Hotsed By ECN www.e-cinc.com
Tribute Piece: Frida Kahlo - Self Portrait
Location: Cafe Rico
1013 W. Main (Front Of Building)
Listed Caption:
Frida Kahlo
[Mexican Painter, 1907-1954]
Kahlo nearly lost her life at age fifteen in a streetcar accident that crushed her pelvis and spine. During the next twenty-nine years she under went thirty-five operations and lived in constant pain. This physical reality became the theme for much of her art. Kahlo's portraits are unnerving because of their references to physical and psychic pain. She combined elements from Mexican folk art and traditional Christian symbolism to make her own personal style.
Frida Kahlo began painting in 1926 while obliged to lie in bed during convalescence from injuries suffered in the accident. Not long afterward she showed her work to Diego Rivera, who advised, "go on painting." She developed a crush on Diego Rivera and then swore she would marry him. She eventually did so, twice, and their stormy relationship became as famous as their art. The mexican government has turned her birthplace into the Frida Kahlo Museum.
Usually classed as a surrealist, the artist had no special explanation for her methods. She said only: "I put on the canvas whatever comes into my mind." She gave one-woman shows in Mexico City, New York, and elsewhere and is said to have been the first woman artist to sell a picture to the Louvre.
This self-portrait is owned by Madonna.
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