1. FRIDA KAHLO

2. Born Frida Kahlo de Rivera on July 6, 1907.
She was a Mexican painter who is best known for her self-portraits.
Kahlo's life began and ended in Mexico City, in her home known as the Blue House or Casa Azul.
She died July 13, 1954.
Painting in lower left corner
Girl with Death Mask
(She Plays Alone)
1938
In 1938 Frida painted two similar versions of this painting. Apparently this was an important subject to her. The little girl in the paintings is thought to be Frida at about four years old. She is wearing a skull mask traditionally worn at the annual Mexican festival "Day of the Dead" where death is not mourned but instead celebrated. The girl is holding a yellow flower that looks like the tagete flower that Mexicans place on graves during the "Day of the Dead" festival. She stands all alone on a vast empty plain under a stormy sky. In the first version, at her feet is a carved wooden tiger mask that resembles the one that hangs in the dining room of Frida's home. Neither mask seems appropriate for this tiny little girl; they accentuate her innocence but hint at the cruelty of her fate.
Casa Azul Photo - now the Frida Museum

3. Why are Frida and her work so famous?
Her work has been celebrated in Mexico as emblematic of national and indigenous tradition, and she is adored by feminists worldwide for her uncompromising depiction of the female experience and form.
Left image - Kahlo self portrait with cropped hair (see next slide for explanation
Middle image - photo of her at work
Right image - Kahlo drawn as strong female icon Rosie the Riveter.

4. Right after Frida Kahlo divorced with Diego Rivera, she painted this self-portrait. Unlike other previous self-portraits in which Frida always wear feminine dresses, in this one she was wearing a large suit of black color, which looks like one of Diego's. She also cut off her long hair, which has attracted Diego so much. She was holding scissor in her right hand which means she did it all by herself. In her left hand she was holding her shorn hair which is a symbol of her sacrifice. In the background strands of hair are everywhere and it seems each one has its own life. Surrounded by the hair she was sitting on a chair with an empty expression. The space around her is uninhabited which adds to her despair. The lyrics of a song painted across the top of this potrait which reads:
"See, if I loved you, it was for your hair, now you're bald, I don't love you any more.".
After the separation with Diego, Frida choose to abandon her feminine image. She cut her hair short, got rid of the Tehuana dress Diego is obsessed with and started to wear man's suit. This self-portrait expressed her desire to be independent and not relying on men.
Center image - a modern day recreation of Frida as Rosie the Riveter, an iconic image of a strong woman.

5. What kind of art did Kahlo make?
Naïve art or folk art, self-portraits, sometimes surrealist (dream-like).
Frida rejected the "surrealist" label; she believed that her work reflected more of her reality than her dreams.
Kahlo created at least 140 paintings, along with dozens of drawings and studies. Of her paintings, 55 are self-portraits which often incorporate symbolic portrayals of physical and psychological wounds. She insisted, "I never painted dreams. I painted my own reality.

6. Life Changing Events
Tumultuous marriage to Diego Rivera (famous muralist, political activist)
Bus accident at 18
Lifelong health problems as a result
Father was a photographer/artist
Contracted polio at 6
She is quoted as saying, "I suffered two grave accidents in my life...One in which a streetcar knocked me down and the other was Diego."

7. The accident

8. Frida Kahlo - Self-portrait as little deer (1946)
In this painting of a young stag fatally wounded by arrows, Frida expresses the disappointment which followed the operation on her spine in 1946, which she had optimistically hoped would cure her of her back pain.
Frida used her own pet deer "Granizo" as a model for this painting. The deer in the painting is surrounded by trees and trapped, transmitting a feeling of fear and desperation, with no way to escape from the situation.
The true meaning of this painting is open to many interpretations. Some say this painting portrays Frida's inability to change her own destiny, or, Frida's frustration over the failed surgery, or, a surreal painting of Frida enraged in the battle of the sexes.
Back in Mexico, however, she continued to suffer both physical pain and deep depression. In this painting, Frida presents herself with the body of a young stag and her own head crowned with antlers. Pierced by arrows and bleeding, the deer stares out at the viewer from a forest enclosure. Although the stormy, lightning-lit sky in the distance is a brightening hope for escape, the deer will never reach it. One meaning of the word "Carma", which appears in the painting's lower-left corner, is "destiny" or "fate". In this painting, as in most of Frida's self-portraits, she presents herself as incapable of changing her own destiny.

9. 3 Gifts An operation at the best NY hospital to repair her spine
A menagerie of rare pets - colorful singing birds, monkeys, llamas and more!A private zoo.
A time machine and tickets to Art-Garden-Life
To save her from a lifetime of pain
So, she would never be lonely.
She could visit the present and see the joy she brings to so many. We could visit the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens Frida Kahlo show together.