Art of Frida Kahlo

By Xah Lee. Date:

For more info about the artist, see: [ Frida Kahlo ] [ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frida_Kahlo ] (1907 to 1954).

Frida Kahlo, self portrait
Self-Portrait in a Velvet Dress. 1926. Oil on Canvas.
Frida Kahlo, self portrait
Self-Portrait on the Borderline between Mexico and the United States. 1932. Oil on Metal
What I Saw in the Water
What I Saw in the Water (What the Water Gave Me). 1938. Oil on Canvas.
The Broken Column
The Broken Column. 1944. Oil on Canvas.

There is a movie 〈Frida〉 directed by [ Julie Taymor ] [ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julie_Taymor ], 2003. Buy at amazon Mexican actress [ Salma Hayek ] [ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salma_Hayek ] starring the artist. (Julie Taymor also directed 〈Titus〉. See: Julie Taymor's Titus)

Frida, book cover
Cover for the book 〈Frida: A Biography of Frida Kahlo〉 by Hayden Herrera, 2002. Buy at amazon using the image of Salma Hayek from the movie

Note that Frida has painted lots of self-portraits, but the book cover has to use a actress instead. What degree of insult is this? It is that way because it sells, and selling is important because the social structure of capitalism. And, it sells that way because in modern society, people are far more aware of movies than historical figures. The other reason, is because the size and structure of modern society, where no amount of education can we expect most people to know most of the important historical figures. There are too many, too big.

The use of a movie to sell a biography can only be temporal. The immortality of a artist lies in her work along.