Frida Khalo

"I paint my own reality. The only thing i know is that i paint because i need to and i paint whatever passes throught my head witout any consideration"

1939

"I paint self-portraits because i am so often alone, because i am the person i know best"

Magdalena Carmen Frieda Khalo y Caldéron (1907-1954) became very popular with Julie Taymor's 2002 film "Frida". I watched the film at Quarteto, in Lisbon, one year before it closed to never opening again. That movie theater was a magical place, just like the old time cinemas, and "Frida" was such an inspiring and moving story.

Las dos Fridas, 1939

Khalo's work and life history are truly impressive. She's was a strong and charismatic painter whose work comes from her belly. Her paintings were called to be " surrealistic" and they always have a great deal with colour by their mexican and indigenous influences. They really have a dramatic symbolism and portray pain, wounds, death and traumatic experiences. But they also celebrate life in my point of view.

Frida was a very active ahead of her time painter. She was politically active and became a feminist icon as she was an independant woman in charge of her own destiny. In adicttion she became a style icon: Frida had a very distinctive and folked inspired look. But she had that beauty which isn't obvious: she has something which isn't well-behaved and some wilderness which for me is what makes her really beautiful. It is that beauty and the beast mixture and it is clear that she inspires me a lot.