In this video we will be discussing the life of Frida Kahlo, and one of her most famous
paintings, Las Dos Fridas, or The Two Fridas.
To best understand this piece, an understanding of Frida’s life experiences is essential,
so first we will learn a little bit about her.
Frida Kahlo was born on July 6th, 1907 in Coyoacan, Mexico. Her father was German,
and her mother was half Amerindian and half Spanish. Her father immigrated to Mexico,
where he married Frida’s mother.
From the young age of six, Frida’s health began to decline. She contracted Polio, and
was bedridden for nine months. She recovered, but was left with a deformity to her right
leg, which she kept hidden her entire life under long dresses.
In 1922, Frida began attending the National Preparatory School in Mexico City. This is
where she met the famous muralist, Diego Rivera. She watched him work on his mural
titled, “Creation,” and was intrigued by not only his work, but him as well.
Later that year, Frida was severely injured in a bus accident where a steel handrail
impaled her hip, and fractured her spine and pelvis. Recovering from this traumatic
event was difficult both physically and mentally for her.
Frida spent three months in a full body cast, and several more recovering in her home.
During this time, she started painting, and practicing her techniques. Just a year later,
she had finished her first self portrait. When asked why she decided to paint self
portraits, she said,“I paint self-portraits because I am so often alone, because I am the
person I know best.”
In 1928, Frida asked Rivera to evaluate her work, and he urged her to keep painting.
They started a romantic relationship, and got married the next year. They had an
unusual relationship, which included living in separate homes, and having separate
studios. Rivera had many affairs, one of which was with Frida’s sister. This upset Frida,
because he was very important to her.
Frida also had a strong desire to have children, but was unable to during her lifetime,
because of the bus accident. She had two miscarriages which also contributed to her
sadness and loneliness.
Frida experienced many tragic and heartbreaking events in her life, and many of them
are represented in her work.
Las Dos Fridas-
We are now going to look at the work titled, Las Dos Fridas. Frida created this work in
1939, following her divorce with Diego Rivera. This work represents the loneliness she
felt after Diego left, similar to how she felt when she was bedridden and ill.
Frida created an imaginary friend, who was actually another representation of herself,
where she internalized all of her pain. In this piece, she portrayed herself as a very
strong woman, but she also places an emphasis on vulnerability by exposing the hearts
of the two Fridas.
Frida on the left is wearing European style clothing, which shows her father’s heritage.
This can also be interpreted as a representation of how Frida was before meeting
Diego, and before she became loved by him. Or she could be the Frida who is rejected
by Diego.
Frida on the right is wearing traditional Mexican style garments, which is representative
of the Frida who is loved by Diego. Because Diego is Mexican, this is the way she
dressed during her relationship with Diego. It also represents her mother’s heritage,
because she was half Spanish as well.
Both of the dresses are past foot-length, most likely due Frida’s deformity of her right
leg. Polio made her right leg thinner than her left, and she hid this under long dresses
her entire life. This was an insecurity for Frida, which contributed to her sadness as well.
It makes sense that she hides the deformity in her portraits as well.
Now, as we examine the exposed hearts of both Fridas, we can infer that her
knowledge of human anatomy due to her illness and accident influenced her ideas
behind this element. Frida endured many surgeries and treatments, and she is very
grateful to be alive.
On the left, Frida’s heart is torn open, representing her distress over the divorce with
Diego. This is the “rejected” Frida, who is no longer loved by Diego.
The heart of the Frida on the left is exposed and broken because of the divorce, her
miscarriages, and other pain she experienced in her life. It is clear that her life
experiences are reflected in her work on a very emotional level.
On the right, Frida’s heart is healthy and strong, because this Frida was loved by Diego.
Frida’s heart is complete here, because she has the love from Diego.
There are also symbols of unity between the two Fridas in this piece. The joining of their
hands, and the connection of the veins between hearts binds them as one. Although
Frida on the right is clearly stronger, she serves as a protector for the weaker Frida on
the left. The joining of hands also represents how Frida is her own companion now. She
no longer has Diego, but she has herself. She still loves Diego very much, but knows
she needs to let him go.
Frida on the left holds pincers on one of the veins that connects to the Frida on the right.
Because Frida on the right is loved by Diego, and is even holding the picture of him, the
Frida on the left attempts to sever the connection between them.This causes intense
emotional and physical pain to Frida, but she knows it’s what she needs to do. We can
see that the blood flow out of the vein does not stop completely, which shows how she
still feels as though she needs his love to be whole.
The viens physically connect both Fridas, as well as Diego. This represents the
emotional connection between the three of them. Frida on the left needs the strength of
the Frida on the right to survive, and Frida on the right needs the love of Diego. Due to
Frida on the left attempting to sever the connection of both loved Frida and Diego, but
not fully succeeding, we can infer that they need each other in some way or another.
There are also many examples of color symbolism in her painting.
Frida once wrote in her diary that the use of cobalt blue symbolizes love, purity, and
electricity. The dress of Frida on the right has cobalt blue to represent how loved she
was by Diego, and how much she loved him.
By using the color white, she expresses the emptiness and loneliness she feels after
her separation with Diego. Frida on the left has a white dress, because she is the one
trying to move on, even though it is painful and lonely.
Even the skin colors of the two Fridas differ from each other and express meaning.
Frida on the left has pale skin, which is representative of her European heritage, with no
love from Diego. Frida on the right as we know, is loved by Diego, and represents the
way she was with Diego. She embraced Mexican culture during her marriage to Diego.
The background can represent the loss of hope from experiences in her life and the
darkness she feels. The dark, stormy skies depict her internal conflict between losing
Diego, and attempting to move on. This is one of my favorite forms of symbolism in this
piece, because when someone experiences as much loss as Frida, they may feel as
though they have a storm cloud looming above their head, as depicted here.
As a whole, this work is filled with direct representations of Frida’s life experiences, and
symbolism. Frida claims she paints herself the best, because she doesn’t know anyone
else better. She spent many years alone due to her health complications and after her
separation from Diego. Even though they were remarried a year later, the loneliness
she felt is a clear motive for this piece.
To learn more about this work, refer to the essay which elaborates on some of the ideas
and inferences made in this video, and provides some new ones as well.
After creating a “Smarthistory style” video on Frida Kahlo’s Las Dos Fridas, I have learned a lot about Frida’s life, and the creation of her work. I decided to further research this work after reading Brenton’s criticism of Frida Kahlo, and became more interested about her life and works. One of my interests when looking at and analyzing artwork is the connection between the lives of artists and their work. In some cases, such as Frida’s, I believe it is essential to understand the past experiences of artists to fully understand their work. She endured so many painful events both emotionally and physically, which are clearly portrayed in many of her pieces, not just Las Dos Fridas.
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The purpose of this paper is to take the perspective of a viewer of the video, and elaborate on the ideas presented, and discuss them in greater depth. There are elements which are briefly discussed, and will be further talked about in this paper to gain a better understanding of the work. This paper could be used as a supplement to the video, in order to get a more in depth analysis of Frida’s life and her piece, Las Dos Fridas.
In this piece, Frida expresses her identity crisis through the creation of two Fridas. As mentioned in the video, Frida on the left represents the unloved Frida, and Frida on the right represents the Frida Diego loved. She connects both of them in a way that shows viewers they need each other to survive. They are joining hands, and are connected by veins with the same blood. Although Frida on the left tries to sever the connection, the dripping blood from the vein shows that she is unable to fully disconnect them. The blood symbolizes the inner pain Frida feels from attempting to disconnect herself from Rivera, and the turmoil she faces. Frida once wrote in a letter to Diego, "All this anger has simply made me understand better that I love you more than my own skin, and that even though you don't love me as much, you love me a little anyway — don't you? If this is not true, I'll always be hopeful that it could be, and that's enough for me." (Letter to Diego Rivera, July 1935). This was written just four years before their divorce, and expresses Frida’s identity crisis. She was doubting Rivera’s love for her, and acknowledging how much she needs it. This explains why she is unsuccessful in severing the connection between the loved Frida and Rivera. In other words, she knows that she can’t survive without the love of Rivera, and doesn’t want to lose the part of her that he loves.
The Frida on the left, who is not loved by Diego, is in a more vulnerable state, and is at risk of bleeding out. The connection of the two Frida’s hearts binds them by blood, which is arguably the most intense connection there is. With close examination of the loved Frida on the right, we can see the portrait in her hand is also connected by veins to both Fridas. This creates a connection between all three of them, which means they need each other to survive. Frida’s choice to bond herself to Rivera by blood is another way she shows her need for his love and affection. Frida once said to Diego, “My blood is the miracle that travels in the veins of the air from my heart to yours” (Frida Kahlo). This further explains Frida’s dependance on Rivera’s love, as it is depicted in the blood connection they share.
Another element of this piece that is very important to the overall understanding of the work is the portrait of Rivera in the loved Frida’s hand. The portrait actually depicts a young Diego, rather than the the Diego Frida knew. This can be interpreted as Frida loving him as both her lover, and as a child she never had. As mentioned in the video, Frida was unable to have children as a result of her accident and sickness, which completely devastated her. She suffered miscarriages which are represented in many of her other works. Frida grew up with strong values of being a good mother and wife. It was essential to her to fulfill both of these roles during her lifetime. Although her marriage with Diego was rocky, she was still able to become a wife, but couldn’t bear any children. Some believe that Frida thought of Diego as her lover as well as the child she never had. This could be why she decided to depict Diego as a child rather than an adult. It is clear that Rivera means more to Frida that it appears.
Something that wasn’t discussed in the video is what style or category Frida’s work fit into. She didn’t originally consider herself as a Surrealist artist, until Andre Breton, a writer and surrealist, viewed her work. Characteristics of surrealist artwork includes references to the subconscious, irrational elements, juxtaposition of objects, and references to dreams and fantasy. She claims she didn’t know her work was part of the surrealist movement, and never really agreed it completely was. Frida once said, “They thought I was a Surrealist, but I wasn't. I never painted dreams. I painted my own reality.” Frida believed that what she painted was her own life experiences rather than dreams, making her work uncharacteristic of the surrealist movement. Her work may contain elements of surrealism in the eyes of some, and none in the eyes of others. It all depends on what context you look at it in. Although her work can be interpreted either from a surrealist perspective or not, it is still arguably very influential in the surrealist movement.
Frida Kahlo’s Las Dos Fridas contains many symbols and references to her life experiences that contribute to the overall meaning of the piece. The interpretations of her work, and explanation of symbols are infinite. To understand this piece in full, the tragic experiences she endured must also be known, as they are represented in the work. Frida’s piece was admired and critiqued by many, and is considered one of her most well known works of art.
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