her health condition and the social environment in which she lived to become an accomplished artist of her time. In this piece, there is a paradigm shift in Frida's approach to expressing the theme of her paintings. Accordingly, Herrera points notes that Kahlo moved away from depicting her physical wounds of the bus accident and subsequent hospitalizations to a more symbolic expression of the mental anguish she was experiencing at the time.

In the painting, Kahlo's attitude towards her wounds had changed. She no longer appeared to care about the husband's affair. Unlike in previous paintings in which she looked distraught and sorrowful, In Memory, she exhibits independence and the determination to soldier on regardless of her current marital troubles. An important aspect of Kahlo's life that comes out of this painting is her sexual duality. For instance, the depiction of her hand placed near her genitals shows another life the audience never knew previously. The reader gets the sense of a shameless lady with the determination to live her life and stops at nothing in telling men about her sexuality. The painting's theme was later amplified by the many sexual relationships that Kahlo had with men and women. Although many would frown upon her escapades, such lifestyle gave her the strength and the satisfaction she missed in the married life.

My parents, Grandparents and I gives the impression that Kahlo had discovered that the source of happiness could not be found in having children and satisfying Rivera. The painting emphasizes the new sources of joy for Kahlo as well as depicts Kahlo as a mature woman who has gained more understanding about the world compared to her youthful days as a medical doctor enthusiast. An outstanding element of this shift is seen in the painting's appreciation of her roots in the village of Coyoacan. She appeared to realize that the children of her sister, Christina, were a source of great happiness and love. She further connected with the people of Coyoacan and once again expressed appreciation for the role the village had played in propelling her to where she was. This is a sharp contrast with the adolescent Kahlo. As a teenager, Kahlo resented her home village and described it as a symbol of desolation and backwardness. She idolized city life and success as a source of happiness. It is an irony that living in San Angel and the celebrity status does not guarantee happiness as she anticipated. Perhaps this juxtaposition reflects the demise of her dreams of becoming a doctor as a result of the road accident and the rise of her career as an artist.

Kahlo's paintings also featured the life experiences of women in general. Although it may be interpreted as an open show of appreciation to her homosexual lifestyle, Two Nudes in a Forest seeks to underscore bisexuality was a source of happiness for some women despite the negative societal attitudes against individuals with such sexual orientation. The painting features two women (a light-skinned and a dark-skinned) making love in a forest in the presence of a watchful monkey. The forest environment is not hospitable, but the two women clung to each other. Perhaps Kahlo seeks to emphasize on her sexuality-that despite the society's opposition to this lifestyle, Kahlo (and other women) derived more happiness than heterosexual relationships, which were what society considered as conventional. The two women's determination to make love in face of adversity reflects her quest for happiness outside the life of Rivera. The painting can also be considered as a voice to the oppressed in society -women and black people. The introduction of black people shows her level of awareness of the level of awareness on the oppression of blacks in the US society during her time.

How Learning Frida Kahlo's creativity increased the Understanding of US-Mexico Borderlands

People on the US-Mexican borderland live in 'three worlds.' As demonstrated by the life of Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera, people along this strip identify themselves as either Americans or Mexicans. In spite of these labels, residents in this region consider each country as a valuable possession in their lives. For instance, many Americans crossed the border to buy paintings of both Rivera and Frida. Similarly, Mexicans made border crossings to work in the United States. As documented by Herrera, Kahlo and Rivera lived and worked in the United States before their deteriorating health forced them to go back to Mexico. Even Rivera expressed dismay that the family's movement to San Angel would lead to low business opportunities for their artwork. This lifestyle does not depict residents in this region as exclusively American or Mexican. In other words, the residents of the borderlands have a unique identity.

The borderlands identify is manifested in the fact that these residents embrace cultures from either side of the border. In Two Nudes in a Forest, Kahlo appeared to embrace the bisexuality and promoted it in the context of her Mexican culture. This attitude was not only shaped by her own sexuality but also influenced by the American culture. As suggested earlier, the painting added a voice to the feminist movement by calling for respect of fundamental human rights and freedoms. Even Rivera, perhaps because of his experience in the United States, appreciated the sexual orientation of his wife. The respect was drawn from his strong belief in freedom of choice; people to do as they may choose while pursuing individual happiness. American acculturation was also seen in Kahlo's attitude towards the French artists whom she described as lazy and never showed the intention to work. Her views are a reflection of the individualistic American culture of entrapreneurship. In My parents, Grandparents and I and other paintings, she showed great admiration to Mexican culture. Put in another way, the borderlands are places where residents negotiate identities depending on their present social, political and economic environments. The paintings, therefore, increase the understanding of the similarities and differences in cultures of this region which traces its unique characteristics to the American-Mexican War of 1846-48.

Works Cited

Herrera, Hayden. Frida: A Biography of Frida Kahlo. Bloomsbury, 2003.