The Rare Side of Frida │ Photographs and Quotes of an Artistic Warrior
Frida Kahlo is an icon. She has inspired during her living days and continues to impact the world, long after she put her paintbrush down.
An inspirational woman who, to me, found a voice — a way to communicate — through vibrant colors when most saw the world as black and white. Kahlo artistically captures sadness and joy – a true legacy that has taught me that there is beauty in sorrow and pain. Anyone can tell you, real life has it’s ups and downs … why shouldn’t art?
My painting carries with it the message of pain.
Frida On The Rooftop, New York, 1946
Since my subjects have always been my sensations, my states of mind and the profound reactions that life has been producing in me, I have frequently objectified all this in figures of myself, which were the most sincere and real thing that I could do in order to express what I felt inside and outside of myself.
Being happy is a wonderful thing — I try to be in that state most of my life. But if it wasn’t for the sorrow, the pain, and trauma I’ve endured — none of this beauty I’ve surrounded myself with today would exist. I believe that the mind is able to achieve a level of creativity unattainable in any other state. This too can be said of other emotions.
I paint self-portraits because I am so often alone, because I am the person I know best.
Frida Winking, 1933
I tried to drown my sorrows, but the bastards learned how to swim, and now I am overwhelmed by this decent and good feeling.
Frida And Her Ducks, 1948-49
Feet, what do I need you for when I have wings to fly?
Frida In Chinese Pajamas, 1948
I hope the leaving is joyful; and I hope never to return.
Frida With Michoacán Gourd On Head, 1933
I love you more than my own skin.
Frida Wearing Plaster Corset, Which She Decorated With Hammer And Sickle (And Unborn Baby), Coyoacán, 1951
I never paint dreams or nightmares. I paint my own reality.
There’s something very beautiful about this realization and that is perspective. In most my difficult times, its come down to the way I view the situation that enabled me to either push through or close the door. Most often, I choose to push through. My reality is beautiful and at times difficult — it’s important to appreciate both and acknowledge these realities as growth.
Frida And Diego, Mexico, ca. 1935
There have been two great accidents in my life. One was the trolley, and the other was Diego. Diego was by far the worst.
Frida with Deer, 1940
They thought I was a Surrealist, but I wasn’t. I never painted dreams. I painted my own reality.
Frida Braiding Rosa Covarrubias’s Hair, 1938
I paint my own reality. The only thing I know is that I paint because I need to, and I paint whatever passes through my head without any other consideration.
— Frida
As a revolutionary artist of her time , Frida pushed the limits and found beauty in situations many would flee from or even worse — tarnish from. Frida seemed like a very complicated woman, all more so why, she is a warrior. To me, she is a reminder that when pain or sorrow enter my world, so does the power to tap into a part of my creativity that otherwise I have no access to. Thank you Frida — in many ways your strength through the difficulties has inspired me through mine.
These images were obtained by Dangerous Minds — thank you!!
The New York Botanical Gardens recreated parts of the extensive tropical gardens from Frida Kahlo’s famous “Casa Azul” home in Mexico. It’s the first solo NYC presentation of her work in 25 years, and fans are thrilled to see her art in such an immersive, lush setting. In conjunction with the show, Throckmorton Fine Art is showing a rare collection of photos from Frida until September 12th, many of which are set in the beautiful the gardens of the Blue House.
