“Frida Kahlo began to paint in 1925, while recovering from a near-fatal bus accident that devastated her body and marked the beginning of lifelong physical ordeals.”

Kahlo was a famous artists whose work provided insight into her many long-term illnesses. She’s celebrated in Mexico for her dedication to the culture of the indigenous people, and she is also celebrated by feminists for the way she represented the female form in her work. Her infertility led her to challenge society’s expectation of women as delicate beings.

Kahlo’s work was very symbolic and often included clues about her thoughts, opinions and feeling towards her personal circumstances and surroundings.

^{“They thought I was a Surrealist but I wasn’t. I never painted dreams. I painted my own reality.”}

^{Painting of Kahlo’s Family}

I’m able to read exactly what the painting above means just from looking at it: the ^{foetus next to Kahlo represents her many} miscarriages, the faces in the sky represent her family who passed away, and the unfinished faces on the right probably represent the other side of her family who she probably didn’t associate with as much.

Either that or the faces on the right are unfinished due to the fact that she was probably too ill to continue painting.

Henry Ford Hospital

This painting above is easy to analyse: it’s about her inability to carry children full-term without losing them. It may also be about her body failing her. Do you think Kahlo’s infertility was caused by the bus accident she ended up in at the age of twenty-five?

The painting above is a visual representation of the chronic pain she experienced throughout her life. I believe the nails trailing up her body represent the sensations she experienced most of her life.

The back brace is something which supported her body and posture after that near-fatal bus accident.

Reference:

Frida Kahlo.org (2011) Frida Kahlo’s Paintings. Available at: https://www.fridakahlo.org/frida-kahlo-paintings.jsp (Accessed: 25.05.19)

MoMA (2016) Frida Kahlo. Available at: https://www.moma.org/artists/2963 (Accessed: 25.05.19)