She is a woman who sits in the corner of a poorly lit room with an almost empty tequila bottle in her hand. She stares at the half painted canvas, and starts sobbing. Her name? Frida Kahlo. A painter who broke the rules and made her own. She never apologized for who she was; she never asked to be understood; she was an artist who lived a passionate romance, and still ended up brokenhearted. The image of Frida no longer belongs to her, but to the t-shirts, backpacks, and dolls little girls carry around. What would she think of the many women who try to imitate her and the labels “experts” use to summarize her art? How would she respond to the women who want a relationship like hers and Diego’s? Yes, it was romantic and lustful, but it ended up in betrayal and hurt.
Frida is a talented painter who shared the brilliance of Mexico with the world. She understood and embraced her roots through her art, life, and style. She was an activist, a Tehuana Knight who fought against her own physical and emotional pain, without ever losing her strength. She blithely followed her heart and her own rules.
Kahlo transcended her physical pain, her activism, and Rivera’s shadow. People from around the world admire her as a well-rounded painter and a Mexican symbol of national identity. Whether it is her fashion sense, love for literature, endurance, or heart, we all want to be a little bit like Frida Kahlo.
Only Frida can explain Frida because the rest are poor attempts to understand her. These quotes will guide those who wish to have a bit of her spirit in their lives.
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Deny all labels, but impose them on others.
Magdalena Carmen Frieda Kahlo y Calderón was her full name before changing it to Frida in 1935. She was once classified as a surrealist, but she duly rejected the term. She never painted a dreamscape like Dalí or Carrington. “I painted my own reality,” she explains to those who tried to label her work.
Most of Kahlo’s paintings have a distinct composition, and many art experts try and fail to label her unique style. For her, the idea of being classified limited her creativity and the freedom to just be herself.
Ironically, the woman who fought against labels, now finds herself defined by so many of them. We speak of her as a fighter, a tortured woman, and a passionate artist. Perhaps, the only one she would agree to be referred to as would be Rebel.
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Live in a world of paradox.
Many of us try to fit in in order not to be ostracized by those closest to us. Kahlo worked hard not to let her world become ordinary; she painted and lived for herself. Kahlo transformed her reality into a painted canvas, which served to expose her exuberant personality.
“I recommend her to you, not as a husband but as an enthusiastic admirer of her work, acid and tender, hard as steel and delicate and fine as a butterfly’s wing, lovable as a beautiful smile, and as profound and cruel as the bitterness of life,” comments Diego Rivera in a letter to one of his friends. Rivera is perhaps the only person apart from Frida who could summarize her essence in a couple of lines. This success lies on the fact that Diego shared so many similarities with his wife. He too reimagined his reality and offered a new world order through his paintings.
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Say you don’t love letters, and then write gorgeous ones.
Kahlo once put pen to paper the following words to Jose Bartoli, “I don’t know how to write love letters.” Keeping your strengths or your abilities secret is a good way to become like Frida. Your sentences and letters should belong to those worthy of your heart.
“Since I fell in love with you, everything is transformed and is full of beauty… love is like an aroma, like a current, like rain. You know, my sky, you rain on me and I, like the earth, receive you,” writes Frida, as she continues her letter to Bartoli. A torrent of emotions flows from the ink to the sentences she dedicates to Jose, and surely this passion made his heart beat faster. Her passionate soul is unmistakable in her letters, so when you write a letter to a loved one, pour all your heart and soul into it.
In a good case scenario, your letters could become your most precious legacy. In the case of Frida’s letters to Bartoli, these were auctioned for US$137,000. An interesting outcome for a woman who presumably didn’t know how to write love letters.
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Deny your success despite being successful.
Fame can be blinding even for the most humble of artists, unless you’re Frida Kahlo. As soon as her popularity as a painter increased, the acknowledgement of others did too; nevertheless, she never got caught in the webs of false praise. Frida Kahlo embraced her origins even more, and isolated herself from the elitist social circle that became more and more interested in her.
Her disdain was apparent, “They are so damn ‘intellectual’ and rotten that I can’t stand them anymore… I [would] rather sit on the floor in the market of Toluca and sell tortillas, than have anything to do with those ‘artistic’ bitches of Paris,” she ranted about the European surrealists. Becoming Frida requires you to know you are as successful as your competition; being aware of it will allow you to rise above the crowd.
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Confront your most tragic experiences and turn them into art
“I tried to drown my sorrows, but the bastards learned how to swim, and now I am overwhelmed by this decent and good feeling,” Frida confesses. While the rest of us get engulfed by our pain and try to bury it in the bottom of our hearts, Kahlo did the opposite. She felt it over and over again.
Frida Kahlo, the woman, the child, the painter was not oblivious to pain. She fought against polio when she was six years old, and in 1925 she suffered a car accident which broke her spine. Not only physical pain took over her life; even in the matters of the heart she found herself stranded in the gloom. “There have been two great accidents in my life. One was the train, the other was Diego. Diego was by far the worst,” she admits.
She drank and cried, but beyond that, she created. She transformed her sorrow into art. “My painting carries with it the message of pain,” Kahlo insists. “I think that little by little I’ll be able to solve my problems and survive,” she adds. Becoming Frida is an act of bravery and defiance against the people or things that hurt us the most. Face your pain and don’t let yourself be undervalued because of it.
So many things can be said about Frida, and many more lessons can be learned from her life and work. We must pursue success and never be engulfed by idolatry or false praise. We mustn’t flaunt our talents, but allow them to bloom in front of those who are worthy. Our reality does not need to be trapped by a dull definition; on the contrary, it can be redefined every single day. Finally, labels are not meant for you; you are the only one who has the final say on what you do or feel.
“You deserve the best, the very best, because you are one of the few people in this lousy world who are honest to themselves, and that is the only thing that really counts.” —Frida Kahlo.
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Reference
The Huffington Post US
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