Frida Kahlo's dreamlike 'Diego and Me'

Mexico’s national cult heroine and arguably one of the most famous artists of the twentieth century in her own right, is finally back in the home of her ancestors: Germany. With around 150 of her paintings and drawings on show, the exhibition at the Martin-Gropius- Bau, is the most extensive exhibition of her work ever staged. Two of the most significant Kahlo collections have been brought together in their entirety; added to these are valuable loans from 30 Mexican and 15 North American museums and private collections.

Frida Kahlo (1907-1954) was born in Coyoacán, Mexico, to a German father and Mexican mother in 1907 but changed the date of her birth to 1910 (the year of the Mexican Revolution of Independence). That she wanted to be born in the year of the revolution is not inconsequential: her love affairs with the enfants terribles of her day; Leon Trotsky, as well as with the leader of the French Surrealist Movement, André Breton or Hungarian photographer Nickolas Muray profoundly influenced not only her life, but also her art. In 1929 she married the famous Mexican muralist Diego Rivera, whom she later divorced then re-married.

Without a doubt the single most important event leading to her to paint was her bus accident on 17 September 1925. Due to serious injury, Frida Kahlo was to spend the rest of her life as a virtual invalid as a consequence of her frequent operations, which later included the amputation of her lower right leg. Being a self-taught but naturally gifted painter, Frida Kahlo’s works reference the shamanistic culture of the Mayas and Aztecs, as well as  Hindu mythology and popular religious art. There are also strong allusions to male and female reproductive organs mostly through her still lifes of exotic fruits (especially Fruits of the Earth (1938)).

Her constant solitude as a result of her accident and turbulence in her personal life enabled her to find expression and strength in the absurd and in surrealism. Although she was adamant that she did not belong to the Surrealist Movement due to the constant confrontation she had with her own problems, themes of emotional and gender balance and imbalance, emptiness and the restoration of Yin and Yang are evident in her work. Me, Diego and Mr Xólotl (1949)  portrays the fantasy  world  inhabited by humans and strange  natural occurrences. The half day and half night background coupled with her nurturing an adult Diego in new born position  and her dog Mr Xólotl  in the foreground, reveal the rhythmic alteration and her dream to be in absolute union with her loved ones.

In 1938 /39 she staged successful solo exhibitions in both New York and Paris. Later she was given a chair at the Mexican Ministry of Education’s School of Painting and Sculpture, known as “La Esmeralda”.

One of Kahlo's iconic self-portraits

On display are also 90 drawings, some previously unseen (including the only pictorial representation of her traffic accident), and extensive photos belonging to her family and close friends. The photography section is curated by Cristina Kahlo, Frida Kahlo’s grandniece. The photos show scenes from the various phases in Kahlo’s life: Frida as a young girl, Frida with her husband Diego Rivera, Frida lying in bed painting her plaster corset.

As a woman who epitomised both the magical spirit of Mexico and a potentially sorceress-like creature, Kahlo’s pop cult status was cemented on screen when her compatriot Salma Hayek played her in the film version of her life in 2002. Even Madonna, commenting on the loan of one of the masterpieces of her art collection Kahlo’s Self Portrait with Monkey (1940) to the Tate Modern several years ago, said:  ‘Loaning my Frida to the Tate is like letting go of one of my precious children’.

Certainly, her work is not to everyone’s taste. There were moments when I just wanted to look at the painting without having to think about every meaning of every brush stroke. Yet, in some way, it made you feel that the concealed and overt puns are there to simultaneously entertain and annoy the viewer with this level of detail and allegory and it must be said, a subtle touch of humour.

The Frida Kahlo Retrospective  is showing until 9th August 2010.

For more information, see the Martin-Gropius-Bau website.