5. Did Frida Kahlo's relationship with Diego Rivera impact her art?
Frida Kahlo's tumultuous relationship with Diego Rivera had a profound impact on her life and art. Rivera, a renowned muralist, introduced her to pre-Hispanic art and Mexican history, significantly influencing her artistic development. This influence is evident in her use of indigenous themes, symbolism, and her exploration of Mexican identity. However, their relationship was also marked by infidelity and heartbreak, experiences that deeply affected Kahlo and found expression in her paintings. Many of her works reflect the emotional turmoil, jealousy, and pain she endured throughout their marriage. These raw depictions of love, loss, and longing contribute to the emotional intensity that draws viewers to her art.
"In this painting, Diego and I, shows Frida's great anguish over Diego Rivera. When he had an affair with Maria Felix almost divorced Frida. Maria Felix was a beautiful film star and as well an intimate friend of Frida's. Even though Frida was trying to joke about this affair, as she always did with Rivera's other affairs, Diego and I shows that she was deeply hurt. In this paint she is has loose hair swirling around her neck which indicates strangulation. She lost her mask of reserve. It's obvious that the cause of her distress is her husband Diego, for which her eyebrows serve as platform. And a third eye, which alludes to Rivera's prevalent mental and visual keenness, opens in her spouse's brow. Of the pyramid of five eyes that post of this painting, just Frida's meet our own. Diego, whose creative venue was surrounding and epic, gazes out over viwer's heads into the past."
Link to quotation on fridakahlo.org