Frida Kahlo

Frida Kahlo was an amazing woman and a very talented Mexican painter. Her main work is composed of self portraits but it is her other works of art that are truly astonishing. They capture the entirety of human emotion on a canvas. I have chosen a painting titled Diego and Frida (1929-1944). 

In the painting we see a head composed of two sides of different faces. The left side is Frida's husband Diego Rivera's face and the right side is Frida's face. Underneath their combined neck is some type of pouch/sac that has veins branching off from it - almost like a tree. In the upper right hand corner we see a moon (that has a face), and underneath that there is the sun, and then almost directly underneath the head, there is a conch shell and a what looks like a scallop shell. The background of the painting is a deep crimson red. 


My first impression of this painting was that a kind of weirded-out feeling - I mean, come on - the head has two halves of different faces! But as I looked and studied the painting in more detail I could truly appreciate what Kahlo was trying to portray. There are two halves to the face to symbolize the union that Diego and Frida shared, when you love someone that much you truly are half of their whole. Frida continues with a dichotomy of relationships in the painting to express the companionship and whole-ness that she feels with Diego. The painting includes the moon and the sun - equal and opposite pairs but both need each other. At the bottom of the painting there are two separate sea shells which are touching, showing their partnership and love for each other. 


I love everything about this painting and the more Kahlo art that I research, the more I like it. Kahlo seems like an amazing artist and I am sad that I missed her time and impact in the art world.

Works Cited

Kahlo, Frida. Diego and Frida 1929-1944. 1944. Private Institution. Ocean's Bridge. Web. 9 September 2010