Like previous artists on this blog such as Andy Warhol and Gustav Klimt, Pablo Picasso is one of the main household names of the art world. His various paintings and sculptures are almost instantly recognizable and among some of the most expensive in the world.

Picasso’s fame and his truly prolific level of work however has a rather ridiculous origin.

The man the world would know as Pablo Picasso was born on October 25, 1881 in Málaga, Spain to his mother who was a housewife and his father who was a part-time painter and full-time art teacher. Pablo Picasso wasn’t born under this name however. The famous painters full name is in fact Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Martyr Patricio Clito Ruíz y Picasso. The name honors several family members as well as patron saints and is formed under traditional spanish naming traditions. For obvious reasons, upon starting his professional career, Pablo Picasso simply went by his first and last names.

Like many savants, Pablo Picasso had very little patience for his traditional schooling. The young man was actually a terrible student. Taking time to draw and depict figures instead of do his assigned calculations, it is no wonder that upon his family moving to Barcelona, Pablo applied to the city’s most prestigious arts academy. The Barcelona School of Fine Arts wouldn’t have normally accepted the only 14 year old Pablo due to his age and lack of formal training, but due to the sheer impressiveness of his entry exam, his acceptance letter came quickly.  

Despite finally studying the art he showed such a talent and a passion for, Pablo still struggled in school. He constantly complained at being forced to study classics and the constraints put upon him and his art. Due to this, he didn’t hit his stride and allow for his art to really take off until he left his formal education behind and fell in line with the anarchists and radicals of El Quatre Gats.

The cafe was home to free thinkers and exploratory souls who fostered Pablo’s natural tendency towards originality and difference. Suddenly, the talented young man was being launched onto the surrealism scene and the rest is history.

Obviously, Pablo Picasso saw much success throughout his career and quickly became the most well known artist of his time period. His work can be found around the globe, but unknown to many people is the fact that, especially towards the middle and end of his career, Pablo was producing art because he thought it was keeping him alive.

Unfortunately Pablo Picasso’s art didn’t sustain him forever and on April 8, 1973, he died in Mougins, France. Still however, it is a humbling thought to know that even a man as great as Pablo Picasso feared death. All of humanity runs away from it and perhaps from looking at examples like Picasso, we can all learn to laugh at the absurd ways in which we do.

 

SOURCES

https://www.pablopicasso.org/picasso-biography.jsp

https://www.biography.com/people/pablo-picasso-9440021

At this point in American history, Andy Warhol has become a household name. His images of Marilyn Monroe and soup cans have been sold and recreated at such a rate that Andy Warhol is so intrinsically tied to the american pop art movement, that to say one is to say the other. It is arguable that especially among the younger generations, he is one of the most well known and easily recognizable artists.

His origin and activities outside of these iconic images however is less discussed and when closely examined, it is understandable why.

The man the world would come to know as Andy Warhol was born Andrew Warhola on August 6, 1928 in a neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania known as Oakland. His parents were devout byzantine catholics who worked to maintain their slovakian culture and instilled their children with as many of their traditional values as they could. Both of Warhol’s parents worked in trades. His father was a construction worker and his mother was an embroiderer.

It would be his mother in fact that would offer Andy his first drawing lessons during several months spent bedridden due to Chorea in his childhood. From there drawing became a passion not only his mother, but his father heavily supported. In fact, upon his father’s tragic death, Warhol was left his father’s entire saving to dedicate to an arts education.

Warhol put his father’s money to good use at the Carnegie Institute of Technology (now Carnegie Mellon University) where he studied pictorial design.

Throughout the early parts of his artistic career Warhol astounded many with his graphic images that subverted the materialism of the time. This would later fit in with his cultural domain known only as “The Factory.”

The Factory was a simple studio located for most of its time in Manhattan on E. 47th but the studio did move to Union Square in 1968. Everyone from Madonna to Lou Reed visited the hotspot for hipsters and socialites. Ranked in the same category as Studio 54 of the time, Warhol’s Factory saw the creation of some of the most ground breaking and avant garde media of it’s time.

The Factory was also a place where, as Warhol himself described, “Anything went.” People of all gender expressions and sexualities frequented the studio to not only engage in all of the creativity happening, but to be themselves with no judgement. Warhol himself engaged in drag and is often told to have been in love with different men the frequented his studio despite claiming virginity till he died.

What is special and what can be taken from Warhol’s life in addition to his beautiful and bright paintings, is his creation of safe spaces. The term “safe space” is often mocked in modern times, but as one attendee of the factory said, “It’s nice to not be trapped into something, even if that’s what you are.” This is the type of atmosphere that Warhol cultivated and from it, so much beauty was born. Perhaps, all of us could stand to create more spaces like this, if only to see what beauty can be born from it.

 

SOURCES

 

https://www.biography.com/people/andy-warhol-9523875

https://www.warhol.org/andy-warhols-life/

https://www.warhol.org/lgbtq/

Alphonse Mucha is undoubtedly my favorite artist.

After seeing recreations of his beautiful depictions of women in flowing gowns and halos of flowers inspired my passion in art as a child. Needless to say, I’ve spent hours looking at his work.

Until recently however, I had never spent much time considering his personal life. Merely entranced by his art, never had I stopped to consider what possible meanings could be entrapped in the beautiful lithographs and paintings.

Unbeknownst to myself and many perusers of his art, Mucha was a political activist who heavily imbued his work with political messages and used his art in his activism throughout his life.

Alphonse Mucha was born on July 24, 1860 in what was then an area known as south Moravia, but what we would conceptualize as the Czech republic today. Born the child of a governess and a court usher, Alphonse was first able to continue his education beyond high school thanks to an innate singing ability. At school he took up drawing and developed a passion for the physical medium and upon graduation began painting around Moravia, especially focusing his work on theatrical production’s backdrops.

Mucha ultimately caught his big break in the art world when on happenstance, he landed a major deal portraying a prominent actress at the time in a poster for her upcoming movie. The poster was so beautiful and so popular that they had to be replaced almost nightly when random men and women with pocket knives handy cut down the posters to be taken home.

Launched onto the European art scene, Mucha began to produce works for different actors and actresses and companies across not only his home country, but abroad as well. He toured Paris and the United States through the height of his career.

Where Mucha’s activism comes in is his deep allegiance to the formation and democratization of Czechoslovakia. Especially prevalent in pieces such as “Woman with a Burning Candle” and “The Slav Epic,” Mucha attempted to convey a feeling of empowerment and pride in a nation he saw form right before his eyes and then begin to fall to the rising tide of nazism sweeping Europe.

Given his very public stance on the issue, merely a day after his city of residence, Prague, was stormed by Nazi’s, Mucha was taken into custody by the Gustapo.  Alphonse Mucha, who was at the time 79, was subjected to weeks of questioning and torture on grounds of him being a judophile and a freemason. During his stint with the Gustapo, the aged man contracted pneumonia. Upon his release he lost his battle to the illness and died on July 14, 1939.

His work “The Slav Epic” was seen as so controversial, it was one of the pieces hidden away by the Nazi’s and was only uncovered and returned to its rightful place in Prague in 2010.

Mucha’s story is one of creativity and a passion for change. Even in the face of adversity, this man held to his beliefs and ultimately, despite paying for his beliefs with his life, he never saw his true dream realized. However, he did create beauty beyond what was on the canvas, he created beautiful change in real life and that is what one should take from the life of Alphonse Mucha.

 

SOURCES

https:/www.private-prague-guide.com/article/alphonse-mucha-czech-decorative-artist-and-king-of-the-art-nouveau/

https://www.alfonsmucha.org/biography.html

The stereotypical playboy painter is an image popular among soap operas and hallmark movies meant for sad single young women, but this archetype isn’t only found on the screen. In fact, it came to life at the turn of the century.

He went by the name Klimt.

Gustav Klimt was born on July 14, 1862 in Vienna, Austria. From a very early age, Klimt displayed an amazing knack for drawing and at age fourteen, he was granted a full scholarship to the Vienna School of Arts and Crafts. Especially given his poverty and age, this first step into the art world should’ve been taken as a sign that this young man would grow up to be something great.

His early work heavily focused upon classically composed architectural shots. Having entered school merely hoping to become a drawing instructor, Klimt soon realized his own potential and, in collusion with his brother and their mutual friend, began to paint murals across the city for churches, businesses, and even public officials.

After the unfortunate death of both his father and his brother, Gustav Klimt shunned his rigid photograph like paintings and his rigid lifestyle and began to curate his own style that would someday sell for millions.

Klimt soon entered what would be known as the “Golden Age” of his career, given the moniker not only for the peak visibility and acclaim he earned during this time but also for the beautiful and rich gold lacquer he featured so heavily in his work during this period.

When viewing the artist’s paintings from this period it is hard not to notice the other common theme running through the pieces. In addition to the beautiful gold paint, every painting features some eroticized, beautiful woman.

All of these figures came from real life. Every doe-eyed ingenue was based upon one of Klimt’s many many rendezvouses. The artist was known around Vienna for housing model after model. His reputation as a player preceded him wherever he went. During this period of his life, it is believed he fathered up to fourteen children and he spent the rest of his life living in such a manner. He never married, choosing instead to take lover after lover and spending his final days with his mother. He died on February 6, 1918 at the age of fifty-five.

I believe in today’s modern conceptualization of those who lived in the past, there is a certain assumption that these men and women are far different from us today. They were sexually repressed robots living only for decorum and tea cakes, but stories like that of Klimt, an archetypal man just as likely to be found on tinder today as he is to be found in the history books, remind us all that those of the past aren’t that different in the grand scheme of things.

They had wants and desires. They had casual hookups. They had players. They were humans.

 

SOURCES

https://www.biography.com/people/gustav-klimt-9366571

https://www.austria.info/uk/things-to-do/cities-and-culture/gustav-klimt/women

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/art/3673232/Gustav-Klimt-a-life-devoted-to-women.html’

http://www.theartstory.org/artist-klimt-gustav.htm

Norman Rockwell is often heralded as the greatest magazine cover artist of the turn of the century. He undeniably captured americana and the emotions associated with small town life, but less spoken to is how influenced he was by his teacher: J.C. Leyendecker.

Even less commonly discussed is how J.C. Leyendecker made his lover the definition of American masculinity.

Joseph Christian Leyendecker was born on March 23, 1874 in Montabaur, Germany, but he soon immigrated to the United States with his family. From an early age, Leyendecker and his younger brother displayed a truly amazing aptitude for art. The two went on to study art at the Chicago Art Institute and later Leyendecker studied in Paris. Both of these periods honed his artistic vision and unique style that would later earn him so much acclaim.

Upon his return to America, the young artist began to illustrate for a company called Manz and Co. During his 60 ad run with the company, he would win a cover competition for Century Magazine, shooting him into the national spotlight. Quickly Leyendecker’s work for magazines like the Post and the Arrow Collar company became iconic household images.

His artwork portrayed American excellence and opulence at its pique. Lavishly dressed men, women, and children drawn to display their beauty and their class compelled millions of American’s to purchase everything from soap to socks. For example, his most well known figure, the “Arrow Collar Man,” would the increase the clothing company’s sales to $32 million the dear the first ad campaign ran. Essentially, he would go on to inspire an entire generation’s aspirations and ideals, including those of F. Scott Fitzgerald as he was creating the Great Gatsby.

As the nation was off buying luxury collars and Post magazines, no one questioned why all of Leyendecker’s men had the same jawline or how most of them were muscular blondes. What was generally just considered “his style” was actually the fact that Leyendecker used just one man as his model for most of his career.

Charles Beach met Leyendecker at the age of 17 and the two men started a whirlwind romance that would last until Leyendecker died of a heart attack nearly 50 years later. They kept the affair mostly private, having only those closest to them in the know.

The true nature of their relationship would not be revealed to the general public for nearly 50 years till a collector of his work began investigating into the artist’s personal life.  

In a time where homosexuality was not only disapproved of but illegal, Leyendeckers bold portrayal of his lover as the pinnacle of the American man is a strong reminder of the power of love. It empowers us to create. It emboldens us to proclaim what we otherwise would’ve hid. It is the central crux of art.

J.C. Leyendecker’s work shows all of us not only the power of art and love, but what can be done when an individual arms them self with both.

 

SOURCES

Biography: Joseph Christian “J.C.” Leyendecker

www.collectorsweekly.com/articles/the-perfect-american-male

https://www.illustrationhistory.org/artists/jc-leyendecker

http://articles.latimes.com/2008/dec/28/entertainment/ca-jc-leyendecker28

Melting watches, deformed bodies, and muted colors on surrealistic scenes all evoke one man: Salvador Dalí.

This man was born in Figueres, Spain on May 11, 1904 under the name Salvador Felipe Jacinto Dalí y Domenech. This young child welcomed into the world didn’t appear to be anything particularly special. He had a very typical childhood, despite high tensions with his father from a young age. No one suspected that he would go on to be one of the most famous surrealist painters in the world.

Frankly, if it weren’t for one woman the world may have never known his genius. Without Gala, the woman that would later become his wife, Salvador Dalí wouldn’t be half the artist we all know him to be

Salvador and Gala, born Helena Ivanovna Diakonova, met in 1929. At the time, Dalí knew that it was love at first sight. He would go on to write in his personal memoir of that night and say that Gala was, “destined to be my Gradiva, the one who moves forward, my victory, my wife.”

The pair of course hit it off and quickly began an affair. Gala at the time was still married to a poet named Paul Eluard and continued having other affairs throughout her and Dalí’s relationship. This didn’t matter to Salvador Dalí however. In addition to practicing candaulism, Dalí more enjoyed Gala for her beauty and her company that any physical relationship she could offer him. According to the two, they never even had a physical relationship in any form.

Gala would ultimately be the inspiration for many of Dalí’s most famous works. Pieces like “The Madonna of Port Lligat” and “Galarina” portray Gala in Dalí’s envisioning of her. The woman’s presence in his life would ultimately throw him into a whole new era of his work that ultimately placed him in the position the world now sees him in.

These two individuals had a tumultuous affair for over 53 years. Toward the ends of their lives, they had a falling out of sorts and Dalí bought Gala a castle in Púbol, Spain. There she resided and only received visits from Dalí if he asked her for prior permission. In a particularly traumatic event, after finding out about how much she was spending on other lovers, Dalí beat Gala until he broke two of her ribs.

After this incident, they lived separate lives until Gala died on June 10, 1982. According to her wishes, she was buried on the grounds of the castle that her love bought for her. Dalí died seven years later but he never quite recovered from the loss of Gala. Unfortunately he spent his last years emotionally unstable and constantly calling for the woman who was his everything.

The casual observer of this relationship would likely be stunned by its many unconventional elements but I think there is much to learn from these two lovers. Perhaps, if we stopped forcing love to fit into our preconceived societal boxes, then maybe so many more people would find a love, as wild and unbridled as it was, like Dalí and Gala’s.

 

SOURCES

Dali And Gala – The Love Story

https://www.biography.com/people/salvador-dal-40389

https://www.salvador-dali.org/en/dali/bio-gala/

Any fans of shows like Black Mirror, Electric Dreams, or the OA would likely identify with the work done by Stuart Semple.

This artist had humble beginnings, being born in Bournemouth, United Kingdom on September 12, 1980. As with many other artists, he didn’t start his life planning to be an artist.

While studying at Breton Hall, Stuart Semple had a near death experience at the age of 19. The incident left Stuart clamoring for any sense of beauty left in the world. When he found none to hold onto, he decided he needed to start creating his own. Thusly his art career was born.

Stuart Semple is known for subverting expectations of art and expressing modern, “millennial,” struggles within his work. He often portrays feelings of anxiety and worthlessness with graphic installations featuring color pallets more likely to be seen on a late-night Nickelodeon special than in other, more minimalist, modern works. He creates an intimate conversation with the viewer into not only his own mind, but the social psyche of today’s 20-something.

Interestingly enough though, possibly his most well-known piece is not even considered art by many. Dubbed “HappyCloud,” in 2009, Semple stood outside of Tate Modern and sent smiley faces made of soap and helium off floating into the clouds towards the city of London. When asked about the project, Semple didn’t offer any specific explanation, begging the viewer instead to ask, “Why not?”

Stuart Semple is not world famous. Stuart Semple is not rich. Stuart Semple is more than likely a name you’ve never heard.

But… Stuart Semple is possibly just the revolutionary the modern art world needs.

Recently, Stuart Semple has been dedicating less and less time to his art and more to his active fight against Anish Kapoor (click here to read last week’s post regarding Anish Kapoor for the backstory of this battle.)

To show just how ridiculous it is to block individuals from art supplies, Stuart Semple first created “the world’s pinkest pink.” He sold it for just 4 euros, barely above the price of creation, and made just one stipulation: Anish Kapoor could not buy this pigment, and no one could buy it for him either.

The pigment caught on like wildfire since the art community at large was already so in uproar over Anish Kapoor commercializing his pigment in the first place. However, within 6 months of its creation, Anish Kapoor posted a picture to his Instagram with just his middle finger dipped in Semple’s pigment.

Anyone else would’ve been angry. Anyone else would’ve reacted with hate.

Stuart Semple merely decided to create more. He has since gone on to create more and more pigments in order to open up and innovate the art community in direct opposition to all that Anish Kapoor stands for.

His story is remarkable and one that anyone can learn from. We are all tested at different times in our life and must decide whether we shall act with hate or with love. Maybe we can all learn to be like Stuart Semple and be “happy clouds.”

 

SOURCES

https://news.artnet.com/art-world/anish-kapoor-stuart-semple-color-wars

http://stuartsemple.com/about/biography-2/

https://www.dezeen.com/2016/12/30/anish-kapoor-uses-stuart-semple-worlds-pinkest-pink

Anish Kapoor is one of the biggest names in the modern art world that you’ve probably never heard of.

His works include such famous pieces as “the Bean” in Chicago and “Dirty Corner” in Versailles. His pieces has sold for over a million dollars on auction at different points in his career and he is often the first name city planners call upon when designing public sculptures. Currently, his net worth is valued at $85 million which places him as one of the richest artists currently alive.

The biggest discussion surrounding Anish Kapoor however isn’t his millions in earnings or his ginormous and beautiful sculptures, but rather his ownership of a very special pigment called Vantablack.

Vantablack was created in 2014 by a tech company called Surrey Nanosystems. Its original purpose was to increase satellite technology through mitigating the effects of the sun on their hardware. The pigment absorbs so much light that once applied to a surface, it appears to turn into a black hole and thusly, Vantablack has been dubbed “the world’s blackest black.” Once it left the lab, Surrey Nanosystems realized the paint’s power as an art medium and started to bargain rights to the pigment.

Enter Anish Kapoor with his very large pocket book. Not only did Anish Kapoor purchase the rights to Vantablack, but additionally, he purchased exclusive creative rights to the pigment. Essentially this meant that no one else would be able to use the pigment in art in any form. He then proceeded to create piece after piece using this new pigment, just to sell them for more millions to line his pocket book.

Naturally the art community was in uproar. Outrage from the many, many different artists would compel most men to give up, but Anish Kapoor is no ordinary man.

Instead of bending to the will of the people and giving up Vantablack, he released several petty tweets and posts on social media. All of these posts essentially called out those who opposed him and promised his perpetual refusal to share Vantablack.

The whole debacle is ongoing and not likely to reach a conclusion anytime soon especially given the high emotional and financial tensions involved. From this however, a very heated debate has arisen within the art community. People around the world are asking, “is Anish Kapoor an a**hole or simply an artist protecting his brand?”

The jury is still out on this question for the general public, but to me it is indisputable that Anish Kapoor’s actions are unacceptable, no matter the reasoning. Whether or not he’s doing it for the betterment of his art, commoditizing a pigment that could’ve revolutionized the art world if opened to the public is unacceptable. Anish Kapoor is not alone in this type of action, but he is the worst offender to date. If the art community could figure out a way to correct his injustices and insure a fairer system in the future, perhaps no one like “Mr.Bean” will ever come around again.

 

SOURCES

http://www.nwitimes.com/entertainment/just-don-t-call-anish-kapoor-mr-bean/article_5a03429a-b5bb-596d-b30a-e6a22f42ed31.html

https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2015/sep/10/anish-kapoor-sued-racist-graffiti-versailles-sculpture-queens-vagina

https://news.artnet.com/art-world/vantablack-vs-black-superblack

https://www.surreynanosystems.com/vantablack

Vincent van Gogh is one of the most well-known artists to the general public. His paintings are instantly recognizable and millions around the world adore his bright colors and striking brush strokes.

However, hidden behind the beauty of his landscapes and shots of life was a man aching with love and yet utterly alone. Vincent Van Gogh may be a household name contemporarily, but during his life, he lived and suffered alone.

Van Gogh was born in Holland in 1853 and was a very morose child from the start. As he grew up and began to pursue a profession, he entered into art dealing just like his brothers had before him. After serving with different dealers across Paris and London, Van Gogh ultimately lost interest in the field and returned home to Holland to reconsider his life’s path.

After agonizing for a year and working several small jobs, he ultimately decided to follow in his father’s footsteps rather than his brother’s and become a minister. He set off for a small province of Belgium as a missionary. There he joined a small group of ministers and worked alongside them teaching the gospel. This period of his life would be extremely formative not only for Van Gogh as a person, but later for his art.

It was during this period however when Vincent Van Gogh decided that he wanted more than the lonely and fruitless life he was living. After sending over 800 letters to his closest confidants such as his brother Theo, Vincent Van Gogh decided that maybe he should return to the art world, but this time as an artist.

Van Gogh went on to take lessons from Anton Mauve, but once Van Gogh took up a relationship with a local prostitute, Anton Mauve refused to continue his teaching. Van Gogh’s lover left him as well when she learned of the falling out and Van Gogh was left utterly alone.

The man persisted however and continued drawing and then painting. The majority of his work was created after his unfortunate stint in a mental institution. The pain of living in utter isolation didn’t kill his creative spirit and instead, pieces like Starry Night made a bit of light in an otherwise dark existence.

Van Gogh’s true beauty lies in his kindness despite being deserted throughout his life. Many of the “fast facts” surrounding Van Gogh are actually fallacies perpetuated by Van Gogh himself. Stories like how he cut off his own ear or how he shot himself were both incidents where other people hurt Van Gogh physically and yet he forgave them. Not only did he forgive them but in an effort to protect them, Van Gogh then told stories of how he had hurt himself in order to protect those who had wronged him.

The moral from Vincent Van Gogh’s life can feel muddled. It feels truly unjust that a man who was so kind and so giving could never experience the celebration of his greatness that is the modern era. Ultimately, I believe that we can all gain a bit of perspective from Van Gogh’s kindness and the pain her suffered. Essentially, one shouldn’t aspire to be like him, but one should aspire to perhaps steal a bit of his compassion. We can all be kinder without having to hurt ourselves in the process.

 

 

SOURCES:

http://www.history.com/news/7-things-you-may-not-know-about-vincent-van-gogh

http://www.theartstory.org/artist-van-gogh-vincent.htm

https://www.artble.com/artists/vincent_van_gogh/more_information/biography

When many people think of Frida Kahlo, they think of the Tumblr princess. Flower crowns, a strong brow, and beautiful jungles also spring to mind.

Almost no one thinks of the woman who spent her entire life fighting through pain to create beauty.

Magdalena Carmen Frieda Kahlo y Calderón was born on July 6, 1907 in Coyoacán, Mexico City, Mexico. At birth, she was diagnosed with Spina Bifeda. This disease inhibited her mobility from the start and unfortunately, later at the age of 6, she contracted childhood polio.

Her family’s doctor told her parents that she would never be able to live a normal life.

Despite all of this, the young spitfire fought through her disability. She attended school and took up many sports that those around her told her she would never play. Her love of boxing in particular later influenced different parts of her work.

Magdalena transitioned into young adulthood and began to pursue medicine. The young woman had a brilliant mind and nothing stood in her way to achieving all that she wanted within the field.

All of this changed one day when on her usual trip across town, a trolley car crashed into her bus, sending a handrail into her abdomen.

This traumatic injury would utterly change the course of her life and the art world as a whole because as Magdalena lay in the hospital incapacitated with pain, she left dreams of being a doctor behind and took up a new hobby: painting.

Her self-portraits were beautiful and humbling in their simple portrayal of her pain. These paintings have rightly come to pinnacles of the style and with these works born from arduous hours spent unable to move from her bed, Frida Kahlo was born.

In total, the traumatic injury would lead to 36 surgeries and an entire lifetime of pain. Friday painted though to maintain moral as her injuries took a heavy mental strain. She continued on despite all the odds.

Fate unfortunately turned against her once again as later in life, after meeting her husband Diego Rivera, Frida would also struggle with infertility born from her injury in her younger years. The poor woman wanted nothing more than to create life and was handed nothing but disappointment. The emotional trauma derived from her many miscarriages inspired some of her most evocative work and yet so many people don’t know about the pain etched into the paint.

Frida Kahlo’s story epitomizes the reason I stated this blog.

The veil of history has condensed a beautiful woman who went through the unimaginable into a stale cutout of herself. It has condensed an expansive soul into buzzwords and Redbubble stickers. It has condensed a story of triumph into no story at all. It is unacceptable that someone who fought so hard to create when all life wanted to do was destroy her is treated as an archetype.

Society can do better to remember her and all artists as they were, not who we want them to be.

 

 

SOURCES:

https://www.nus.org.uk/en/news/disability-history-month-trailblazers—frida-kahlo/

https://www.biography.com/people/frida-kahlo-9359496

https://www.seeker.com/what-caused-frida-kahlos-infertility-1766082483.html

https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/spina-bifida/symptoms-causes/syc-20377860