After the encounter with Andre Breton and his statement about Frida Kahlo as part of surrealism in all forms, Frida responds to it; ‘they thought I was a surrealist, but I was not. I never painted my dreams; I only painted my reality. Frida Kahlo’s work gives whole Mexican art an international engagement, and her artwork maintains a figurative and self-taught spot of artistic expression.
Frida’s style is a visual echo of her unbelievable, emphasising individuality and a biographical perspective of life. Google Art and Culture bring her Two Frida’s and discuss the elements of her art practice through age and time. ‘Her self-referential art, now a media phenomenon, originated in the development of her portrait painting which, from early on, became her most effective device for expressing a certain unease about exploring her personality, mentioned in Google Art and Culture.
Why artists people used to paint because they do need to express themselves in human history, that is the only they had. Some people write, some play, and some of us do the painting. Frida Kahlo’s work strongly signifies the inner self of a humble human, the depth of her tragedies, anguish and miseries—the best-known tragedy connected to her accident and her husband and artists’ numerous infidelities.
The Two Fridas is her most famous work, encapsulating the many layers in a single canvas. This painting depicts the ‘Two’ Frida in her signature style, blending imagination and symbolism with a realist point of view that brings the narrative style and form. After a while, the Two Fridas got more prominent critical claims because of the ambiguity of the narrative story.
Why these ‘Two Fridas’ are significant because of the relentless portrayal of the female life and form in a highly male-dominated society. The social condition of Frida’s time in Mexico was not welcoming to women, and she lived an artistic life when most middle-class Mexican women sacrificed their lives in the domestic sphere. Frida Kahlo presents herself in an article on indigenous clothing as rebellious against the social norms and format. Same time, Frida brings the nature of the conventional beauty and socially unexpected element of her portraits.
First, the meaning of Two Fridas connects with Frida’s childhood memory that brings an imaginary friend; after that, Frida confessed it depicted her despair and loneliness with the breakup with Diego. Two Fridas seated and holding hands with each other in a gloomy, windy sky; one Frida is dressed in a white Victorian-style dress and to the right, she wears a formal Tehuana dress. Two Fridas exchanged or connected their hearts over their attire, two gazing at the audience with cold eyes. Usually, Frida brings unusual things into the self and other portraits. In this portrait, Frida brings the inner self of another Frida, an ambitious and courageous being herself.
Frida’s body of work consists of 143 paintings, and 54 of them are self-portraits. Through Self-Portrait, Frida sees the world and visualises her inner world.
Krispin Joseph PX
Credit: Google Art and Culture
