I paint self-portraits because I am so often alone, because I am the person I know best.-- Frida Kahlo
Today is the anniversary of the birth of Mexican painter Frida Kahlo (July 6, 1907 - July 13, 1954).
Kahlo put herself on display (not dislay) quite frequently—the drama of her own life was depicted through her paintings, many of them self-portraits. The bisexual painter had a tumultuous relationship with fellow artist Diego Rivera, marrying him twice. She also lived most of her life in pain, with polio as a child and as an adult, after a bus accident from which she was never able to fully recover. This pain is depicted in many of her self-portraits, such as Henry Ford Hospital, painted after a miscarriage.
Kahlo is sometimes considered a Surrealist, though she denied this herself. Her intense, bright style based on Mexican folk art, as well as the "small scale, fantasy and a primitivistic style help to distance the viewer from the horrific subject-matter", according to Grove Art Online.
The painting above is Self-Portrait with Monkey, taken from FridaKahlo.com
Leanne Olson
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