Frida Kahlo, Woman and Artist
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Only one solo exhibition of Frida Kahlo's work was held during her lifetime. This, in 1953-54, was near the end of her life, and long after she had produced her best work. Today, her art is revered and admired for its sheer accessibility and timelessness, held in high regard by women, Latin Americans, artists, and other marginalized cultures alike. It is through her art that Kahlo expressed herself, and as such, the images that she painted during her lifetime exist not only as a feminist or Mexican critique of life, but the view of one amazing woman among a billion. Here, we will further discuss Kahlo's work and her life, as it is often difficult to separate one from the other. Furthermore, we will analyze much of Kahlo's work through a Jungian psychoanalytic lens, relating the images that Kahlo painted, not only to the surrealist and abstract expressionist movements in Mexico, but in the United States as well. Frida was born in 1907 to two Jewish immigrants. A poster child for Freud's theories, she adored her father and resented her mother. The family home in Coyocßn, Mexico was painted cobalt blue outside, and for this reason it became known as the Blue House. Frida had three sisters, and though her status as daddy's favorite set her apart from the others, her affliction with polio beginning in 1913 would forever mark her as different. After she healed, Frida was left with a withered right leg that she covered with pants and l
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ning to religious symbolism and themes of death, Kahlo solidified her position among the Surrealists with continued support from Breton, though she allegedly denied any affiliation with the Surrealists. Whatever her official artistic designation, Kahlo was at last cherished as a respected artist and no longer simply considered Rivera's girlish wife. While Diego Rivera had greatly influenced her life, Kahlo's distinct style eliminated any doubts that he might have influenced her art. Fragile and sensitive, Kahlo developed her own themes, her own form of fierce nationalism, and her own social consciousness.
Jungian analysis fits well with Kahlo's work because, whether she wished it or not, he work tends to fall within the realm of Surrealism. In her art she depicts mixtures of images that could not otherwise take place except for in her own imagination. Such dreamscapes in art are explained through Jungian analysis.
The surrealists were heavily influenced by Sigmund Freud, the Austrian founder of psychoanalysis. They were especially receptive to his distinction between the ego and the idùthat is, between our primal instincts and desires (the id) and our more civilized and rational patterns of behavior (the ego), (Cernushi).
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Approximate Word count = 3592
Approximate Pages = 14 (250 words per page)
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