Frida Kahlo was a Mexican painter born in 1907 who is known for her self-portraits exploring her Mexican and indigenous heritage as well as experiences with pain and suffering. As a child, she contracted polio and survived a serious bus accident that left her disabled. This accident redirected her ambition to become a doctor and led her to begin painting during her recovery. Kahlo's paintings often depicted her turbulent marriage to Diego Rivera and related to her numerous medical operations over 30 surgeries throughout her life. Despite greater recognition after her death, Kahlo was less famous than her husband Rivera during her lifetime but is now considered one of Mexico's most influential artists known for her intensely personal and autobiographical works.

1. Frida Kahlo 1907-1954
Frida Kahlo was born on July 6, 1907, in
Coyoacan, a suburb of Mexico City. When
she was six years old she contracted polio
which left her with a deformed right foot
and the cruel nickname, “Peg-leg Frida”.
Her original ambition was to be a doctor
but a streetcar accident in 1925 left her
disabled and changed the path of her life.
It was after this accident that Kahlo began
to paint in order to relieve the boredom
during her convalescence.

2. Frida Kahlo underwent more than thirty
operations in the course of her life, and
most of her paintings relate to her
experiences with physical and
psychological suffering.
They also chronicle her turbulent
relationship with Diego Rivera, Mexico’s
most famous painter, whom Kahlo met
in 1928 and married in 1929. Rivera was
frequently unfaithful to her.
Kahlo is quoted as saying about the
relationship,
"There have been two great accidents in
my life. One was the trolley, and the
other was Diego. Diego was by far the
worst."

3. In her ‘Self-Portrait’, Kahlo
portrays herself as a Christ like
victim - the crown of thorns
replaced by a necklace of thorns
with a hummingbird 'medallion'.
This fusion of Christian and Aztec
imagery is common in Mexican
culture: the Aztec god
'Huitzilopochtli' is often depicted
as a hummingbird.

4. ‘The Broken Column’ (1944) is a
metaphor for Kahlo’s own pain. Her
spine is represented by a shattered
stone column. This is visible through
her broken body which is only held
together by a harness. She is naked
and the surface of her flesh is
punctured by sharp nails, recalling
the painful effect of flogging on the
body of Christ in Matthias
Grünewald’s Crucifixion Panel from
the Isenheim Altarpiece.
Silent tears drop from her eyes as she
stands alone in a desolate wasteland
without any sign of hope on the
horizon.
This is a bleak self image but Kahlo’s
endurance heroically prevails in this
barren landscape of despair.

5. In the 1950’s, Kahlo’s health
seriously declined and the
technical quality of her work
suffered. Several spinal
operations left her crippled
with pain and she was
confined to a wheelchair.
'Self-Portrait with the Portrait
of Dr. Farill' (1951) shows
Kahlo sitting in her wheelchair
holding her brushes and
palette adjacent to her
painting of her surgeon Dr.
Farill. A section of her heart
replaces the palette on her
lap, while her paintbrushes
drip with blood

6. In the summer of 1954, Frida Kahlo
died from pneumonia in the house
where she was born. During her
lifetime, she did not enjoy the same
level of recognition as her husband,
Diego Rivera, but today, her explicit,
intensely autobiographical work is as
critically acclaimed as that of her
male peers.

7. Stormy sky:
White dress:
Red flowers:
Surgical forceps:
Traditional Mexican
Tehuana dress:
Open hearts:
Amulet:
Holding hands:
Shortly after her divorce from Diego Rivera, Frida completed this
self-portrait of two different personalities
Vein:
What do the different objects represent?

8. Stormy sky: agitated
clouds may reflect
Frida's inner turmoil
White dress: This is
a European style
wedding dress and
represents Frida’s
European ancestry
on her Father’s side
and the part of her
that Diego left.
Red flowers: The
blood intermingles
with the red flowers
on her dress.
Surgical forceps: In despair, Frida tries to
stop the flow of blood from Diego but it
keeps dripping, she is in danger of bleeding
to death.
Traditional Mexican
Tehuana dress: the
part of her which was
respected and loved
by Diego, is the
Mexican Frida.
Open hearts: A symbol of Frida’s pain. The
heart of the Frida on the left is broken.
Cameo: This has a
picture of Diego as a
child.
Holding hands:
Holding her own
hand, she is her only
companion.
Vein: The vein begins
at the amulet, travels
through both
women's hearts and is
finally cut off by the
surgical forceps held
in the lap of the
rejected Frida

9. Mise en Scene
Describe what you see as if you were explaining it to someone on a phone.
Process
What has the artist used to make the art work? Consider the materials
and media. Was it meant to be presented in a special way?
Keywords
Write down a list of 5-10 keywords in response to this picture:
Image Analysis: Writing Frame
TITLE: The Two Fridas
DATE: 1939
ARTIST: Frida Khalo
Title:
How does the title of the work contribute to your understanding of the work?
Content
What are the intentions of the artist? What kind of mood is created?
What wider issues do you think the artist is exploring?

10. Content
What are Kahlo’s intentions in this piece? There may be more than one.
‘PEC’ each intention.
Frida Khalo intended to…
She did this by… (describe something in the image)
She wanted us to think / react …
What wider social, political or cultural issues was the Frida Kahlo
addressing?
Frida Kahlo is considering ______ in this piece of work.
This is shown by _____
She wanted to explore _____
How do the materials and techniques used by the Kahlo
contribute to the work and her intentions?
Frida Kahlo has used ______ in creating this work.
This creates a ______ effect.
This helps to support Kahlo’s point about _____
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