Today we bring you through this interesting article the features of a work by Frida Kahlo, entitled the two fries being one of the best known works of this great artist of Mexican origin who was internationally recognized for modern art. Do not stop reading it!
What is the play the two fridas about?
This painting known as the two fridas was made by the artist Frida Kahlo, she painted it in 1939 in the oil on canvas technique, the dimensions of this work is 173 by 173 centimeters, which is currently in the Modern Museum of Mexico, being the largest painting of this artist.
In this artistic work the two fridas is observed, a double self-portrait of this painter where the two figures are sitting on a green bench made of wood in the upper part full of straw both women are dressed in a long dress over their shoulders outfits reveal each other's hearts.
The hearts of the two Fridas are united by vein and these two women in turn are holding hands, each of the images of this artist are dressed in different outfits with the intention of being able to differentiate the European Frida from the Mexican Frida.
In this painting, the two Fridas show great differences. On the one hand, the European Frida carries surgical scissors in her right hand and her beautiful, very colonial white dress is stained with her own blood and her heart is not complete.
It is important to note that in this work of the two fridas, the Mexican Frida in her right hand carries a mini portrait of her husband Diego Rivera when he was still a child and the heart that he presents in the painting is complete in this woman.
This artistic work offers an impression of the duality that exists in women, being the double point of view that Frida has about herself, since a safe, strong and in love Frida is observed.
While the other Frida has her heart hurt, she expresses her pain through the drops of blood that stain her impeccable white dress.
In addition, interesting metaphors are presented in the artistic works according to personal issues in the life of Frida Khalo due to her great sensitivity and at the time she made this painting, the two Fridas were at a great crossroads.
The divorce with her current husband Diego Rivera and her initiation to alcoholic beverages. Among the personal situations that arose in the life of the painter Frida Kahlo, she once declared the following:
«…I suffered two serious accidents in my life…one in which a bus knocked me to the ground…the other accident is Diego…»
Analysis of what the author of the two fridas wishes to express
The artist Frida Kahlo expresses her own experiences and that of others in her artistic work, making herself known after her divorce with Diego Rivera, one of her most representative works being the two fridas where she interprets her own feelings and pain, breaking the paradigm of what traditional.
It expresses the physical and emotional pain of divorce through a blood tie between the two fridas as well as skin contact through intertwined hands and uses surrealism to express their experiences in addition to collage as the hearts seem superimposed on their autobiography through drawing.
The Mexican Frida wears a dress that demonstrates the taste of her ex-husband Diego Rivera, while the European Frida wears a suit with a corset like the one the artist wore at the time of the tram accident and it can be seen that one of the hearts is fully alive besides being healthy being that of the Mexican Frida.
The connection between the two fridas happens through the vein that represents the pain she is feeling due to her divorce and allows the union of two worlds divided by the surgical scissors symbolizing the pain.
That the two Fridas are feeling at that particular moment and by cutting the vein it produces blood stains on the impeccable dress of the European Frida.
It is important to point out that the mini portrait that Diego Rivera's Mexican Frida carries in her hand splits the vein that will later connect with the wounded heart caused by her divorce, in addition, the union of their hands symbolizes the before and after of the artist who should not forget his roots to continue forward in what destiny presented him.
Allowing the two Fridas to stay together despite a sky that predicts bad weather and them inert, showing that one of them has a dead heart while the other Frida's still beats. Frida Kahlo was born in Mexico in 1907 and died in the same nation in 1954.
Study of the plastic elements in the two fridas
With regard to the line and color In the painting of the two Fridas, he differentiates the images because he puts a white dress on the European Frida. Her mother was a mestizo between Mexicans and Spaniards. Through this figure, she demonstrated what society expected of her.
While the Mexican Frida was full of color according to the taste of her husband Diego Rivera and the background of the painting presents a sky with many shades of white combined with black and gray while the ground simulated the earth.
Light and Volume
Regarding the light and volume it is observed in the painting of the two fridas that it is not a flat painting but rather presents the play that the painter makes with light to make the texture present in said work.
The volume in the clothes in addition to the background that represented the sky and the ground while the hearts are flat figures that are superimposed on the chest of the two fridas as if it could be seen behind the skin.
The space is also observed in the two fridas, since it resembles a park or an open place bathed in the sky and the ladies have contact with the earth.
Composition:
Regarding the composition of the two fridas, the crucial point is the union of the hands of two images that make up a single person, demonstrating the duality of being two different entities that make up the same being.
Demonstrating his ability to lead the viewing public to take into account the union, the arms, the scissors and the mini portrait of Diego Rivera all slightly tilted towards the interaction of the joined hands making a similarity between heaven and earth with life and death.
The artistic painting of the two fridas reflects the contrast of the two hearts, one still alive beating while the other heart is broken and lifeless. Also how stormy the sky can be seen and how warm the ground is with its tone.
The two fridas demonstrate the personality of the author, being the Mexican Frida what her husband Diego Rivera accepted and the European Frida what Diego did not like about his wife.
It is important to note that the mini-portrait is her husband Diego Rivera when he was an infant and the drops of blood can be confused with the flowers embroidered on the European Frida's dress. It can be evidenced thanks to the diary she wrote for Diego what this meant painting for the author Frida Kahlo
«…My blood is the miracle that travels through the veins of the air, from my heart to yours…»
Therefore, when divorcing Diego Rivera, the vein that connects her heart with his is cut and although she tries to contain the blood, which is a way of representing the love she feels for that man, it will continue to flow until Frida in love bleeds out. .
Study regarding the historical aspect of this work
It is the year 1939 when this artist presents her work Las dos Fridas and it is for the Aztec nation a year of great importance and even in universal history that will remain engraved in the memory of the world.
As is the case of the discovery of the formula for the atomic bomb from the hands of the physicist Otto Hanh of German origin. This discovery was used during World War II as many English people had to leave their homes for fear of bomb threats.
Plus the miscommunication that existed at the time between the nations of Germany and England and the power of the Nazis in the German government. One of the leaders in this universal history was Gandhi who had fought for the freedom of his beloved nation, India.
Stalin himself had created an atmosphere of terror through the physical disappearance of many peasants of Russian origin and Mussolini was interested in creating a new Roman empire.
In addition, changes were taking place in Spain with the arrival of Franco to power and they culminated in 1975 with the death of the dictator, a fact that brought several influences in Mexican history.
The Spanish Civil War allowed a conflict that was in addition to social, political and military that allowed Franco to take the reins of power of the Spanish nation demonstrating two positions the republican who was in favor of the dictatorship.
It was the popular front, it was supported by the labor movement, the unions, constitutional democrats and the other was formed by the military command, it had its bases in the Spanish fascist party made up of the Catholic Church, the conservative right and the wealthy classes of that moment. .
That they were the bourgeois who were not liberal, in addition to aristocrats and landowners who owned countless pieces of land that had been taken from the people.
Due to this, many of the artists who lived in Spain at that time emigrated to Mexico, being the president of this Aztec nation at that time, Lázaro Cárdenas, with the objective of safeguarding the lives of people who were against the thoughts of the new dictator of Spain.
These Spaniards who began a new life in Mexico were part of the elite of intellectuals in Spain and inaugurated the house of Spain in Mexico.
With the intention of being able to continue with his scientific research far from a war and hostile environment, he also allowed Mexico a great advance in terms of culture, education and health.
The field of plastic arts did not escape this Spanish influence and Mexico was in a revolutionary process where mention was made of the Mexican School of painting and since 1919 a national identity was required in the Aztec nation, appearing muralism.
Movement that was represented by great artists including José Clemente Orozco, Diego Rivera, husband of Frida Kahlo, author of the two fridas, as well as David Alfaro Siqueiros, maximum representatives of these pictorial works.
These artists expressed art through murals in huge public buildings through the images exhibited there, history was explained without forgetting the ideology of this Mexican country that was retaking the richness of its past through the traditions and pre-Hispanic Aztec culture.
The surrealism
One of these forms of art is the surrealism that entered the Aztec nation from the hands of André Breton in 1939, for which an exhibition was held with guests from various countries.
Being its representatives Miró, Picasso, Diego Rivera, Magritte, Manuel Rodríguez Lozano, Carlos Mérida, Roberto Montenegro, among others.
Drawing the attention of other artists, including Frida Kahlo, and even though she commented that her style was not surreal, in the work of the two fridas, details of this art are evident.
It is essential to note that our artist Frida was the third daughter of Guillermo Kahlo, who was an excellent photographer of German-Hungarian descent, and her mother, Matilde Calderón, was of Spanish descent.
The life of the artist who was in charge of creating the two fridas began at a very young age, contracting poliomyelitis disease that affected her in 1913, leaving one of her legs, specifically the right one, much thinner, for which she wore up to three pairs of stockings. .
After that, other diseases would also make a show in the life of this unparalleled painter of the two Fridas, which in this article we will detail according to the events that will be evidenced.
By 1925 the author of the two fridas had learned the technique of engraving thanks to her teacher Fernando Fernández Domínguez and in that same year an accident occurred in the life of this young artist.
When the tram derailed and she was traveling on a bus where the author of the two fridas was traveling, she fractured several ribs in addition to her neck, her pelvis without forgetting her spine because a handrail crossed her belly from the hip and came out through the vagina.
This caused multiple operations that the author of the two fridas had to perform for her broken health in addition to the use of corsets to stretch her spine.
Due to the time she was bedridden, the author of the two fridas for the year 1926 made her first self-portrait, being the first of a number of works that expressed her emotions throughout the events that Frida Kahlo herself was the protagonist.
One of her friends helped her enter the art world through her paintings and by 1929 she was marrying the artist Diego Rivera.
They were ten years of a stormy relationship where the duality of love and hate was witnessed, which ended in 1939, the peak moment in which she made her famous self-portrait, the two fridas, thanks to her divorce, being the way this painter used to express her feelings. emotions through painting.
It is André Breton who qualifies the works of Frida Khalo as surrealist through an essay he carries out in the gallery named Julien Levy located in New York City and the author of the two fridas responded as follows to this description:
“…They thought I was a surrealist, but I wasn't. I never painted my dreams. I painted my own reality…”
By the hand of Breton, the author of the two fridas in the old continent, specifically in Paris, exhibits at the Renón et Collea gallery and during her stay in that French city she struck up conversations with Picasso and even the image of Frida Kahlo was on the cover from a magazine called French Vogue.
This allowed the author of the two fridas to be recognized worldwide and in the Aztec nation they recognized her with the work of teacher at the School of Plastic Arts named La Esmeralda located in the capital of the Mexican nation.
The duality in the two fridas
The duality referring to two natures within the same being is observed in the two fridas and is one of the most relevant characteristics in the works painted by the artist Frida Kahlo and in this specific painting the union through blood is observed by middle of the vein that unites these two figures.
The mestizo heritage of one of the two fridas is evidenced by her Mexican clothing that calls to her ethnic roots even though it is this lady who carries in one of her hands the mini portrait of Diego Rivera demonstrating an opposition between power and submission .
The European Frida wears a white dress that is inspired by her mother's wedding dress, which demonstrates the innocence of this Frida, who is stained by the vein of her heart wounded through a premeditated cut by the use of surgical scissors.
Where the blood is spilled at the same height where the Mexican Frida holds the mini portrait of Diego Rivera, because the European Frida demonstrates through this blood the pain and the menstrual cycle that demonstrates the resilience that this great painter must transmit because of her abortions and the breakdown of marriage.
According to the artist herself, the two Fridas outline an experience from her own childhood that she wrote in her diary as follows:
“…and with one finger he drew a door. Through that door she left in her imagination, with great joy and urgency, she crossed the entire plain that was seen until she reached a dairy called Pinzón… »
«...Through the O of Pinzón I entered and descended untimely into the interior of the earth, where my imaginary friend always waited for me..."
The vein in this work of the two Fridas becomes a blood transfusion between the two young women that, in addition to connecting them, allows them to be nourished by exchanging blood, which is the food that allows the hearts to come to life.
It is a question of seeking in this painting of the two Fridas a balance between the two personalities of Frida in order to cope with the divorce as well as the multiple pains caused by the tram accident which happened when Frida Kahlo was barely eighteen years old.
Which will mark her for life in addition to the impossibility of achieving a pregnancy with the birth of a living child, demonstrating that the pain of this artist when expressing it on her canvases was one of the most sought-after artists in the XNUMXst century as well as being an icon. representative of women.
This artistic work of the two Fridas took place at a time of intense activity for the painter as she held exhibitions in both New York City and Paris and upon returning to her country of origin she signed a divorce to separate from her great love Diego Rivera.
There were so many emotional and physical pains due to this breakup that she embodied them in the two fridas, being one of the most important paintings of this painter.
Meaning of this box
This painting of the two fridas shows issues of great importance to the artist, such as experiencing a divorce at a time when it was not well seen, and it is so much so that the author's health is further complicated by this emotional decision for what the following year these two artists marry again.
It is observed in this painting of the two fridas the mestizo heritage and the fact of the repression of women and she represented it through her works. In this painting, the union of the physical and the non-physical is observed, since only under the protection of the figure of her husband could the artist achieve certain freedoms.
The theme that this painting of the two fridas deals with refers to the union and the ties despite the differences that may exist within a person and the drama marking a very clear space between the sky that symbolizes how hostile it is with the earth. the warm part of the work.
Although pain is observed due to the spilled blood in the beautiful white dress, it shows a union between both parties that form the personality of the artist who is fighting each other, demonstrating the drama she feels.
So her paintings show the pain of her unstable state of health in addition to the stormy relationship she lived with the man Diego Rivera loved the most and with whom she tried to get pregnant on multiple occasions, but this was not possible because it resulted in abortions.
Curious facts about the painting of the two fridas
According to research carried out, it is said that this painting was inspired by Fernando Gamboa, a friend of Frida, when she observed two paintings at the beginning of 1939 in the Louvre Museum.
These works are titled the two sisters made by Théodore Chassériau and another work known as Gabrielle d'Estrées and one of her sisters which was painted by an anonymous.
Therefore, for the month of January of the following year, 1940, the work of the two fridas was exhibited together with another work by the author known as La mesa hurt. They were part of the International Surrealist Exhibition that was held in the capital city of Mexico and was held in the Mexican art gallery.
This work of the two fridas was under the power of the painter until 1947 and passed into the hands of the National Institute of Fine Arts, better known by its acronym INBA, and from there it was transferred to what is currently its headquarters, the Museum of Modern Art. December 28, 1966.
It is said that this great painter was exposed to around thirty-five operations with the intention of improving her health. In addition, her husband Diego Rivera was twenty years older than her and taught her some mural techniques that she did not hesitate to use in her surrealist works.
The author of the two fridas was bisexual for which she had a large number of affairs with men and women and her husband Diego accepted them because he himself was so unfaithful that he accepted those relationships with the young woman because he was even related to Frida's younger sister named Christina.
Frida's works show her taste for medicine because she wanted to be a doctor but due to the tram accident her course changed, becoming a painter while she was convalescing from her accident.
It is important to note that the work Las dos Fridas represents modern art, being a poetic meeting of Frida's breakup with Diego Rivera and at the same time showing the artist's maturity in terms of creativity.
Which he achieved thanks to the exhibitions he held that year both in New York City and in Paris where the influence of the French-born artist Marcel Duchamp who was the forerunner of conceptual art is observed.
Who presented him with the way to decontextualize everyday objects in places that were habitual or common to place them in artistic spaces.
This artist came to make one hundred and forty-three paintings in addition to fifty-five self-portraits of her, for which she once commented the following:
«…I portray myself because I spend a lot of time alone and because I am the reason I know best… I am not sick, I am broken… but I am happy to be alive as long as I can paint…»
The painting of the two fridas became an artistic heritage since 1984 by UNESCO, which is why the export of their works from the Mexican nation is prohibited. For the year 2007, a coin was circulated in honor of his work.
She was a close friend of Pablo Picasso who gave her some earrings in the shape of a hand that she came to use frequently in addition to Marcel Duchamp, which we have already mentioned in this article.
This great artist projected her difficulties in her artistic paintings, in addition to her passion for Mexican nationalism, she was bisexual and one of her most important relationships was with the artist Josephine Baker.
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