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We’re halfway through Hispanic Heritage Month in the United States, which runs from September 15th- October 15th. Rather than ranting about how bizarre that timing is, I’ll mention that the start date is on the eve of an important date in Mexican history: the 16th of September is Mexico’s Independence Day (if you thought that’s what Cinco de Mayo was about, come back in Spring for the real story), and the 15th itself represents the anniversary of independence for five other Latin American countries: Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua.

It seems fitting then, that I use this time to talk about one of my favorite artists, and an inspiring woman, Frida Kahlo. Even people who don’t know art will recognize Kahlo’s iconic self portrait, which features her trademark thick eyebrows, but she was much more than just that image.

Frida was born as Magdalena Carmen Frida Kahlo y Calderón on July 6, 1907, into the infamous house in Coyoacán that has come to be known as La Casa Azul, or The Blue House. Her father, Guillermo, was born in Pforzheim, Germany, the son of a painter and goldsmith. Kahlo often claimed that her father was of Jewish descent, but in reality he was from a long line of Lutherans. Kahlo’s mother, Matilde Calderón y Gonzalez, was a Mexican-born Catholic woman of Spanish and Native American descent. It is her father’s German heritage that inspired Frida, during the rising Nazism in Germany during the 1930’s, to temporarily change the spelling of her firest name to “Frieda,” a derivative of the word “frieden” which means “peace” in German.

In 1910, when Kahlo was three years old, the Mexican Revolution began. Frida would later claim that she was born in 1910 in order to tie herself more closely to her country’s history. As an adult she wrote about those times, remembering that her mother would sometimes prepare meals for hungry revolutionaries who leaped over the walls that surrounded their back yard.

At the age of six, Frida contracted polio, which left her right leg smaller than the left, and began her attraction to long skirts. She boxed and participated in other schools, and eventually became one of only thirty-five girls to enroll in classes at the Prepatoria.

After an accident that left her in a full-body cast, Frida abandoned her plans for a medical degree and began to paint full time, her work dominated by her series of self portraits, of which she said, “I paint myself because I am often alone and I am the subject I know best.” Her painting was greatly influenced by indigenous Mexican culture, which inspired her use of bright colors and the frequent use of the symbolic monkey, which represents lust, though Kahlo’s portrayals of the animal were always gentle and protective. She often incorporated both Christian and Jewish themes in her work, combining elements of classical religious Mexican art and surrealist styles and techniques.

In 1929, after approaching him for mentorship, Frida Kahlo married another Mexican artist, Diego Rivera, but while he encouraged her art, their marriage was fairly tumultuous, as both had hot tempers and engaged in extramarital affairs. (Frida herself was openly bisexual, and her lovers included Leon Trotsky.) Rivera tolerated his wife’s relationships with women, but was jealous of other men, and the couple divorced when Rivera had an affair with Frida’s younger sister, Cristina, though they would ultimately remarry in 1940.

Sadly, Frida Kahlo’s work was not widely recognized or appreciated until decades after her death in 1954. Until the early 1980s, and the dawn of the Mexican artistic movement known as the Neomexicanismo, she was remembered mainly as Diego Rivera’s wife.

Now celebrated throughout the world, Frida Kahlo remains an inspiration to all who struggle to be true to themselves as people and artists.

Posted by Melissa in Inspiring Women |

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 30th, 2008 at 1:11 pm and is filed under Inspiring Women. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.