Frida Kahlo

After the last fiasco, we finally were able to go and see the Frida Kahlo exhibit. I have been a huge fan of her work since my sister Sarah and I went and saw her exhibition at the Tate Modern Museum in London. This was a phenomenal exhibit, chronically her paintings and how they were influenced by her difficult life. We had gotten the audio guide tour, which was amazing because it was on a palm and incorporated pictures, artifacts, and even her own voice on the screen besides the commentary. Needless to say, I was thrilled that another exhibit was in the area.

I had warned William that he might not like her art, but he was sweet and said that he would give it a chance . . . and to be with me. :-) What a great husband I have. And he didn't like it at all, but let me spend as much time as I wanted there. I listened to the audio tour which is a must with her art because so much is intertwined with her life that you need to hear about her experiences to truly understand what it is like. The above photo was the most poignant for me of this exhibition. Frida had a difficult life- when she was a late teenager, she was in a horrible accident that injured her spine, and she suffered from pain for the rest of her life. The accident also prevented her from being able to carry a child- she miscarried several times- and was devastated by her infertility. She was in love with Diego Rivera, the famous Mexican muralist. However, he continually cheated on her, but yet, he couldn't live without her, nor she without him. She painted the above entitled "The Two Fridas" after her divorce from Diego. In her right hand, she holds a photo of Diego and it is connected to her heart as a representation of the woman Diego once loved, which is then connected to another version of her and that heart is dying and bleeding all over representing the Frida that Diego abandoned. And she is all alone- she only has her own hand to hold onto. The image is powerful in that there is no emotion on her face- fairly stoic- yet all of the emotion- her grief, sorrow, and loneliness- is portrayed in her art. One thing that for me, really makes good art, is that it completely captures the artists emotions and evokes them upon the viewer. The exhibit was good but had fewer paintings than the Tate exhibition, so I would have to say that the other was better. This is one of the things that I love being close to a major city is great art exhibitions such as this