Frida Kahlo, born in Coyoacán, Mexico, July 6, 1907. Frida had a very tumultuous life filled with diseases, surgeries, and heartbreak by her adulterous husband, Diego Rivera. At the age of six she had polio, which left her right leg slightly deformed. At the age of 18 she broke her right leg in a trolley accident, which left her in pain all her life. The accident broke her ribs, spinal column, collarbone, pelvis, crushed and dislocated right foot, dislocated shoulder, and punctured her uterus. She underwent thirty-five operations during the course of her life, due to the constant pain in her back, leg, and foot.
Because Frida was bedridden and hospitalized most of her life, she began using her time to paint. She painted mostly self-portraits, expressing her state of mind and emotions of the time. One such painting is called, Two Fridas, painted during her divorce from Diego Rivera in 1939.
The Two Fridas depicts a double self-portrait of Frida Kahlo. Both figures are sitting on a partially exposed bench in an obscure room. The walls are painted like storm clouds; puffy white pillows obscure a dark sky.
The Frida on the left is dressed in a European white gown. Her gown is torn to expose her broken heart. She holds a clamp connected to a bleeding artery in her right hand. Some of the blood from the artery has dripped onto her white dress.
The Frida on the right is dressed in a simple, Mexican dress. Her shirt is a cobalt or real blue, which contains cadmium yellow stripes. Her heart is exposed, but not broken. This Frida holds a portrait of her husband, Diego Rivera as a child in her left hand.
An artery that passes between them, connected to their hearts, connects Both Fridas. The two Fridas are holding each others hand.
The painting is a symmetrical painting, having an imaginary line cut right down the middle, each Frida being a mirror-like copy of the other. The background is very rhythmical-- the clouds form a repeating pattern, similar to the repeating pattern of hospitalization in Frida’s life. The artery connecting the two Fridas, the double portrait, the hearts, and the background create a unified image despite the economic use of setting.
The color scheme of this painting is what one might expect in reality – the hearts and blood is read, the facial tones are accurate, the clothing is realistically highlighted and shadowed, and the perspective is believable, given that the only reference point is the corner of the bench that they are sitting on.
The Two Fridas was painted in 1939, just as the divorce became final between Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo. The double portrait represents the two cultures that Frida comes from: the left being European, the right being Mexican. The figure on the left is heartbroken at the loss of Diego, but has severed the bloodline that connected her to him; the figure on the right has her heart exposed, but holds a small portrait of Diego in her hand, still loved by her husband. Frida stated once that, quote, “My blood is a miracle that travels in the veins of the air from my heart to yours." The blood vessel that connects both Fridas once connected to Diego, but she has clamped that off, and it has dripped blood on her white gown.
I personally like this painting for several reasons. The first reason is that it represents the duality that we have in our personalities. Some of us are torn between two parents, others are torn between multiple heritages, employment and familial responsibilities, or even internal, chemical dualities. Even though there are splits within all of us, we are still connected to that part of ourselves that is no longer whole. Another reason I like this painting is the attention to detail. The white gown is very ornately detailed, especially above the waste, which must have taken considerable time. Not to mention the bottom of the skirt in the right portrait is very intricate. Finally, I have to respect the attention to how the clothing is folded and shaded. Clothing is rather difficult to render, at times, and anyone who can do it well has my respect, and Frida Kahlo did it well.
This work inspired me to paint a series of multiple portraits where there is a large version of the portrait and a single or multiple versions of the subject. I went on to paint my own multiple self-portrait, containing a full-figure version, plus eight bust portraits, all in a semi-circle around the full-figured version. The work, called Self Centered is acrylic on six sheets of 18" x 24" paper, glued to foam core, completed in August 2003.
Historical Context Sources:
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