Painting a Life – Frida Lives On

I just got back from a trip to the west coast to do some research. While there, I took advantage of the opportunity to visit museums and see some fantastic art. One highlight was an overnight in San Francisco during one of the nicest times of the year—the city was sparkling! I went first to see the Museum of Modern Art’s Frida Kahlo exhibit, organized by Kahlo biographer and art historian Hayden Herrera.

Frida has become a cult figure, a symbol of intimate personal expression in the arts. But during her lifetime, she was known mainly as the eccentric wife of the famed Mexican muralist Diego Rivera. She was known to “dabble” in painting, to dress in traditional Tehuana clothing, and to have suffered a dreadful accident early in life that eventually resulted in her early death at age 47. It is only in the last twenty-some years that her paintings began to develop a following and she and her life came into the spotlight. On the coat tails of the Herrera biography in 1983 (since reprinted numerous times), came more books, more research, about her art, her life, and her audacious lifestyle. A few years ago, Selma Hayek made a wildly popular movie about her. And, once again, with this exhibition of about fifty of her paintings plus many photographs with Diego, family, and friends, her fan base swells.

The MOMA exhibition is a celebration of the 100th anniversary of her birth in 1907 and it’s the last stop for this amazing collection of paintings and photographs. There is still time to catch it as it will be there until September 28th. I spent hours absorbing the breadth and quality of Frida’s work—many of the paintings have not previously been available for public view—and carefully examining each photograph. Many times, what we see in articles about Frida are her less-refined depictions of her physical trials and her marital troubles. What is apparent in this exhibition is how technically skilled she was, as evidenced in her beautifully and exotically rendered paintings. For me, it was a thrill I’ll not soon forget!

--Rosemary Carstens