Yuxing Wang: Favourite Painter

Frida Kahlo

(1907-1954)

The Artist Frida Kahlo stand out for me from the rest of the painters we learned in class. First of all, she was a woman, as woman artists were way fewer in number than famous men artists. Her art was very different from other artists, because she refused to portrait the female body as an object of beauty and consumption, but rather depict them in mutilated forms. This was rather odd to me, but was really interesting to look at her works.

Frida's work were often related to a theme of pain and illness, this was because of her life encounters of polio and a traffic accident. She also expressed her feelings about her tumultuous relationship with the muralist Diego Rivera through her art works, often depicted as pain and mutilation. Her other painting focuses on her struggles with clarifying her identities or nationalities.

Frida's work had mostly focused on self portraits of one sort or another. Her explanation for this is because "I paint myself because I am so often alone and because I am the subject I know best." She also suggested

"I was born a bitch. I was born a painter." I like her because she seems like a strong woman with a cool attitude!