A Journey Through the Eyes of Frida Kahlo

Frida Kahlo, born in Coyoacán in 1907, was, and is considered to this day, one of Mexico's most notable painters. Her artwork can only be described as powerful and expressive. She lived a life full of pain and found herself being reborn through art, which became both her escape and her reality. A declared Marxist and Stalin supporter, her political views are reflected in many of her paintings. To look at Frida Kahlo's art is to immerse oneself in a tumultuous yet strangely beautiful inebriation of emotions; to look at her art is to put oneself in the artist's shoes and experience her life, her struggles, and her ideas.

Born to a German father and a Mexican mother, Frida Kahlo grew up in the "Blue House" with her parents and sisters. When she was 6, she contracted polio, causing her to be unable to attend school for several months. Due to her illness, her right leg was deformed, which made her a target for bullies at school.

Her father encouraged her to play sports to help her overcome this disability, and Frida began wrestling, boxing, and swimming, among other activities. These were all highly unusual activities for girls at the time, which shows how she was raised differently from the beginning, which would contribute to many of her feminist traits as she grew up. She attended the National Preparatory School, where she was one of the very first female students. This is also where she saw for the first time who would be her future husband, muralist Diego Rivera.

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In 1925 she was in an accident that would change her life forever. Impaled by a steel handrail after the collision of the bus she was in and a streetcar, she suffered several injuries, including a broken pelvis, ribs and collarbone. She had to spend several weeks in the hospital, and then stay in bed at home for several months to recover from her nearly fatal injuries.

This is the time when she began painting, producing her first self-portrait. After recovering, she rejoined her group of friends, who had become politically active, and then joined the Mexican Communist Party herself. Frida's political affiliation and her health issues shaped a great part of her art, which is why her life cannot be ignored when one looks at her paintings. Her essence is in every single one of her paintings; her personality, beliefs, and feelings shining through.

In 1929 she married artist Diego Rivera, whom she traveled with to different parts of the United States, where her husband was commissioned. Later on, exiled communist and one of the leaders of the Russian Revolution, Leon Trotsky found asylum in The Blue House, Frida and Diego sided with him on his anti-Stalinist campaigns. In one of her letters, Frida states that she's "more and more convinced it's only through communism that we can become human."

Being such an independent individual, it can be hard to understand why she would be such a strong supporter of communism, since communism can seem to rob people of their individuality, making everyone live the same way. However, Frida criticized capitalism because of its impersonal way of shaping society, its cold grey buildings and factories, and how unfairly the lower class people were treated. In the 1930s a wave of anti-communism led to a hate campaign against intellectuals and artists, forcing many of them to leave Mexico. Frida and Diego took off to the United States, where they lived for a few years, associating mainly with other artists.

After World War II ended, many intellectuals were under the impression that the creation of socialist states in Eastern Europe made Stalin's crimes an issue of the past. After Trotsky's assassination, Frida joined what at the time people called "peace movements", but were really Stalin supporters' events. Not only was she interested in the revolution, Frida was also very patriotic and took pride in her Mexican style of clothes and painting.

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