Frida Kahlo: between surrealism and realism

Frida Kahlo is considered to be one of Mexico’s most famous artists. Today, three quarters of a century after her death, her work continues to draw attention and she has become a symbol of the feminist movement. Artalistic invites you on a voyage into Frida Kahlo’s world, taking a look at surrealism and its ties with her fascinating and singular artistic vision.

Fridha Kahlo’s surrealist imagery

Frida Kahlo’s work continues to fascinate art lovers around the world with her poignant self-portraits and legendary dreamlike imagery. Her commitment to the feminist movement and political activism as well as her romantic vie de bohème bathe her life and artwork in an aura of magical realism.

Defining Frida Kahlo’s work

Surrealism & André Breton

Frida Kahlo (1907-1954) – born Magdalena Frida Carmen Kahlo y Calderón - is considered to be one of the most important surrealist painters in art history. Surrealism was created in 1924 by the Frenchman André Breton with the publication of his Manifesto of Surrealism. This movement aimed to create a link between dreams and reality. It relies on imagery that defies logic and painting techniques that are supposed to awaken the unconscious.

Surrealism is a cross-disciplinary movement embracing both literature and art. This movement brings new life to symbolism by investigating the realm of dreams and rose like a phoenix from the ashes of Dadaism at the end of the First World War.

Frida Kahlo: Surrealism, Mexicanism or Magical Realism

Trying to squeeze Frida Kahlo’s monumental body of work into one art movement has proven to be impossible. During her lifetime Frida Kahlo rejected being part of the surrealist movement. In 1938, Frida Kahlo met André Breton, the founder of the movement, who was insistent that her work was indeed surrealist, describing Kahlo’s art as a “Ribbon around a bomb.” Frida rejected this label stating, “Really I do not know whether my paintings are surrealist or not, but I know that they are the frankest expression of myself.”

In addition to surrealism, Frida Kahlo is also associated with Mexicanism - a cultural and artistic movement from the 1930s that the artist may have identified with more readily. Mexicanism was an outgrowth of the attempt to unify the country after the Mexican Revolution by producing creative work that aimed to highlight and emphasize Mexico’s pre-Columbian roots.

One might also argue that Frida Kahlo’s work mirrors one of the most renowned Latin American literature movements – Magical Realism. Just like this literary movement, Kahlo’s paintings were rooted in the real world but also contained fabulous elements in which the fantastic and the real were interwoven in a seamless manner.

Frida Kahlo’s surrealist imagery

Frida Kahlo's painting techniques resemble those of some of the great surrealist masters such as Dali, Chagall, Giacometti, Magritte and Ernst.

Frida Kahlo’s father, who was an architectural photographer, taught her specific painting techniques that helped her develop her unique style. Her husband and lifelong love, Diego Rivera, also contributed to her artistic vision. Rivera was a Mexican painter known for his politically charged large-scale murals.

Intimate self-portraits

Frida Kahlo’s prolific body of work is largely comprised of self-portraits (55 works out of approximately 150 paintings). These pieces capture her mood, state of mind, and act as a visual diary of her colourful yet painful life. Kahlo used oil paints on canvas and sometimes painted on masonite boards, a smooth wood that was very popular in the 1920s. Frida Kahlo also left a large diary filled with writing and drawings.

The thousand and one lives of a spellbinding and authentic artist

When Frida Kahlo was young she wanted to become a doctor. She was a very good student but when she was young she contracted the poliovirus, which handicapped her for the rest of her life, having lost partial use of her right leg.

A life altering accident

At the age of 18, Kahlo was seriously injured in an accident. She was riding a bus that was hit by an electric streetcar. An iron handrail impaled Kahlo through her pelvis causing serious injuries that required thirty surgical procedures. During her recovery she began painting in bed – her self-portraits from the time show her unsmiling, her simple yet strong lines reflect the pain of her bruised heart as well as her anguish and fragile mental health.

At the forefront of feminism

In Mexico, Frida Kahlo’s work quickly gained recognition and she soon became known in other countries. She was initially considered to be an icon of beauty and became a source of inspiration for many artists and designers. Despite her marriage to Diego Rivera, her love life was tumultuous. She was seen as a pioneer of women's liberation in the mid-20th century, boldly asserting her feminist stance, which was ahead of its time. For example she encouraged women to reflect on their relationship with their bodies and was open about her bisexuality. She urged women to come out of their silence and submission in order to shake up Mexico’s male dominated society.

Political involvement

Frida Kahlo’s accident made it impossible for her to bear children so she poured her energy into politics with the aim of defending the oppressed. Resolutely patriotic, anti-imperialist and anti-American, she joined the Mexican Communist Party in 1928. She became very close to the Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky who stayed in Mexico during his political asylum beginning in 1936. An undercover agent of the Stalinist dictatorship assassinated him in Mexico City in 1940.