FRIDA FROM MEXICO

Frida Kahlo is an icon here in Mexico. You cannot visit any town or city without seeing her image somewhere. I’ve read her biography (there are dozens of books about her, including one for kids), watched the movie with Salma Hayek 3 times, and seen a comprehensive show of her work in Rome, Italy. She is definitely a hero of mine. What was so special about her? And what would she think of being an icon in the twenty-first century?

Magdalena Carmen Frida Kahlo y Calderón was born in Coyoacán central México in 1907 to a German/Hungarian father and a Spanish/Native American mother. She suffered with polio as a young child, exacerbated in her teenage years by a trolley accident on her way home from pre-med school which left her with lifelong injuries. She endured numerous surgeries and taught herself to paint during her recovery periods. After recovering she joined the Communist party and encountered Diego Rivera, whom she’d met earlier when he was painting a mural in her prep school auditorium.

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It was Diego, an accomplished muralist, who realized Frida’s talent and encouraged her to continue painting. They married in 1929. Soon after she adopted the indigenous Tehuana dress that became her signature look: flowered headdress, chunky jewelry, and colorful, loose blouses combined with long ruffled skirts. In her earlier days at home, Frida played with her identity, appearing once in a family photo in a man’s suit with slicked back hair.

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After traveling in the US with Diego, 2 miscarriages and the death of her mother turned Frida to a less traditional style of painting. Some called her a surrealist, but Diego said that she painted from her heart. Her life of pain, both physical and emotional, became apparent.

In 1933 the couple returned from the US to Mexico City to separate studios/homes joined by a “catwalk”. As Communists and political activists they hosted many famous figures from the art and political worlds. During this time Frida painted prolifically with encouragement from well-known artists, exhibiting her work in Paris and New York, and establishing herself as a feminine force in a patriarchal world.

By 1939 Diego and Frida had divorced after a tumultuous 10 years, both having had numerous affairs. In 1940, however, they reconciled and moved into her family home in Mexico City. During their time there her health begin to decline and she turned to alcohol and drugs for relief. She continued to paint numerous self-portraits even while once again enduring countless hospitalizations and surgeries.

In 1953 Frida attended her first solo show in Mexico lying in a bed, the only way she could be there. She died in her home in 1954, reportedly due to a pulmonary embolism.

Frida’s family home, CASA AZUL (Blue House), in México City, is a much loved museum today, and a testimony to the love and respect Frida and Diego had for the indigenous peoples of Mexico. Before his death Diego requested that his bathroom and Frida’s not be touched for a period of 15 years. Only recently have these rooms been opened, treasures found and catalogued. (See SELF PORTRAIT IN A VELVET DRESS.)

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At Hacienda del Lago in Ajijic my friend Diane and I met Priscila Aloneida, a 27 year old artist trained in Guadalajara. When I asked – so you like Frida? – her face lit up. (About Rivera, not so much. “He was a communist.”) “For us she is a hero, for women and artists of Mexico.” She wouldn’t like all the commercialism, do you think? “She wouldn’t mind. She changed everything for us.” Priscila is a delightful young Mexican woman, full of enthusiasm, talent, and wisdom not always encountered in one so young. She currently travels the world painting murals wherever she is asked to go. How does your mother feel about that? I asked. “When I called in the beginning to tell her I wanted to go to Morocco, she said no. There were many phone calls. Then one day I said – Mama, I want to go to Morocco. And finally she said – So go!” And she’s been going ever since. I hope her mother is proud. Frida would be.

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