I can't let the sun finish setting without mentioning that fifty-five years ago today, Mexican artist Frida Kahlo passed away. She had just turned 47 years old before cancer consumed her.
An artist of scorching paintings, including acute self-portraits that fused brilliant colors and disconcerting directness, she played her pain and passions out on canvases. In her art, her politics, and her personal life, Kahlo centered the body and its native stories.
She is one of my great heroes.
"Miscarriage in Detroit" by Frida Kahlo. Henry Ford Hospital, 1932.
Resources:
- "Frida Kahlo work makes Israeli debut" (The Jersusalem Post, July 9, 2009)
- "The Life and Times of Frida Kahlo" (PBS)
- "Frida Kahlo: 1907-1954" (Artchive)
- Frida (2002 film starring Salma Hayek)
- Interview with Hayden Herrara, Kahlo's biographer (PBS)
- "Frida Kahlo" (collection of articles and images from The New York Times)
She didn't die of cancer.
If you read a biography or even wikipedia you can know that:
"A few days before Frida Kahlo died on July 13, 1954, she wrote in her diary: "I hope the exit is joyful — and I hope never to return — Frida".[4] The official cause of death was given as a pulmonary embolism, although some suspected that she died from an overdose that may or may not have been accidental.[4] An autopsy was never performed. She had been very ill throughout the previous year and her right leg had been amputated at the knee, owing to gangrene. She had a bout of bronchopneumonia near that time, which had left her quite frail."
Posted by: supy@yahoo.com | May 20, 2010 at 11:51 AM