We cannot celebrate inspirational women without mention of the Mexican painter Frida Kahlo. Her paintings have fascinated an international audience since the 1980s. In addition to her idiosyncratic artistic flair, Kahlo became a female icon through the struggles of her private life which are often depicted in her work. Her traumatic experiences with abortion, Diego Rivera’s affair, and their divorce has meant she can relate on a personal level to many women across the globe. While Diego Rivera’s Murales were a celebrated success in Mexico during his lifetime, Frida Kahlo’s story outlived her generation and she continues to be a renowned icon in the present day.
Her self-portraits defy gender stereotypes and conventional images of beauty. She depicts unvarnished images of female experiences including reference to maternity and objectification. Frida Kahlo’s exploration into the implications of femininity can be examined in several of her most famous works.
‘My birth’ (1932) graphically illustrates an anonymous woman giving birth to Frida herself. The blood on the bed is symbolic of Frida’s miscarriage and the sheet over the face of the mother may be a reference to the recent death of Frida’s mother. The scroll at the foot of the painting is bare, perhaps alluding to Frida’s inability to put these experiences into words. This reflects her need for art to express these personal traumas.
‘My Nurse and I’ (1937) is an image of a nurse feeding her baby. This painting has been interpreted as an allegory for Frida’s relationship with her Aztec past. The infantile image of breastfeeding symbolises how colonial antiquity has allowed Frida to mature and grow as both an artist and a woman. The contrast between the breasts uses this feminine image to represent her dualistic pre-Columbian ancestry.
The painting ‘Frida and Diego Rivera’ depicts Frida and her husband. The composition addresses the contention around marital gender roles in the colonial past. She poses as the archetypal wife, submissively holding the arm of her spouse. Frida has exaggerated their difference in height to make her appear dwarfed, reinforcing the idea of subservience to her husband. Yet, the fact that she places her name before his in the title perhaps mirrors the transition of control during the separation of the venerable couple. This can be interpreted as a microcosm for the progression of women in marriage in the modern world.