On the occasion of the 110th birthday of the artist
On the occasion of the 110th anniversary since the birth of the artist we present you interesting facts from the life of an outstanding artist Frida Kahlo.
1. At the age of 18, Frida Kahlo was seriously injured in the accident, after which I underwent 35 operations. This incident is largely determined not only her life but also the arts. In the paintings of the artist are prevalent themes of the fragility of the human body and death.
2. Frida was born, grew up, lived most of his life and died in the same house – Casa Azur (“the blue house”) in Mexico city. The house was built by Guillermo Kahlo, father of Frida, three years before her birth. Its bright color is really nothing not to confuse the building as if descended from one of the artist’s paintings.
3. Frida married the famous Mexican artist Diego Rivera. And although their relationship was quite stormy, scandals, quarrels, and numerous novels “on the side”, the couple always came back to each other. On one of the walls of the azure house has some kind of altar in the shape of an inverted pyramid with sculptures of Indian gods and the inscription “Frida and Diego lived in this house 1929-1954”.
4. Frida had an affair with fleeing to Mexico with Leon Trotsky. Diego, who was himself not without sin, looked at the novel through his fingers. However, the wife of Trotsky was not so supportive and made the husband to move. Trotsky lived in the house nearby, where he eventually caught a rock ax, Mercadero.
5. The art of Frida is largely influenced by the indigenous culture of Mexico. The collection of artifacts in the blue house served as a source of inspiration.
6. Frieda’s father was a native of Germany, and his mother was a Mexican with Indian roots. In the painting Frida Retrato de la familia (“Family portrait”), you can see her ancestors in both lines. The Frida depicted the germ – a symbol of her unborn child.
7. Frieda held leftist political views. In her bedroom hung portraits of Vladimir Lenin and Mao Zedong, and in the Studio with the azure house is an unfinished portrait of Joseph Stalin.
8. Frida started painting in a hospital bed, the bed has become almost a symbol of her illness, and appeared often in her paintings. Now her bed is presented as part of the exhibition in the blue house.
9. Still life with watermelons Viva la Vida is the last painting of Frida Kahlo. The inscription Viva la Vida “long live life!” – I put on it 4 days before death.
10. In the past year the work of Kahlo can be seen at the artist’s retrospective at the Museum of Faberge in St. Petersburg. In 2019 in Moscow will host exhibition “Day of death” in the Pushkin Museum Pushkin, the exhibition also includes some works of Kahlo. In the same period in the Tretyakov gallery you can appreciate the monumental murals of Diego Rivera.
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