You do not currently have permission to view the full text for this document. Please sign in to an account with an active subscription or contact support.
Frida Kahlo was a Mexican artist (1907-1954). Altogether she painted almost 200 pictures, among them 55 self-portraits. Frida contracted polio at the age of six and her right leg was shrivelled. She began to paint at the age of 18 while recovering from a serious traffic accident, as a result of which she could never give birth to a living child. This was a painful and wounding experience for her. But Frida psychologically created an inner space, enlivening her womanhood, and remained artistically creative. She underwent over 30 operations and was bed-ridden for long periods of her life.
Frida's pictures derive from her life as a woman. She created something new out of her archaic Mexican heritage. Space, time, the body, are entwined in many ways in Frida's life and art. It is in space and time that her life of the body expands its significance. The body imprisoned Frida in the imaginary, where there are no bonds and limits.
The object of Frida's intense study was her own self. She painted self-portraits to be able to feel she existed. She built and created herself in painting. The bed-ridden Frida studied herself in mirrors like Narcissus in the water's surface—and became merged and separated.
She lived literally in the tensions of life and death. Frida Kahlo's pictures are incarnated from life to life and become protective and supportive icons.