Spanish culture is a cornucopia of vibrant colors, intense visuals, and radical figures that have shaped it into a society that is constantly mimicked by its counterparts. Of the aforementioned figures that molded Hispanic culture, the most artistic dynamo can be found in the person of Frida Kahlo. She is the epitome of the style, class, and elegance. Now, although her life was wrangled with injury and suffrage, she did not let her downfalls stifle her creativity. She found a way to take an introspective look at her life and channeled that energy into immersive paintings that are still examined until this day. To understand the existential nature that follows the viewing of a Frida Kahlo painting, there must be a bit of background to appreciate the headspace she was in when she crafted these masterpieces.
During her formative years, Frida was diagnosed with polio which traditionally affected the spinal cord and mobility skills. Coupled with numerous surgeries and a near-death bus accident, her body was often dismembered and contorted in ways that would make the average individual give up on their lives as a functioning member of society. For Frida, these trials were just stepping stones to finding her truth. This truth is vibrantly shown in painting such as The Wounded Deer and The Broken Column. To gawk at just one, The Wounded Deer depicts Frida as a deer speared throughout its body amidst a dilapidated forest. She painted it to show that it was perfectly acceptable to examine one’s flaws and display it for the whole world to see. To see her trudge forward regardless of ailment, truly showed her resilient spirit which speaks volumes for the disabled community (one of which Frida probably would have never identified herself as). Her zeal to be a trendsetter for country was enhancement with her involvement with her on-again-off-again husband Diego Rivera.
Her marriage with artist Diego certainly shaped the directions of her painting even further. Now only did she have an external feel to her paintings via her physical aches and pains, but also she found an internal struggle to her pieces that were most likely due to her response to his affairs. Sometimes veering into her eyes that seer scars into one’s soul, her self-portraits were a biography into her evolution as a woman. Because of this, Frida introduced the therapeutic quality that art has in various individuals. She laid her emotions on a canvas to be deciphered by everyone. The artistic process was no longer about brush stroke consistency. This art form became its own thing by developing the avant-garde movement.
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Historically, Hispanics have remained true to their soulful heritage by acknowledging its festive days such as Cinco de Mayo and the Day of the Dead. Because of this grounded nature to the world, traditionalism was an admired practice during Frida’s era. However, her avant-garde art brought a unique atmosphere to her later, more reflective pieces. They would have large contours and defined arches that transformed normal faces into embolden 3D images. Near death, she paid homage to the Day of the Dead by painting her perspective funeral scene and her most morbid painting in her repertoire. The Girl in the Death Mask which places Frida’s face in the depths of trauma with two decays masks. This fervor obviously makes her a gem to Spanish culture.
Frida Kahlo was a groundbreaking artist that helped shaped avant-garde artistry. She never followed a form that was normal, and she constantly loaded the world with her unique perspective. She was one of those people who could authentically say that she was doing this or that way before it cool. She truly made her impact in Hispanic world, and she will forever be studied in artistic academia until the end of time.
