A fine introduction to her art and life. My visit to Casa Azul, the house she shared with Diego, was the highlight of my trip tp to Mexico City. You are immersed in Frida—her art, her clothes, her love of indigenous culture, her pain. Above her bed is a mirror to help her paint lying down.
Frida Kahlo lived as an artist, and painted with emotion and passion, as an artist. She shared her pain. The life of an artist is not a neat one, lived within the boundaries of polite and confirmist society.
It is messy; it is passionate. Such is art and Frida was an artist. There is a 2012 film, Frida, which does a fine job focusing on her artistic life and her relationship with Diego.
That Arias quote disturbs me. It feels like it's one thing for Kahlo to present her own body as art, damaged or not, but another for someone else to present her accident that way, like a spectacle for bystanders. In your piece it seems in contrast to the later photo of her being carried in to her last exhibit on a stretcher, when she makes herself into a living artwork, as you call it. That feels more in keeping with her art, where she is exerting some control over her own pain.
What do you think? I appreciate you raising difficult questions (as Kahlo does in her art).
Yeah, that's an interesting question. Are you partly asking that because you're currently having to wrestle with similar issues whilst writing about your father's life/art? His pain? His struggles? His sexuality? To what extent and in what ways (if at all) he wanted to publicly express those sorts of things in his own artworks etc? I know what you mean about the Arias quote. It is unnerving. But, in quite a few of her paintings, Frida Kahlo presented herself as naked, bleeding, even pierced by arrows. Maybe it's the gold-dust that is disturbing? Because, in contrast to Kahlo's paintings, it makes the horror of that incident too soft? Or too surreal? Fantastical? Like one of Gustav Klimts paintings? The Arias quote is from an interview with him years later. I got the sense when reading extracts of that interview in Hayden Herrera's bio of Kahlo that Arias had hardly ever spoken about the horror of that day - that it wasn't an attempt to make a public statement; that it was just his attempt to describe his memories of a very traumatic experience. I appreciated reading his words though. They helped to bring to life the horror of that crash, and the extraordinary impact it had on Frida Kahlo - on her life and her art. Hope that helps! Thanks again for your question.
I hadn't thought of this in relation to my work on my father. I'll have to think about that. I definitely don't intend my writing to sensationalize my father's struggles in his life or art but then intentions aren't always the point.
Here the distinction I was making was not about whether any specific details were too much, but rather that someone else (Arias, bystanders, anyone) was describing her pain this way. That is, it's fine for her to make art out of her own pain-- that's her right and her gift as an artist--but others should avoid doing so. Maybe that feels like a quibble. I don't know. The context you provide is helpful-- that Arias said this much later, as a memory, and struggled himself with how to represent the accident. We can't help but center Kahlo in the story because she's the famous artist but maybe Arias's account was not "about" her but his own way of processing a tragic experience. "It's complicated," as they say.
Thanks, again, for bringing this to the light, to discuss.....
I guess there is a danger that any bographer or commentator ends up misrepresenting or sensationalising the lives of the artists/people they write about. I genuinely don't think Alejandro Gómez Arias did that when he was interviewed though. Like Frida Kahlo, at the time of the crash, he would have been in his late-teens, was her boyfriend, and was actually on the bus with her. I got the sense that he just tried to answer the questions he was asked - that he tried to describe his memories of what must have been an unbelievably traumatic incident for everyone involved. It would be strange to ignore his experience of what happened. Wouldn't that be like someone telling you not to comment on or write about your father's life/artworks because those were his experiences to control/own? Perhaps what I appreciated most about reading Gómez Arias's account of the crash was the sense he communicated of a horrifically violent incident that was followed by a strangely lucid sense of otherworldliness - as if, for a moment, before reality kicked in, time stopped and a confused but weirdly lucid state of mind descended on them all. And that sense of a suspended reality was repeated in Kahlo's own memories: "The first thing I thought of was a balero (a Mexican toy) with pretty colours that I had bought that day". I find that so interesting because quite a few of her paintings are harrowing but have a strangely lucid and otherworldly 'moment frozen in time' quality too. Thanks again, Victoria! Lots of important things to think about there. ✨️
A fine introduction to her art and life. My visit to Casa Azul, the house she shared with Diego, was the highlight of my trip tp to Mexico City. You are immersed in Frida—her art, her clothes, her love of indigenous culture, her pain. Above her bed is a mirror to help her paint lying down.
Thanks, Rona! Such an extraordinary artist/life. ✨
Thank you, James. What a brave, brilliant woman she was. Like her country, she suffered so much but still dazzled the world.
Thanks, Jeffrey! Such an extraordinary artist/life. ✨️
My favourite artist! Thank you for this :)
🔥
Frida Kahlo lived as an artist, and painted with emotion and passion, as an artist. She shared her pain. The life of an artist is not a neat one, lived within the boundaries of polite and confirmist society.
It is messy; it is passionate. Such is art and Frida was an artist. There is a 2012 film, Frida, which does a fine job focusing on her artistic life and her relationship with Diego.
correction: 2002 film.
Thanks, Perry. Yeah, that’s a great film - I included a link to it at the end of this post.
Yeah; I noticed it after writing my comment.
Frida Kahlo is such an inspiration. Thank you for this essay, James. Wonderful.
Thanks, Jackie! ✨
So very interesting. I appreciate and I’m amazed at the amount of information and artwork you provided us. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks, Monica. ✨️
Fascinating read. Thanks for sharing ♡
thank you ✨️
That Arias quote disturbs me. It feels like it's one thing for Kahlo to present her own body as art, damaged or not, but another for someone else to present her accident that way, like a spectacle for bystanders. In your piece it seems in contrast to the later photo of her being carried in to her last exhibit on a stretcher, when she makes herself into a living artwork, as you call it. That feels more in keeping with her art, where she is exerting some control over her own pain.
What do you think? I appreciate you raising difficult questions (as Kahlo does in her art).
Yeah, that's an interesting question. Are you partly asking that because you're currently having to wrestle with similar issues whilst writing about your father's life/art? His pain? His struggles? His sexuality? To what extent and in what ways (if at all) he wanted to publicly express those sorts of things in his own artworks etc? I know what you mean about the Arias quote. It is unnerving. But, in quite a few of her paintings, Frida Kahlo presented herself as naked, bleeding, even pierced by arrows. Maybe it's the gold-dust that is disturbing? Because, in contrast to Kahlo's paintings, it makes the horror of that incident too soft? Or too surreal? Fantastical? Like one of Gustav Klimts paintings? The Arias quote is from an interview with him years later. I got the sense when reading extracts of that interview in Hayden Herrera's bio of Kahlo that Arias had hardly ever spoken about the horror of that day - that it wasn't an attempt to make a public statement; that it was just his attempt to describe his memories of a very traumatic experience. I appreciated reading his words though. They helped to bring to life the horror of that crash, and the extraordinary impact it had on Frida Kahlo - on her life and her art. Hope that helps! Thanks again for your question.
I hadn't thought of this in relation to my work on my father. I'll have to think about that. I definitely don't intend my writing to sensationalize my father's struggles in his life or art but then intentions aren't always the point.
Here the distinction I was making was not about whether any specific details were too much, but rather that someone else (Arias, bystanders, anyone) was describing her pain this way. That is, it's fine for her to make art out of her own pain-- that's her right and her gift as an artist--but others should avoid doing so. Maybe that feels like a quibble. I don't know. The context you provide is helpful-- that Arias said this much later, as a memory, and struggled himself with how to represent the accident. We can't help but center Kahlo in the story because she's the famous artist but maybe Arias's account was not "about" her but his own way of processing a tragic experience. "It's complicated," as they say.
Thanks, again, for bringing this to the light, to discuss.....
I guess there is a danger that any bographer or commentator ends up misrepresenting or sensationalising the lives of the artists/people they write about. I genuinely don't think Alejandro Gómez Arias did that when he was interviewed though. Like Frida Kahlo, at the time of the crash, he would have been in his late-teens, was her boyfriend, and was actually on the bus with her. I got the sense that he just tried to answer the questions he was asked - that he tried to describe his memories of what must have been an unbelievably traumatic incident for everyone involved. It would be strange to ignore his experience of what happened. Wouldn't that be like someone telling you not to comment on or write about your father's life/artworks because those were his experiences to control/own? Perhaps what I appreciated most about reading Gómez Arias's account of the crash was the sense he communicated of a horrifically violent incident that was followed by a strangely lucid sense of otherworldliness - as if, for a moment, before reality kicked in, time stopped and a confused but weirdly lucid state of mind descended on them all. And that sense of a suspended reality was repeated in Kahlo's own memories: "The first thing I thought of was a balero (a Mexican toy) with pretty colours that I had bought that day". I find that so interesting because quite a few of her paintings are harrowing but have a strangely lucid and otherworldly 'moment frozen in time' quality too. Thanks again, Victoria! Lots of important things to think about there. ✨️
What a beautiful account of Frida Kahlo’s life.
Thanks, Kate! ✨️