Mexican artist Frida Kahlo was a creative genius, an intellect who was ahead of her time, a strong woman who was unabashedly herself and unafraid to show her true colors, her rawness and vulnerability with the world.
Yet the same time, there was another piece to her beautifully complex artistic realm where the enlightened yet tormented muse intensely connected with the natural world. A place where plants and animals represented innovative scientific, worldly and personal themes and personal connections.
Romeo and Juliet, and Tristan and Isolde are accessible (fictional) examples that may come to mind, but the history books –and succeeding web pages– are lush with examples of Latin couples who’ve affected history by being revolutionary, dynamic, passionate, and/or the talk-of-the-time.
"She had the courage to paint women's pain, which must never be revealed in patriarchal warrior societies. Yet she was true to her longing, as a female, to create beauty even out of an imperfect female body. Viva Frida! I visited Casa Azul, and everything I see and read about her still touches the deepest core of my feminine soul," said Gloria Bertonis, a fan of Kahlo.
Coyoacan-born artist Frida Kahlo moved in surrealism and magic realism - though she once stated, “I never painted dreams. I painted my own reality.” She created paintings that celebrated Mexican, Amerindian and indigenous tradition, while at the same time capturing her sorrow, her honesty and her hope. To understand her work is to understand her life.
