Frida Kahlo Kahlo, Frida. Mexican artist Frida Kahlo: biography, personal life, creativity Frida Kahlo life

Mexican artist Frida Kahlo ... How much noise in Lately around her name in the art world! But at the same time, how little we know about the biography of Frida Kahlo, this original, unique artist. What image comes to mind when we hear her name? Many probably represent a woman with thick black eyebrows, fused at the bridge of her nose, penetrating gaze, neatly tied hair. This woman is certainly dressed in a bright ethnic costume. Add here a difficult dramatic fate and a huge number of self-portraits that she left behind.

So what explains the sudden interest in the work of this Mexican artist? How did she, a woman with a surprisingly tragic fate, manage to conquer and make the world of art tremble? We invite you to take a short journey through the pages of Frida Kahlo's life, learn a little more about her extraordinary work and find answers to these and many other questions for yourself.

The secret of an unusual name

The biography of Frida Kahlo fascinates from the very first days of her difficult life.

July 6, 1907 in the family of a simple Mexican photographer Guillermo Kahlo happened significant event. The future was born talented artist Frida Kahlo, who showed the whole world the originality of Mexican culture.

At birth, the girl received the name Magdalena. The full Spanish version is as follows: Magdalena Carmen Frieda Kahlo Calderon. The name Frida, under which she became known to the whole world, the future artist began to use in order to emphasize the German origin of her family (as you know, her father was from Germany). It is also worth noting that Frieda is consonant with the German word Frieden, which means tranquility, peace, tranquility.

The formation of character

Frida grew up in a female environment. She was the third of four daughters in the family and, in addition, had two older sisters from her father's first marriage. In addition to this circumstance, the Mexican Revolution of 1910-1917 had a considerable impact on the formation of its character. A serious economic crisis, a civil war, constant violence and shooting around hardened Frida, instilling in her fortitude and a desire to fight for a happy life.

However, the story of Frida Kahlo would not be so tragic and unique if her misadventures ended there. While still a child, at the age of 6, Frida contracted polio. As a result terrible disease her right leg became thinner than her left, while Frida herself remained lame.

First inspiration

12 years later, on September 17, 1925, trouble again befell Frida. A young girl got into a car accident. The bus she was on collided with a tram. For many passengers, the accident was fatal. What happened to Frida?

The girl was sitting not far from the handrail, which broke off during the impact, piercing her through and damaging her stomach and uterus. She also received severe injuries that affected almost all parts of her body: the spine, ribs, pelvis, legs and shoulders. Many of the health problems caused by the accident, Frida never managed to get rid of. Fortunately, she survived, but she could never have children again. It is known about three attempts by her to bear a child, each of which ended in a miscarriage.

Young, full vitality, open to the world and bringing light and joy to it, Frida, who just yesterday ran to classes and dreamed of becoming a doctor, is now chained to a hospital bed. She had to undergo dozens of operations, spend hundreds of hours in hospitals to save her life. Now she cannot look at white coats without disgust - she is so tired of hospitals. But, no matter how sad it all seemed, this period was the beginning of her new life.

Bedridden, unable to walk or take care of herself, Frida Kahlo discovered her talent. In order not to go crazy with boredom, Frida painted her bandage corset. The girl liked the lesson, and she began to draw.

The first paintings of Frida Kahlo appeared in the hospital ward. Her parents ordered her a special stretcher so that Frida could paint while lying down. A mirror was installed under the ceiling. Her father brought her oil paints. And Frida began to create. The first self-portraits of Frida Kahlo began to gradually appear. Below is one of them - "Self-portrait in a velvet dress."

In the hospital, Frida realized that even if she could not tell people all her pain with words, she could easily do it through paints and canvas. Thus, the new Mexican artist Frida Kahlo was “born”.

Personal life

Speaking about the biography of Frida Kahlo, it is absolutely impossible to ignore the person who played a key role in her life. The man's name is Diego Rivera.

“I have had two accidents in my life. The first is a tram, the second is Diego Rivera. The second one is scarier.

This famous quote by Frida Kahlo very accurately reflects the difficult nature of her husband and the relationship of the Mexican couple in general. If the first tragedy, having mutilated Frida's body, pushed her to creativity, then the second left indelible scars on her soul, developing both pain and talent.

Diego Rivera was a successful Mexican mural artist. Not only artistic talent, but also political convictions - he was a supporter of communist ideas - and countless love affairs glorified his name. future husband Frida Kahlo was not particularly handsome, he was a rather obese, somewhat clumsy man, in addition, they were separated by a huge age difference - 21 years. But, despite this, he managed to win the heart of a young artist.

Frida Kahlo's husband became for her, in fact, the center of the universe. She furiously painted his portraits, forgave endless betrayals and was ready to forget betrayals.

Love or betrayal?

There was everything in Frida and Diego's romance: unbridled passion, extraordinary devotion, great love inextricably linked with betrayal, jealousy and pain.

Look at the picture below. This is The Broken Column, which Frida wrote in 1944, reflecting her sorrows in it.

Inside the body, once full of life and energy, a collapsing pillar can be seen. The support of this body is the spine. But there are also nails. Many nails that represent the pain brought by Diego Rivera. As mentioned above, he was not ashamed to cheat on Frida. Frida's sister became his next mistress, which turned out to be a blow to her. Diego answered this like this: “It's just a physical attraction. Are you saying it hurts? But no, it's just a couple of scratches."

Very soon, one of Frida Kahlo's paintings will receive a title based on these words: "Just a few scratches!"

Diego Rivera was indeed a man with a very complex nature. However, this is what inspired the artist Frida Kahlo. Inspired through pain, ever stronger linking two strong personalities. He exhausted her, but at the same time he loved and respected her immensely.

Significant Paintings by Frida Kahlo

Looking at the considerable number of self-portraits that the Mexican artist left behind, there is no doubt that for her they were not just a way to express her creative impulses, but above all an opportunity to tell the world the story of her life - a complex and dramatic life. It is worth paying attention to the names of the paintings themselves: “Broken Column”, “Just a Few Scratches!”, “Self-Portrait in a Necklace of Thorns”, “Two Fridas”, “Self-Portrait on the Border between Mexico and the United States”, “Wounded Deer” and other. The names are very specific and revealing. In total, there are 55 self-portraits of Frida Kahlo, and according to this indicator, she is a real champion among artists! For comparison, the brilliant impressionist Vincent van Gogh painted himself only about 20 times.

Where is the property of Frida Kahlo now stored?

Today, in addition to the official English site, many of Frida's self-portraits that have survived can be seen at the Frida Kahlo Museum in Coyoacan, Mexico. There is also an opportunity to get acquainted with the life and delve into the work of an original artist, since it was in this house that she spent most of her life. Museum staff do their best not to disturb the extravagant atmosphere that was created by this extraordinary woman.

Let's take a closer look at some self-portraits.

In the early 1930s, Frida Kahlo traveled to America with her husband. The artist did not like this country and was convinced that they live there solely for the sake of money.

Look at the picture. On the side of America - pipes, factories, equipment. Everything is shrouded in clouds of smoke. From Mexico, on the contrary, flowers, luminaries and ancient idols are visible. This is how the artist shows how dear she is to traditions and connection with nature and antiquity, which cannot be found in America. In order to stand out from the background of fashionable American women, Frida did not stop wearing national clothes and retained the features inherent in Mexican women.

In 1939, Frida paints one of her iconic self-portraits, Two Fridas, in which she exposes the wounds tormenting her soul. It is here that the very special, unique style of Frida Kahlo manifests itself. For many, this work is too candid and personal, but perhaps this is the true power. human personality- in not being afraid to admit and show their weaknesses?

Poliomyelitis, ridicule from peers, a severe accident that divided life into "before" and "after", a difficult love story ... Along with the self-portrait, another famous quote from Frida Kahlo appeared: "I am my soulmate, and my beloved tormentor Diego Rivera can't break me."

Like most Mexicans, symbols and signs were of particular importance to Frida. Like her husband, Frida Kahlo was a communist and did not believe in God, but due to the fact that her mother was a Catholic, she was well versed in Christian symbolism.

So in this self-portrait, the image of the crown of thorns serves as a parallel with the crown of thorns of Jesus. Butterflies flutter over Frida's head - a well-known symbol of resurrection.

Frida paints a portrait in 1940 after her divorce from Diego Rivera, and therefore the monkey can be taken as an unambiguous allusion to behavior ex-husband. On Frida's neck is a hummingbird - a symbol of good luck. Perhaps this is how the artist expresses hope for a speedy deliverance from torment?

The theme of this work is close to the "Broken Column" we have already considered. Here Frida again exposes her soul to the viewer, reflecting on the emotional and physical pain she is experiencing.

The artist depicts herself as a graceful deer, whose body is pierced by arrows. Why did you choose this particular animal? There are suggestions that the artist associated suffering and death with him.

During the period when the self-portrait is being created, Frida's health began to deteriorate rapidly. She developed gangrene, which required an early amputation. Every second of Frida's life brought her excruciating pain. Hence the tragic and frightening motives of her doom. recent self-portraits.

Death taunt

Frida Kahlo passed away on July 13, 1954. Contemporaries have repeatedly spoken of her as a interesting woman and amazing person. Even brief introduction with the biography of Frida Kahlo leaves no doubt that fate has prepared for her truly hard life full of suffering and pain. Despite this, Frida last days she loved life and, like a magnet, attracted people to her.

Her last painting is Viva la Vida. Sandias also expresses the challenge of death and the readiness to maintain fortitude to the end, which is clearly indicated by the words drawn in red paint: “Long live life!”.

Question for art critics

Many are convinced that Frida Kahlo is a surrealist artist. In fact, she herself was rather cool about this title. Frida's work, distinguished by its originality, is interpreted differently by everyone. Some believe that this is naive art, others call it folk art. And yet the scales lean towards surrealism. Why? We conclude with two arguments. Do you agree with them?

• The paintings of Frida Kahlo are unrealistic and are a figment of the imagination. It is impossible to reproduce them in the earthly dimension.
• Her self-portraits are strongly connected with the subconscious. If compared with the recognized genius of surrealism, Salvador Dali, then we can draw such an analogy. In his works, he played with the subconscious, as if walking around the land of dreams and shocking the audience. Frida, on the contrary, exposed her soul on the canvas, thereby attracting the viewer to herself and conquering the world of art.

The flamboyant Mexican artist Frida Kahlo is best known to the public for her emblematic self-portraits and depictions of Mexican and Amerindian cultures. Known for her strong and strong-willed character, as well as communist sentiments, Kahlo left an indelible mark not only in Mexican, but also in world painting.

The artist had a difficult fate: almost all her life she was haunted by numerous diseases, operations and unsuccessful treatment. So, at the age of six, Frida was bedridden with polio, as a result of which her right leg became thinner than her left and the girl remained lame for life. The father encouraged his daughter in every possible way, involving her in men's sports at that time - swimming, football and even wrestling. In many ways, this helped Frida to form a persistent, courageous character.

The 1925 event was a turning point in Frida's career as an artist. On September 17, she had an accident along with her fellow student and lover Alejandro Gomez Arias. As a result of the collision, Frida ended up in the Red Cross hospital with numerous fractures of the pelvis and spine. Serious injuries led to a difficult and painful recovery. It was at this time that she asked for paints and a brush: a mirror suspended under the canopy of the bed allowed the artist to see herself, and she began her creative path with self-portraits.

Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera

Being one of the few female students of the National Preparatory School, Frida already during her studies is fond of political discourse. At a more mature age, she even becomes a member of the Mexican Communist Party and the Young Communist League.

It was during her studies that Frida first met the then-famous mural painter Diego Rivera. Kahlo often watched Rivera as he worked on the Creation mural in the school auditorium. Some sources claim that Frida already then spoke about her desire to give birth to a child from the muralist.

Rivera encouraged Frida's creative work, but the union of the two bright personalities was very unstable. Most of the time, Diego and Frida lived apart, settling in houses or apartments in the neighborhood. Frida was upset by her husband's numerous infidelities, in particular, she was hurt by Diego's relationship with her younger sister Christina. In response to family betrayal, Kahlo cut off her famous black curls and captured the resentment and pain suffered in the painting "Memory (Heart)".

Nevertheless, the sensual and passionate artist also had affairs on the side. Among her lovers are the famous American avant-garde sculptor of Japanese origin Isamu Noguchi, and the communist refugee Lev Trotsky, who took refuge in the Blue House (Casa Azul) of Frida in 1937. Kahlo was bisexual, so her romantic relationships with women are also known, for example, with the American pop artist Josephine Baker.

Despite betrayals and romances on both sides, Frida and Diego, even after parting in 1939, reunited again and remained spouses until the death of the artist.

The infidelity of her husband and the inability to give birth to a child are vividly drawn on the canvases of Kahlo. The embryos, fruits and flowers depicted in many of Frida's paintings symbolize precisely her inability to bear children, which was the cause of her extremely depressive states. So, the painting “Henry Ford Hospital” depicts a naked artist and symbols of her infertility – a fetus, a flower, damaged hip joints connected to her by bloody vein-like threads. At the New York exhibition in 1938, this painting was presented under the title "Lost Desire".

Features of creativity

The uniqueness of Frida's paintings lies in the fact that all her self-portraits are not limited to depicting only appearance. Each canvas is rich in details from the life of the artist: each depicted object is symbolic. It is also indicative how Frida depicted the connections between objects: for the most part, connections are blood vessels that feed the heart.

Each self-portrait contains clues to the meaning of what is depicted: the artist herself has always imagined herself serious, without a shadow of a smile on her face, but her feelings are expressed through the perception of the background, the color palette, objects surrounding Frida.

Already in 1932, more graphic and surrealistic elements are visible in the work of Kahlo. Frida herself was alien to far-fetched and fantastic plots: the artist expressed real suffering on her canvases. The connection with this trend was rather symbolic, since in the paintings of Frida one can detect the influence of pre-Colombian civilization, national Mexican motifs and symbols, as well as the theme of death. In 1938, fate pushed her against the founder of surrealism, Andre Breton, about the meeting with whom Frida herself spoke as follows: “I never thought that I was a surrealist until Andre Breton came to Mexico and told me about it.” Before meeting Breton, Frida's self-portraits were rarely perceived as something special, but the French poet saw surreal motifs on the canvases that made it possible to depict the artist's emotions and her unspoken pain. Thanks to this meeting, a successful exhibition of paintings by Kahlo in New York was held.

In 1939, after her divorce from Diego Rivera, Frida painted one of the most telling canvases, The Two Fridas. The picture depicts two natures of one person. One Frida is dressed in White dress, which shows drops of blood dripping from her wounded heart; the dress of the second Frida is more brightly colored, and the heart is unharmed. Both Fridas are connected by blood vessels that feed both exposed hearts - a technique often used by the artist to convey heartache. Frida in bright national clothes is exactly that “ Mexican Frida", which Diego loved, and the image of the artist in Victorian wedding dress is a Europeanized version of the woman that Diego dumped. Frida holds her hand, emphasizing her loneliness.

Kahlo's paintings stick in the memory not only with images, but also with a bright, energetic palette. In her diary, Frida herself tried to explain the colors used in the creation of her paintings. So, green was associated with kind, warm light, magenta purple was associated with the Aztec past, yellow symbolized insanity, fear and illness, and blue symbolized the purity of love and energy.

Frida's legacy

In 1951, after more than 30 operations, the mentally and physically broken artist managed to endure the pain only thanks to painkillers. Already at that time it was difficult for her to draw as before, and Frida used medicines along with alcohol. Previously detailed images became more blurry, hastily drawn and careless. As a result of alcohol abuse and frequent psychological breakdowns, the death of the artist in 1954 gave rise to many rumors of suicide.

But with her death, Frida's fame only increased, and her beloved Blue House became a museum-gallery of paintings by Mexican artists. The feminist movement of the 1970s also revived interest in the personality of the artist, as many viewed Frida as an iconic figure of feminism. Hayden Herrera's Frida Kahlo Biography and the 2002 film Frida keep that interest alive.

Frida Kahlo self-portraits

More than half of Frida's works are self-portraits. She began to draw at the age of 18, after she got into a terrible accident. Her body was badly broken: the spine was damaged, the pelvic bones, collarbone, ribs were broken, there were eleven fractures on only one leg. Frida's life is merry in the balance, but the young girl was able to win, and in this, oddly enough, drawing helped her. Even in the hospital ward, a large mirror was placed in front of her and Frida drew herself.

In almost all self-portraits, Frida Kahlo portrayed herself as serious, gloomy, as if frozen and cold with a stern, impenetrable face, but all the emotions and emotional experiences of the artist can be felt in the details and figures surrounding her. Each of the paintings contains the feelings that Frida experienced at a certain point in time. With the help of a self-portrait, she seemed to be trying to understand herself, to reveal her inner world, to free herself from the passions raging inside her.

The artist was amazing person With huge force will, who loves life, knows how to rejoice and love infinitely. A positive attitude towards the world around her and a surprisingly subtle sense of humor attracted the most different people. Many sought to get into her "Blue House" with indigo-colored walls, to recharge with the optimism that the girl fully possessed.

Frida Kahlo put the strength of her character into every self-portrait she painted, all the emotional anguish experienced, the pain of loss and genuine willpower, she does not smile on any of them. The artist always portrays herself as strict and serious. Frida endured the betrayal of her beloved husband Diego Rivera very hard and painfully. The self-portraits written in that period of time are literally riddled with suffering and pain. However, despite all the trials of fate, the artist was able to leave behind more than two hundred paintings, each of which is unique.

Attempts to tell about this outstanding woman have been made more than once - voluminous novels, multi-page studies have been written about her, opera and drama performances have been staged, feature films and documentaries. But no one managed to unravel and most importantly - to reflect the secret of her magical appeal and amazingly sensual femininity. This post is also one such attempt, illustrated quite rare photos great Frida!

frida kahlo

Frida Kahlo was born in Mexico City in 1907. She is the third daughter of Gulermo and Mathilde Kahlo. Father - a photographer, by origin - a Jew, originally from Germany. Mother is Spanish, born in America. Frida Kahlo fell ill with polio at the age of 6, after which she was left with a limp. "Frida is a wooden leg," her peers cruelly teased. And she, in defiance of everyone, swam, played football with the boys and even went in for boxing.

Two-year-old Frida, 1909. Photo taken by her father!

Little Frida 1911

Yellowed photographs are like milestones of fate. The unknown photographer who “clicked” Diego and Frida on May 1, 1924 hardly thought that it was his picture that would become the first line of their general biography. He captured Diego Rivera, already famous for his powerful "folk" frescoes and freedom-loving views, at the head of the column of the trade union of revolutionary artists, sculptures and graphic artists in front of national palace in Mexico City.

Next to the huge Rivera, little Frida with a determined face and courageously upturned fists looks like a fragile girl.

Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo at the 1929 May Day demonstration (photo by Tina Modotti)

On that May day, Diego and Frida, united common ideals, together stepped into the future life - never to part. Despite the enormous trials that fate threw up to them every now and then.

In 1925, an eighteen-year-old girl was overtaken by a new blow of fate. On September 17, at a crossroads near the San Juan market, Frida's bus was hit by a tram. One of the iron fragments of the wagon pierced Frida through and through at the level of the pelvis and exited through the vagina. “So I lost my virginity,” she said. After the accident, she was told that she was found completely naked - all her clothes were torn off her. Someone on the bus was carrying a bag of dry gold paint. It tore, and the golden powder covered Frida's bloodied body. And a piece of iron stuck out of this golden body.

Her spine was broken in three places, her collarbones, ribs, and pelvic bones were broken. The right leg was broken in eleven places, the foot was shattered. For a whole month, Frida lay on her back, clad in plaster from head to toe. “A miracle saved me,” she told Diego. “Because at night in the hospital death danced around my bed.”

For another two years, she was pulled into a special orthopedic corset. The first entry she managed to make in her diary was: Good: I'm starting to get used to suffering.". In order not to go crazy with pain and longing, the girl decided to draw. Her parents made a special stretcher for her so that she could draw lying down, and attached a mirror to it - so that she had someone to draw. Frida could not move. Drawing so fascinated her that one day she confessed to her mother: “I have something to live for. For painting."

Frida Kahlo in a men's suit. We are used to seeing Frida in Mexican blouses and colorful skirts, but she also liked to wear menswear. Bisexuality from her youth prompted Frida to dress up in men's suits.

Frida in male costume (center) with sisters Adriana and Cristina and cousins ​​Carmen and Carlos Veras, 1926.

Frida Kahlo and Chavela Vargas, with whom Frida had a relationship and not quite spiritual, 1945

After the death of the artist, more than 800 photographs remained, and some of Frida are depicted naked! She really liked to pose naked, and indeed to be photographed, the daughter of a photographer. Below are photos of naked Frida:

At 22, Frida Kahlo enters the most prestigious institute in Mexico (national preparatory school). Only 35 girls were taken for 1000 students. There Frida Kahlo meets her future husband Diego Rivera, who has just returned home from France.

Every day Diego became more and more attached to this small, fragile girl - so talented, so strong. On August 21, 1929 they got married. She was twenty-two, he was forty-two.

A wedding photograph taken on August 12, 1929, at the studio of Reyes de Coyaocán. She is sitting, he is standing (probably, in every family album there are similar pictures, only this one shows a woman who survived a terrible car accident. But you can’t guess about it). She is in her favorite national Indian dress with a shawl. He is in a jacket and tie.

On the day of the wedding, Diego showed his explosive temper. The 42-year-old newlywed went over a little tequila and began firing a pistol into the air. Exhortations only inflamed the roaming artist. There was the first family scandal. 22-year-old wife went to her parents. After oversleeping, Diego asked for forgiveness and was forgiven. The newlyweds moved into their first apartment, and then into the now-famous "blue house" on Londres Street in Coyaocan, Mexico City's most "bohemian" area, where they lived for many years.

Frida's relationship with Trotsky is fanned with a romantic halo. The Mexican artist admired the “tribune of the Russian revolution”, was very upset by his expulsion from the USSR and was happy that thanks to Diego Rivera he found shelter in Mexico City.

In January 1937, Leon Trotsky and his wife Natalia Sedova went ashore in the Mexican port of Tampico. Frida met them - Diego was then in the hospital.

The artist brought the exiles to her "blue house", where they finally found peace and quiet. Bright, interesting, charming Frida (after a few minutes of communication, no one noticed her painful injuries) instantly captivated the guests.
Almost 60-year-old revolutionary was carried away like a boy. He tried his best to express his tenderness. Now as if by chance he touched her hand, then secretly touched her knee under the table. He scribbled passionate notes and, putting them in a book, passed them right in front of his wife and Rivera. Natalya Sedova guessed about the love adventure, but Diego, they say, never found out about it. “I’m very tired of the old man,” Frida allegedly once dropped in a circle of close friends and broke off a short romance.

There is another version of this story. The young Trotskyite allegedly could not resist the pressure of the tribune of the revolution. Their secret meeting took place in the country estate of San Miguel Regla, 130 kilometers from Mexico City. However, Sedova vigilantly watched her husband: the affair was strangled in the bud. Begging forgiveness from his wife, Trotsky called himself "her old faithful dog." After that, the exiles left the "blue house".

But these are rumors. There is no evidence of this romantic connection.

A little more is known about the love affair between Frida and the Catalan artist José Bartley:

“I don't know how to write love letters. But I want to say that my whole being is open to you. Since I fell in love with you, everything has been mixed up and filled with beauty ... love is like a fragrance, like a current, like rain., - Frida Kahlo wrote in 1946 in her address to Bartoli, who moved to New York, fleeing the horrors of civil war in Spain.

Frida Kahlo and Bartoli met when she was recovering from another spinal surgery. Returning to Mexico, she left Bartoli, but their secret romance continued at a distance. The correspondence lasted for several years, reflecting on the artist's painting, her health and her relationship with her husband.

Twenty-five love letters written between August 1946 and November 1949 will be the main lots auction house Doyle New York. Bartoli kept more than 100 pages of correspondence until his death in 1995, then the correspondence passed into the hands of his family. Bid organizers expect revenue of up to $120,000.

Despite the fact that they lived in different cities and saw each other extremely rarely, the relationship between the artists continued for three years. They exchanged sincere declarations of love, hidden in sensual and poetic works. Frida painted her double self-portrait Tree of Hope after one of her meetings with Bartoli.

"Bartoli - - last night I felt as if many wings were caressing me all over, as if the tips of my fingers had become lips that kissed my skin", Kahlo wrote on August 29, 1946. “The atoms of my body are yours and they vibrate together, we love each other so much. I want to live and be strong, to love you with all the tenderness that you deserve, to give you everything that is good in me, so that you do not feel alone.

Hayden Herrera, Frida's biographer, notes in an essay for Doyle New York that Kahlo signed letters to Bartoli "Maara". This is probably a shortened version of the nickname "Maravillosa". And Bartoli wrote to her under the name "Sonya". This conspiracy was an attempt to avoid the jealousy of Diego Rivera.

According to rumors, among other affairs, the artist was in a relationship with Isamu Noguchi and Josephine Baker. Rivera, who endlessly and openly cheated on his wife, turned a blind eye to her entertainment with women, but reacted violently to relationships with men.

Frida Kahlo's letters to José Bartoli have never been published. They reveal new information about one of the most important artists of the 20th century.

Frida Kahlo loved life. This love attracted men and women to her like a magnet. Excruciating physical suffering, a damaged spine constantly reminded of itself. But she found the strength to have fun from the heart and go wild. From time to time, Frida Kahlo had to go to the hospital, almost constantly wearing special corsets. Frida underwent over thirty surgeries during her lifetime.

The family life of Frida and Diego was seething with passions. They could not always be together, but never apart. They had a relationship, according to one of the friends, "passionate, obsessed and sometimes painful." In 1934, Diego Rivera cheated on Frida with her younger sister Cristina, who posed for him. He did this openly, realizing that he was insulting his wife, but did not want to break off relations with her. The blow for Frida was cruel. Proud, she did not want to share her pain with anyone - she just splashed it onto the canvas. The result was a picture, perhaps the most tragic in her work: a naked female body is excised with bloody wounds. Next to the knife in his hand, with an indifferent face, the one who inflicted these wounds. "Just a few scratches!" – the ironic Frida called the canvas. After Diego's betrayal, she decided that she also had the right to love interests.
This pissed off Rivera. Allowing himself liberties, he was intolerant of Frida's betrayals. famous artist was morbidly jealous. Once, having caught his wife with the American sculptor Isama Noguchi, Diego pulled out a gun. Luckily, he didn't fire.

At the end of 1939, Frida and Diego officially divorced. “We have not stopped loving each other at all. I just wanted to be able to do what I want with all the women I liked.", - Diego wrote in his autobiography. And Frida admitted in one of her letters: “I can’t express how bad I feel. I love Diego, and the agony of my love will last a lifetime ... "

On May 24, 1940, an unsuccessful assassination attempt on Trotsky took place. Suspicion also fell on Diego Rivera. Warned by Paulette Goddard, he narrowly escaped arrest and managed to leave for San Francisco. There he painted a large panel depicting Goddard next to Chaplin, and not far from them ... Frida in the clothes of an Indian woman. He suddenly realized that their separation was a mistake.

Frida suffered a divorce hard, her condition deteriorated sharply. Doctors advised her to go to San Francisco for treatment. Rivera, having learned that Frida was in the same city with him, immediately came to visit her and announced that he was going to marry her again. And she agreed to become his wife again. However, she put forward conditions: they will not have sexual relations and they will conduct financial affairs separately. Together, they will only pay for household expenses. Here is such a strange marriage contract. But Diego was so happy to get his Frida back that he willingly signed this document.

Frida Kahlo (Kahlo Frida), Mexican artist and graphic artist, wife of Diego Rivera, master of surrealism. Frida Kahlo was born in Mexico City in 1907, in the family of a Jewish photographer, originally from Germany. Mother is Spanish, born in America. At the age of six, she suffered from polio, and since then her right leg has become shorter and thinner than her left. At the age of eighteen, on September 17, 1925, Kahlo was in a car accident: a broken iron bar of a tram current collector stuck in her stomach and went out in her groin, crushing her hip bone. The spine was damaged in three places, two hips and a leg were broken in eleven places. Doctors could not vouch for her life. The painful months of immobile inactivity began. It was at this time that Kahlo asked her father for a brush and paints. A special stretcher was made for Frida Kahlo, which allowed her to write lying down. A large mirror was attached under the canopy of the bed so that Frida Kahlo could see herself. She started with self-portraits. I write myself because I spend a lot of time alone and because I am the subject that I know best.

In 1929, Frida Kahlo entered the National Institute of Mexico. For a year spent almost in complete immobility, Kahlo became seriously interested in painting. Started walking again, visited art school and in 1928 she joined the Communist Party. Her work was highly appreciated by the already famous communist artist Diego Rivera.

At 22, Frida Kahlo married him. Their family life was seething with passions. They could not always be together, but never apart. They had a relationship - passionate, obsessed and sometimes painful. ancient sage said about such relationships: It is impossible to live neither with you nor without you. Frida Kahlo's relationship with Trotsky is fanned with a romantic halo. The Mexican artist admired the tribune of the Russian revolution, was very upset by his expulsion from the USSR and was happy that thanks to Diego Rivera he found shelter in Mexico City. Most of all in life, Frida Kahlo loved life itself - and this attracted men and women to her like a magnet. Despite the excruciating physical suffering, she could have fun from the heart and go wild. But the damaged spine constantly reminded of itself. From time to time, Frida Kahlo had to go to the hospital, almost constantly wearing special corsets. In 1950, she underwent 7 operations on her spine, she spent 9 months in a hospital bed, after which she could only move in a wheelchair.

In 1952, Frida Kahlo's right leg was amputated to the knee. In 1953, Frida Kahlo's first solo exhibition was held in Mexico City. Frida Kahlo does not smile in any self-portrait: a serious, even mournful face, fused thick eyebrows, a slightly noticeable mustache over tightly compressed sensual lips. The ideas of her paintings are encrypted in the details, the background, the figures that appear next to Frida. The symbolism of Kahlo is based on national traditions and is closely connected with the Indian mythology of the pre-Hispanic period. Frida Kahlo knew the history of her homeland brilliantly. Many authentic monuments ancient culture, which Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo collected all their lives, is located in the garden of the Blue House (house-museum). Frida Kahlo died of pneumonia, a week after she celebrated her 47th birthday, on July 13, 1954. Farewell to Frida Kahlo was held in Bellas Artes - Palace fine arts. IN last way Frida, along with Diego Rivera, was seen off by Mexican President Lazaro Cardenas, artists, writers - Siqueiros, Emma Hurtado, Victor Manuel Villaseñor and others famous figures Mexico.

Bright colors - “papaya colors”, as the Frenchman Jean-Paul Gaultier called them, traditional Mexican ornament, a riot of flowers, parrots, monkeys and an endless summer filled with the sun - this is the work of Frida Kahlo for those who are not familiar with him too deeply. Without a doubt, the Mexican artist adored her native country, its culture and nature, but there is another layer in her work: heavy, creepy and frightening.

"Me and my parrots", 1941

Kahlo can be called the "Mexican Salvador Dali" in a long and puffy skirt - like her Spanish colleague, the artist often introduced elements of surrealism into her works. True, the "juicy" folk art and naivete obscured the surreal motifs in Frida's painting. So the artist herself tried to hide behind the sun of her native Mexico from the pain and horror that accompanied her all her life.

Still life, 1951

Lamefoot Riot

Frida Kahlo faced pain and injustice at the age of 6. At this age, the daughter of an immigrant photographer from Germany and a Mexican Indian origin had polio.

The disease disfigured the girl's body: one leg of Frida, temporarily paralyzed, became thinner and shorter. For the rest of her life, Kahlo limped and was forced to wear shoes with heels of different heights.

Children teased little Frida with a "wooden leg". To hide her peculiarity, the girl put on several stockings on her sore leg, trying to give her a normal look. Poliomyelitis was the first test of the character of the future artist. And she passed this test with brilliance, proving that her character, in contrast to her health, is iron.

Frida has been a rebel since childhood: she played football with the boys, went in for boxing and other sports. And when she turned 15, she entered the "Preparatory" - one of best schools Mexico, where there were only 35 girls for every 2,000 boys. And there, a young miniature limp instantly declared herself, putting together a private club "Kachuchas".

Frida Kahlo in a man's suit with her sisters and brother, 1925

At 18, when her sisters and cousins ​​wore fashionable dresses and hats, Frida dressed up in men's suit- for 1925 it was a serious challenge to society.

Catastrophe that shattered life

Lameness was not the only test for Frida. The most terrible tragedy happened to a girl on September 17, 1925. On this day, young Frida was riding in a bus with Alejandro, her friend and "fiance", as she jokingly called him. The bus driver was in such a hurry that, in the end, he lost control - and flew into the tram at high speed.

As a result of a terrible accident, Frida's entire body was broken. Three fractures of the spine, eleven fractures of the right leg, a triple fracture of the pelvis, multiple fractures of the ribs, a broken collarbone, a crushed foot and whole line dislocations - such was the result of the collision for the girl. In addition, the sharp metal part of the railing pierced right through her body, passing through her kidney and uterus. As a result of the tragedy, Frida was bedridden for two years and could never have children again.

Birth of an artist

No matter how nightmarish the drama that the girl got into was, it was largely thanks to her that not just a rebel, but an artist, was born. Lying in bed, 18-year-old Frida asked her father for the first time for canvas and paints. Dad, with whom the girl always had a warm relationship, designed a special stretcher for her daughter, which allowed her to draw while lying down.

In addition, a huge mirror hung over the bed of the novice artist - so that the patient could always see her reflection. So the first self-portraits appeared, which later became the main genre of her work. As the artist admitted, she knows herself better than anything else in this world.

"Two Fridas", 1939

“I paint myself because I spend a lot of time alone and because I am the subject that I know best,” - this is how Frida Kahlo explained her love for self-portraits.

sick passion

But the self-portraits of the great Mexican woman were not only classical. Often the artist painted herself "from the inside", and sometimes - in the very literally. A diseased kidney, pelvic bones, an embryo that will never become a born child - all this can be found on the most candid pictures Frida Kahlo.

Henry Ford Hospital, 1932

In addition to her portraits, the artist often painted only one person - her own husband. The famous Mexican artist Diego Rivera became, according to Frida herself, the “second tragedy” in her life after the tram accident.

Portrait of Diego Rivera

Rivera was 21 years older than Frida. Communist, rebel and womanizer, bright representative bohemians, who had wild success with women, despite his, to put it mildly, not very attractive appearance, Diego won the heart of a young girl at school. Barely recovering from her injuries, Frida went to her idol to show pictures. Two years later, the couple got married.

Despite any oaths of allegiance, Rivera continued to twist endless novels. He himself admitted that none of his mistresses was worth Frida - but he was not going to stop. Frida forgave everything, because she herself was not a saint. Her fleeting romance with Leon Trotsky, who stayed with the artists for several months and could not resist the bright Mexican, is widely known.

But one day something happened that Frida could not forgive her husband. Rivera cheated on her with her own younger sister Cristina. After that, the stunned artist filed for divorce.

However, later Diego and Frida got married again. True, the second marriage had certain features: at the request of Kahlo, was excluded intimacy, and the spouses themselves lived in different parts of the house.

Frida and Diego Rivera, 1931

Alcohol, drugs and world fame

Boxing, football and menswear were not the only "shocking" antics of the rebellious Frida. The artist smoked like a locomotive and was very fond of drinking. Biographers claim that addiction to alcohol was the result of constant pain - the consequences of the accident - from which the Mexican could not escape. Her addiction to drugs is also indicated as the same reason.

In the house of Kahlo and Rivera, endless parties did not subside - all the world bohemia of that time flocked here. In the thirties, artists lived in the USA and France, and it was there, in Europe, that the name of Frida Kahlo received world fame. In 1939, the artist's paintings appeared at the Paris exhibition of Mexican art - and Frida from Mexico City immediately became an event in the art world.

Roots, 1943

True, in home country her first solo exhibition took place only a year before the death of the artist, in 1953. Then Kahlo was already bedridden - part of her leg was amputated. Despite this, the artist personally visited her exhibition. Frida joked and laughed to the last - including over her strange, broken fate.

Frida on the cover

IN modern world haute couture and fashion industry Frida Kahlo is a recognized, albeit extremely controversial, style icon. Not everyone knows that in 1937 the artist appeared on the cover of Vogue magazine - moreover, the entire issue was devoted entirely to her. The inscription on the cover of the iconic women's edition read: "Special women Latin America: Frida Kahlo's female power.

Vogue introduced the world to the great Mexican artist in the very image that everyone knows today. Luxurious headdress with flowers, which has become calling card artists, an embroidered dress with a long wide skirt, a Persian shawl, bright lipstick and heavy earrings - this is exactly what the French saw the “special woman” Frida Kahlo.

Frida Kahlo dresses

It is interesting, however, that the “folk dress”, in which the artist appeared for a fashion magazine, was invented and sewn by a designer from Paris. French fashion designer Elsa Schiaparrelli (in whose apprentice Givenchy himself once worked), inspired by Frida's style, created the Madame Rivera dress for her.

Selma Hayek as Frida Kahlo

In the new millennium new life» Frida Kahlo's style was obtained thanks to the film with Salma Hayek, as well as popular singer Lana del Rey, who appeared with a wreath of flowers "à la Frida" on her head. Many fans of the singer, not too burdened with knowledge of culture and art, decided that it was del Rey who introduced the floral headdress into fashion.

Lana del Rey

Photo: WordPress.com

Muse of Jean-Paul Gaultier

However, the artist's "classic" style is just the tip of the iceberg of her influence on fashion. A big fan of the artist's work is the French fashion designer Jean-Paul Gaultier. According to one version, Gauthier created the provocative outfit of the alien Lilu from the movie The Fifth Element, inspired by Kahlo's painting The Broken Column.

On this canvas, Madame Rivera depicted herself in an unfamiliar image - in the form of a crippled figure with a destroyed column inside, the integrity of which is supported only by a corset of stripes.

"Broken Column", 1944

The artist wore such a corset because of the consequences of an accident that cost her two years of immobility. Interestingly, in reality the corset was steel, but in the picture it seems to be made of soft fabric.

Photo: Vogue Germany, June 2014 (photographers Luigi Muren and Jango Henzi)

The image of Mila Jovovich in a Hollywood film is not the only thing that Gauthier created under the impression of the artist's work. In 1998, the cult designer released a whole collection of clothes dedicated to Frida Kahlo. Long skirts trimmed with lace and tulle, jackets, Mexican shawls, bright colors, heavy necklaces and headdresses - all this is the legacy of the artist, which came back into fashion with light hand outrageous fashion designer.

Photo: CR Fashion Book, 2013 (photographer Anthony Maule)

In addition to Gaultier, the image of Kahlo was used by Dolce & Gabbana, Valentino and other world-class fashion houses. Today, "Frida's style" is a clear sign of courage and good taste.

Margarita Zvyagintseva