[WARNING: Paintings linked within in this post may have triggering content]
1937 also happened to be when Frida became more productive as an artist, with several self-portraits and other paintings. She began to exhibit her paintings despite her own doubts about her talents. However, others did not have the same doubts and she became more recognized as an artist in her own right, rather than just the wife of Diego Rivera.
Her first solo exhibition happened in New York City in 1938. She managed to sell half of her paintings despite it being the great Depression, and her exhibit was also attended by several famous artists and public figures. It brought more attention to her art and earned her two commissions. One was for A. Conger Goodyear, who was the President and founder of the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) which remains a major art museum. Another was for Clare Boothe Luce, a socialite and political activist who commissioned a portrait of her friend, Dorothy Hale. The painting depicted Hale’s suicide, with writing on the bottom with the details of the event. The painting was controversial due to what it depicted.
This would not however be the last time that a painting of Frida’s would be considered scandalous or controversial. In fact, the following year she traveled to Paris for another exhibit of her artwork only to find the gallery refused to showcase most of her work. They found it too controversial for their audiences. However, on the brighter side the Louvre bought one of her paintings. The Frame (1938) was the first artwork by a Mexican artist that the famous art collection had bought.
Frida moved back to her childhood home, La Casa Azul, in 1939 following her divorce from Diego. She would remain there until her death, living at times with her husband and/or her sister and her children. The 1940s were a productive time for Frida, although her health started to decline even further. She tried new mediums and substrates for her art and starting making art that was considered more sellable to support herself.
She continued to exhibit her art in Mexico and the United States, attending three separate exhibits in 1940 alone. Some of her more famous paintings were painted while she was back at La Casa Azul.
1940 was troubling year personally however. While her artistic work seemed to be going higher, her personal life and health suffered. She was arrested and held for two days in Mexico City as she was investigated when her former lover, Leon Trotsky, was killed. It was suspected that she, and her sister Cristina, knew who the murderer was. She was released, however. She then found herself in San Francisco soon afterwards dealing with various health problems, including a fungal infection and back pain.
While she was in San Francisco she was reunited with Diego, and the two reconciled. They remarried in a civil ceremony on December 8, 1940 and returned to Mexico together. Their marriage remained as it was before, with both having affairs. Diego kept their old home in San Angel as a second apartment and his studio despite living at La Caza Azul.
Her health problems continued, as she had chronic pain due to her spine, her hand infection became a continuing problem, and at one point she was treated for Syphilis. She went through twenty-eight different casts in 14 years due to the pain she lived through. She also suffered from depression after her father, who she had been close to, died in 1941.
One highlight of the 1940s was that Frida’s artwork had gained more notice in her native Mexico, and she was a member of the Seminario De Cultura Mexicana, a commission of the Mexican government to spread awareness of Mexican culture. With the Seminario, she held various exhibitions, attended conferences and other promotions. It led to her accepting a teaching position in a local national Art school called La Esmeralda. Eventually her illnesses prevented her from having classes on campus, and instead she held them within her home and studio. Her students, known as Los Fridos for their devotion to her, continued her ideal of painting from Mexican culture and life. Her own works continued to be somewhat controversial, but she always kept to what she wanted to express.
In 1945, she faced another health setback. Her pain had worsened to the point that she could no longer sit or stand for long periods of time. She traveled to New York for a surgery, but in the end the surgery did not help. Like she always had, she painted her emotions into her art, such as The Wounded Deer (1946).
In 1950, she once again tried to get a bone graft, but it was not a smooth recovery, and several follow-up surgeries were required. At this point, Frida was forced to use either a wheel chair or crutches to move around. This did not stop her from being politically active or continuing her paintings. She got an adjustable easel so she could paint from her wheelchair, and campaigned for a ban on nuclear weapons. When Doctors told her she needed to be on Bed rest and therefore could not attend her solo exhibit in 1953, she had her bed delivered to the gallery and had herself carried by ambulance and stretcher to it so she could attend the event.
As the mid fifties arrived, Frida’s health declined rapidly. In August 1953, only months after her exhibit, she had a leg amputation due to gangrene. Her depression increased, and she became addicted to painkillers according to some sources. At times she was suicidal and was hospitalized in 1954.
She was active till the very end, both as a political activist and as an artist. In 1954, she released at least four paintings and she also attended a demonstration against the CIA invasion of Guatemala with her husband in July. However, her activity did nothing to help the illness, and on July 13, 1954 Frida passed away at the age of 47. Arguments about what actually caused her death appear to differ between various sources.
She was laid in state at the Palacio de Bellas Artes, a cultural center, and a communist flag covered her casket. She was later cremated and her remains displayed in an urn at her home, La Caza Azul. In her memory, Diego allowed her childhood home to become a museum to his wife’s artistic career, and for the promotion of Mexican history, culture and art. He died in 1957, and the museum opened a year later.
Frida left behind a legacy in her art, and in her courage to do what she wanted despite people telling her she couldn’t. She never let people change her into something she rather not be. She preserved through physical pain and made artwork to express her life in a surrealist way. Many people relate to her artwork. Many people also relate to her, whether it is her feminism, her politics, her disabilities, or her bisexuality.
Her artwork has only increased in value, setting records for sale prices for Mexican artists. Two Nudes in a Forest (1939) for example was auctioned in 2016 for 8 million dollars. Interest in her art and her life have increased over the last few decades due to new biographies (such as Hayden Herrera’s Frida: A Biography of Frida Kahlo -1983) and the fact that in 1984 her works were considered national treasures and Mexico prohibited any more from leaving the country.
In more recent years, the biopic Frida (based on Herrera’s biography) was released in 2002 and stared fellow Mexican Selma Hayek. It won several Academy awards. She also gained a mention in 2017’s Coco. In the US, she got her own postage stamp in 2001 and was inducted into the Legacy Walk in 2012. In the past year, Mattel released a Frida doll as part of her new Women Role Models collection.
Further Reading:
Lisa’s History Room: Frida Kahlo An Accidental Artist
Mattel Unveiled ‘Role Model’ Barbies for International Woman’s Day and I’ve never felt less Inspired – Biba Kang (Independent)
Mattel.com: Barbie celebrates Role Models
Diary of a Mad Artist – Amy Fine Collins (Vanity Fair Magazine -1995)
Sokorra Lewis 