At first glance, these two paintings by Frida Kahlo don't seem to have anything in common. Upon closer examination, however, they do share some similarities.
My Birth, 1932, (oil on copper, 12 x 14", Collection of Madonna) seen on the left, was created while Frida was living in Detroit. As previously mentioned in my last post, it's a shocking image of birth/death that Frida painted in a particularly painful period of her life. Yet, it is not just an outpouring of pain. Instead, Frida always infused her paintings with symbolic elements, ultimately creating layered images that are complex. In My Birth, we see an ominous image of a dead woman giving birth in a bedroom, but it's a room filled with two significant Catholic images: the Virgin of Sorrows painting hanging above the bed and the empty scroll in the foreground at the foot of the bed. The Virgin of Sorrows weeps for the loss of her son and by extension the woman on the bed and her child. The scroll in the foreground refers to retablos, small paintings made on metal that depict a scene showing someone who survived an accident or illness due to the divine intervention of Christ or Mary. A family member would request a local artisan to make a retablo. In the scroll, the artist would write out a "thank you" note to Christ or Mary for saving the family's loved one. In Frida's painting, the scroll is blank. Perhaps this indicates that there is nothing to be thankful for. It's not clear in My Birth if the child is dead or alive, but the empty scroll indicates that she's dead. The Two Fridas, 1939, (oil on canvas, 67 11/16 x 16 11/16", Collection Museo de Arte Moderno, Mexico City) was created seven years after My Birth. It was painted in Mexico shortly after Frida returned from Paris where her paintings were included in an exhibition of Mexican art curated by Andre Breton, the leader of Surrealism. Breton thought Frida's paintings were surrealist by nature. He loved them precisely because they captured surreality without attempting to do so. Frida never called herself a Surrealist. By 1939, she was familiar with this movement, but she didn't attempt to create works of art based upon Sigmund Freud's theories of the unconscious. Instead, she looked within and to her own culture for inspiration. It's easy to understand why Breton loved Frida's paintings. Not only do they have a surreal look, but a psychological depth. In The Two Fridas, we see a double self-portrait; both figures sit on a bench holding hands with a cloud-filled sky behind them. They look directly out at us with an unwavering stare that we can't turn away from. The Frida on the right wears a style of dress that the women from the Isthmus of Tehuantepec made famous in Mexico after the revolution (1910-20). Such indigenous clothing symbolized a new pride in Mexico's pre-Columbian roots. The Frida on the left wears a Victorian style wedding dress, one that was popular in Mexico during colonial rule. While this Frida holds onto clamps to try and stop the flow of blood, the other Frida holds a picture of her husband, Diego Rivera. What do you think Frida is conveying about her dual nature? And, can you see any similar themes or ideas in both My Birth and The Two Fridas? © Celia S. Stahr 2015
53 Comments
Rachel Kim
11/24/2015 03:14:01 am
In "The Two Fridas," I think Kahlo is trying to convey this idea of acceptance. The painting depicts two versions of herself: one that is fighting back and trying to stop the bleeding and another that is sitting calmly with a picture of her husband in her lap. The two women are holding hands, which also conveys a sense of unity and togetherness. Through her dual nature, I think Kahlo is conveying acceptance because the version of herself on the left has stopped trying to stop the bleeding and is just sitting still and the version on the right looks as if she never tried fighting back, but simply accepted her fate. Together, the two join hands, which shows that the two are unified in their acceptance. Similar themes between the two paintings include Kahlo's unibrow, blood, and simplicity. "My Birth" contains more religious elements than "The Two Fridas" through the Virgin of Sorrows painting and the empty scroll. Both of the paintings, however, show a good amount of blood and human organs.
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Mimi Truong
11/24/2015 04:49:35 am
The clasping of hands in The Two Fridas conveys a sense of unity and support between the two Fridas. It shows that Kahlo recognizes the duality of her identity and attempts to bridge them through the linking artery that is shared between the two Fridas. Moreover, the depicted dress styles also convey her cultural identities. The Frida to the right wearing the indigenous dress signifies her Mexican heritage whereas the Frida to the left wearing the Victorian dress is evidently more European. I believe that Frida is trying to convey to the viewer that the intricate interactions between her two personalities ultimately make who she is as a person.
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Jose Esquer-Romero
11/24/2015 04:50:38 am
"The Two Fridas" depicts the conflict that Kahlo experienced with her marriage. On the left, we see Kahlo in a traditional wedding dress but clamping the stream of blood from her heart with a pair of scissors. This represents her trying to stop herself from loving the man she is about to or has already married. However, the Frida on the right is shown in traditional Mexican attire and with a picture of her husband, showing her acceptance for the union that she has entered into. On top of that, the fact that they are holding hands shows Kahlo's acceptance of the situation she has been placed in and is also indicative of the chronological aspect of her state of mind. As we move from left to right, her attitude changes from resistance to acceptance. In "My Birth", a dead woman is pictured giving birth to a child. The idea of birthing a baby while already dead is closely related to Kahlo's attitude toward her marriage depicted in "The Two Fridas". In a sense, the Frida on the left has chosen to give birth to the Frida on the right, represented by the connection of the hearts and the holding of hands. However, Kahlo was already symbolically 'dead' on the left, meaning that she was not fully sure of and invested in her marriage. Perhaps in "My Birth", Kahlo is also showing two versions of herself. After all, the painting is named "My Birth", perhaps telling us that her old self and character is dead and she is being forced to 'give birth' to a new sense of self that will conform to her new status and living conditions. This could also tell viewers why she painted the rehablo at the bottom of the painting. Her body did survive the experiences she has been through but her soul and everything she believes makes up her whole being has not. Therefore, like described above, she has nothing to be thankful for.
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Chloe Jackson
11/24/2015 04:56:19 am
In these two works, Frida Kahlo portrays themes of pain, destiny, and acceptance of pain. The first piece, "My Birth," conveys strong themes of pain from her miscarriage and also the recent death of her mother. The portrait of the Virgin go Sorrows in the background conveys that, while Frida may be sad about the situation, she cannot do anything about it. She is forced to accept these tragedies. The blank scroll further suggests this because it proves that, in this moment, she has nothing to be thankful for, she is grieving. In Frida's "The Two Fridas," the two portraits of her represent different times in her own life. The first Frida on the left represents a time before her husband, when she accepted the modern culture and wore european clothing. The second Frida, on the right, is adorned in traditional Mexican attire and grasping a picture of her husband. Her husband was the one who encouraged her to embrace her traditional culture, and to wear traditional Mexican clothes to demonstrate this. The pain in this image can be seen in her duality and represents her recent divorce to her husband. The Frida on the left shows a broken heart, and the Frida on the right shows a whole heart. This conveys the pain in her duality.
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Stephanie Farajian
11/24/2015 05:01:08 am
Frida Kahlo is presenting herself in a double self-portrait in The Two Fridas, 1939. She’s conveying that her dual nature’s are intertwined with different life lines. The figure on the left seems to be self reliant with trying to clamp the artery, but the figure on the right seems to be holding onto a picture of her husband, making him the stabilizing factor. So this dual nature could be presenting her life before marriage where she was self reliant and post marriage where she’s no longer alone and she has a companion. Similar themes I can see in both My Birth and The Two Fridas would be that in My Birth she is alone with a dead mother and maybe even a dead body, and the only presence she has around her is the picture of the Virgin of Sorrows. So when she was born and growing up she may have had to be self reliant and had to learn things through trial and error, holding the clamp to keep herself from loosing blood, but when she moved into the next phase of her life where she was married she had an image of a person with her that she can physically be with and feel the support and care of.
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Michael Morgan
11/24/2015 05:19:46 am
I think Frida is conveying that her dual nature is her self. She is transporting blood between her self. One side of her has her heart on the inside and the other has her heart on the outside. She wants to be someone that she is not, so she is putting her blood from her old heart into this new her. The new her on the right has a full heart being filled with blood and the heart on the left looks like it is being emptied. The birth is very interesting in that the women giving birth is dead and the offspring is alive. This is similar to the dual self portrait in that she is giving life to a new self. Putting her heart and blood into a "new" Frida, just as the dead mother gave life to her new child. I believe Frida is trying to convey the cycle of life and the transfer of life from one thing to another, no real death just a cycle.
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Jonathan Yee
11/24/2015 07:25:51 am
Frida seems to be conveying the different aspects of herself. One Frida is struggling while bleeding and the other is calm. There seems to be a contrast between the two pictures. In both portraits, there seems to be a bit of pain and suffering that can be seen.The pain expressed in both portraits explains the similarity of themes.
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Kimberly Estil
11/24/2015 08:40:46 am
Frida is expressing the struggles that she has undergone throughout her life. The similarity between both paintings is an idea of accepting these struggles. In "My Birth", despite the painting showing a miscarriage, the empty scroll can signify that a miscarriage is not the end of a life but there is a continuum of life in another aspect. The scroll is to symbolize hope for the future. In the "Two Fridas", the interconnecting arteries signifies a partnership or acceptance for her situation. By accepting her situation or fate, her life continues.
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Gilbert Chan
11/24/2015 10:30:51 am
I think that this painting is Frida's reconciliation of the two very different natures inside herself. In "The Two Fridas", two Fridas are portrayed. As the blog states, one is dressed in a "Victorian style wedding dress", while the other is dressed in a more traditional gown. One is trying to stop the bleeding, while the other is holding a portrait of her husband. Yet as different as they are, they are, they are intertwined. They are holding hands, and their blood vessels are connected, as if she is saying that her whole is made up of those two dual natures.
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Mihiro Sueda
11/24/2015 11:24:01 am
In “The Two Fridas,” there are two figures of herself in different periods. On the left, there is Frida in a Victorian style wedding dress and this represents her before the marriage. And the one on the right is dressed in a traditional dress and has a picture of husband represents her after the marriage. I consider that the descriptions of the heart which we can see the inside and of the scissors which she is trying to stop bleeding show that she did not conceal her pain and feelings before marriage. But after marriage, she was forced or encouraged to hide her feelings and wear the traditional dress by her husband. In this way, her dual nature was born and she might be suffered by having the dual nature. However, the two of the figures are connected by blood vessel, and by holding hands. This connection shows that Frida accepts both of her natures.
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Garrett Leahy
11/24/2015 12:36:46 pm
What do you think Frida is conveying about her dual nature?
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Yilun Tian
11/24/2015 12:45:13 pm
The painting "My Birth" is expressing a feeling of painful and stressful. The blood on the sheet and the woman's body is a symbol of suffer, which many women do when they give birth. Also, the white sheet which covers the woman's face and body shows that this woman was dead, which would represent that Frida's mother died when she was born.
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Jooker
11/24/2015 12:46:43 pm
Good
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Yunpeng Zhang
11/24/2015 12:45:59 pm
I think "The Two Fridas" try to convey a person with different personalities. There are two Fridas holding their hands together and siting at the same davenport. The blood vessel connect them together, one connect with a picture about her husband and the other one connect with an scissors. However the one sit on the left of the chair have some blood on her dress which belongs to the vessel. I think she try to hurt herself but on the other side it shows Frida loves her husband very much. And they sit in front of the sky which seems a storm shows about her special personalities.
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Makena Woon
11/24/2015 01:26:31 pm
Within both paintings Frida Kahlo demonstrates the pain that she endured throughout her life. Both paintings have blood adding to the shock factor. They contain details that makes you want to look closer to truly receive the meaning of the painting.
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Avalon Elliott
11/24/2015 01:51:04 pm
The common theme between both works of art is pain, suffering, and unity. In the "The Two Frida's", there is a theme of unity that is portrayed by the two Frida's holding hands. With that, there is also a sense of stabilization and optimism as the work balances itself out with one woman holding her artery, and the other holding a picture of her husband. The two opposite factors balance each other out with the shared veins and holding of hands being the common ground involving unity.
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Thanapon prakaisriroj
11/24/2015 02:21:08 pm
In my opinion the message that Frida is trying to convey is despite the fact that she has dual nature, both the natures made up to who she is. This is because the painting shows that she has two heart, however both the hearts are connection by a single vein. Looking carefully, the blood vessels are being connected to the scissors (Frida on the left) and to the picture of her husband (Frida on the right), combine with the fact that she is bleeding on the left, which seems like she used the scissors to cut the vessels, could symbolize that one part of Frida still wants to hold on to her husband, while the other wants to break the bond.
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Sylvia Lin
11/24/2015 02:25:04 pm
What do you think Frida is conveying about her dual nature? And, can you see any similar themes or ideas in both My Birth and The Two Fridas?
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Alena Tarnikova
11/24/2015 03:15:17 pm
I believe that Frida conveys herself in the The Two Fridas, 1939. She shows us two different sides of herself, two completely different personalities. The left side is struggling, which is shown in clamping of the blood, while the right side is satisfied with her life. Both of these sides are holding hands, showing unity, that even though the two are completely different, they are still close and trying to stay together. Both My Birth and The Two Fridas show a theme of pain. The first painting, which is obviously showing the woman giving birth suffering, is in pain, while the second painting, like stated earlier, shows the pain of Fridas life and both of the characters trying to survive together.
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Woravin Kumthonkittikul
11/24/2015 05:27:17 pm
In response to your question, I believe that Frida is trying to express her perspective about life to the viewers. Because losing someone Frida loves is too harsh and painful, she purposely drew her two paintings to explain her feelings at that time ti the viewers. By drawing these two particular paintings, "My Birth" and "The Two Fridas", Frida essentially send a message about relationship from one figure to another. Her two paintings share similar ideas on how painful it could be losing someone so important. Frida created a physical relationship between the figures in each of her painting in order to make the viewers feel "Wow, the figures' lives are connected to one another and without one of them, neither of them can survive." By doing so, Frida expressed her pain of losing someone who means everything and without that person, Frida feels like she cannot stay alive just like the two paintings she has made.
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Leon Haneda
11/25/2015 04:40:49 am
Frida has two different nature that shows as two different style in the painting “The Two Fridas”. By having one of the woman dressed in a Victorian Style compared to the other that wears a traditional dress, she gives a contrast in her style. The blood vessels are connected but they are different people. They also have different actions as one is carrying a painting of her dead husband while the other has a scissor to cut the vessel. I would suppose that Frida is trying to show how both natures make up as a whole person(herself in this case). The similarity between the painting “The Two Frida” and “My Birth” how all woman are experiencing pain. Both painting give off a unpleasant mood where all the woman suffer. In the miscarriage the woman dies and in “The Two Frida” the woman is bleeding on her dress.
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Harend Liu
11/25/2015 04:56:43 am
What do you think Frida is conveying about her dual nature? And, can you see any similar themes or ideas in both My Birth and The Two Fridas?
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Samantha Jehnings
11/25/2015 04:57:05 am
In these paintings I think that Frida is conveying the pain that a person goes through when losing someone. Both of these paintings I believe are reflecting on her life in these certain times and the experiences she went through. She shows her emotional connection through these paintings by the blood and the clamps holding her heart together. These painting are both very similar in that they are reflecting a hard time in her life and are both about losing someone.
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John Kosse
11/25/2015 05:53:00 am
In "The Two Fridas", Frida is showing the duality between innocence and maturity. The Frida on the left is displaying innocence in the white wedding dress. She is also snipping her vein and letting the blood to flow onto her dress. This shows how she is leaving behind the blood of her relatives to start a family of her own. The Frida on the right, is wearing her own attire. It is something that she picked out, showing how she has grown into her own person. She is also holding a pacifier connected to her vein, showing how she has started a family of her own.
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Yadira Barajas
11/25/2015 07:15:43 am
In Frida's, "Two Fridas", I think she is trying to convey that she feels a sense of wholeness with her husband in her life. This is shown through the Frida on the right where her heart is full, representing her wholeness, and her holding the picture of her husband which shows that her husband completes her and makes her feel whole. On the other hand, the Frida on the left has an open heart, which could symbolize that she is not whole. Further, the two Fridas are holding hands which could represent the unity of the two different identities within Frida.
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Vaino Arreguin
11/25/2015 07:24:23 am
In "The Two Fridas," it seems as though Frida is displaying the conflicting emotions she experiences surrounding her relationship with Diego Rivera. The Frida on the right has a heart that is intact, and does not hold the bleeding artery. She also wears the prideful indigenous dress. This Frida is more liberated, likely symbolizing the love and feelings of joy she felt with Rivera. Contrastingly, the Frida on the left wears the dress that represents the oppression of colonialism. Also, her heart is exposed and bleeding. This "bleeding heart" symbolizes the painful side of her relationship with Rivera.
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Colleen Mercado
11/25/2015 09:10:26 am
In Frida Kahlo's "The Two Fridas," I think she is portraying her inner turmoil by depicting two different versions of herself. In this painting, the cloudy sky in the background looks very gloomy which is often associated with feelings of sadness. The fact that both of the Frida's are depicted holding hands symbolizes the unity between them as one person. However, two depictions of the same person show an inner conflict between two different sides of herself, one of her modern self wearing a European dress and one of her traditional self wearing a Mexican dress. The Frida wearing a Victorian style wedding dress is holding a clamp to stop the blood flow to the main artery connected to the other Frida wearing a more traditional Mexican dress who is also seen holding a picture of her ex-husband, Diego Rivera, who she recently divorced around the time she painted this painting. To me this shows that the her modern self is trying to cut ties with her more traditional self, probably because her life as her traditional self is closely associated with memories of her ex-husband. Therefore, by trying to kill off that side of herself, she is trying to completely forget about that part of her life.
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David Castillo
11/25/2015 09:30:30 am
In "The Two Frida's" it seems as if Frida struggles to convey her conflicting emotions of life and her personal relationship with her husband Diego Rivera. The image of her wearing the white dress with her severed vein pouring blood out conveys the struggles and her inner life spilling away. The second Frida in her revolutionary dress holds the source of her true feeling. The vein connect both Frida to symbolize that they are both one however getting pulled apart for love. In the paint I feel that it is a cry for help and she is sacrifices herself to a higher power.
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Gem Pacumio
11/25/2015 11:03:58 am
Frida wants to convey the feelings of conflict she is experiencing within herself. In The Two Fridas, she portrays herself as a traditional version and a modified version. As the traditional Frida, she expresses her Mexican pride and love for her husband, Diego Rivera. This makes her appear more down to Earth, simple and caring. As the modified, perhaps "modern", Frida, she shows how she has been assimilated due to the colonial rule. This makes her then appear more stern. cold and austere. Frida is conflicted with the blood running through both of these versions of her and she wants to "cut off" the traditional Frida but if she does so, it could kill her.
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Sultan Babatin
11/25/2015 12:40:24 pm
"The two Fridas" it looks like Frida scuffle to convey her dispute emotions of her life. We can see both figures sitting on bleacher holding each other hands with a look towards us the viewer. The Frida on the left wears a dress from Mexico and with blood on it. It conveys her stopping the blood because of the suffering from her husband. Also, the cloud from the background is a symbol of sadness and fear.
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Thaia Trakarnta Kamolvisit
11/25/2015 01:23:27 pm
What do you think Frida is conveying about her dual nature? And, can you see any similar themes or ideas in both My Birth and The Two Fridas?
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Shagun Kaza
11/25/2015 01:27:30 pm
What do you think Frida is conveying about her dual nature? And, can you see any similar themes or ideas in both My Birth and The Two Fridas?
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jin zhang
11/25/2015 01:35:06 pm
her works are most like the categorized as surreslist, because her sometimes bizarre and distubing themes. using her personal tragedies, like the physical and psychological combined with a realistic painting style. in my birth, the head of frida, which is frightening large, is getting out from the mother's womb. the feeling of this painting is kind of diffcult to descibe just like she can not describe the feeling about wowen undergo with childbirth. two fridas, this painting is showing two personatlity of her. they both have visible heart and the heart of traditional frida is cut and torn open.
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Vanessa Ha
11/25/2015 01:40:22 pm
In The Two Fridas, I think that what Frida Kahlo is trying to convey through her dual natures is that she became a stronger, more capable person after she wed her husband. Some details that support my belief include that the pre-married Frida on the left, is trying to cease her blood flow. This makes me believe that she wanted to end her life given the scissors in her hand gesturing to the representation of her blood flow. The Frida on the right has a picture of her husband in her hand in place of the scissors, leading me to believe that her husband symbolizes her strength and her desire to live. Aside from the noticeable differences between the two Fridas, the Frida on the right has a tougher look on her face with darker skin and brooding eyes, versus the Frida on the left has a softer look and lighter complexion. The differences in appearance between the two Fridas tie back to my presumption that she found strength in her relationship with her husband.
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Kamron Crow
11/25/2015 01:41:58 pm
Overall, after going back and forth between the two paintings I realize a couple constant themes of sorrow and an intense conflict of emotions that it seems she's struggling to deal with. In "My Birth", Frida is definitely presenting a painting that is much harder to look at without wincing. Without a doubt, she's conveying this extreme sense of pain and sorrow. The pain is reflected by the obvious child-birth occurring on the bed with a lot of blood-flow resulting from it. As Professor Stahr mentioned, the painting above the bed enhances this feeling sorrow because one can only imagine how difficult it would be to lose a child in this manner. The way the bed sheets are covering her face make it seem like the woman is already dead from the child-birth, or perhaps both of them are for that matter. With the "The Two Fridas", I receive a more direct connection yet threatening glare/stare from the two ladies. Safe to say it catches my attention more and is not as upfront as "My Birth". However, I still perceive this sense of pain as I did in "My Birth", it's just presented differently and you have to look at the details a bit more. The way one of them is holding onto clamps makes me move uneasy in my seat. Then you see the other one holding a picture of her husband and you can't help but think there must be a direct connection between the two. Maybe her husband is the main cause for her pain and sorrow she's been accumulating? With that in mind, could that be a link to her "dual nature"? All in all, those two similar themes or ideas in the two paintings is what makes art interesting for me in the sense that artists will dig deep down in their personal lives to return to the surface with motives, which ultimately translates to the art they create. Sometimes they make sense to you, and other times you get to have fun with it and interpret the paintings within your own frame of reference.
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Corina Maruri
11/25/2015 02:18:57 pm
"The two Frida's" show the different personalities of the artist. In the painting, she's trying to illustrate how she deals with pain. The Frida dressed with the traditional indigenous dress represents a strong Frida. The Frida she feels confident with. She's holding a Diego Rivera portrait because it illustrates change. She is a strong, proud woman because of everything they've been through. However, the Frida wearing the white dress illustrates pain. She depicts a sad woman; A woman who feels like giving up. She feels like giving up on love and trust. Despite of it, the two of them are holding hands. This shows that whatever happens... She's still one. She has to fight her pain and move on.
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Justin W Ko
11/25/2015 02:59:29 pm
In "The Two Fridas", by juxtaposing two portraits of herself in the painting, I think she is trying to convey the conflict inherent in her and her culture. She is trying to come to terms with the fact that she has two opposing selfs within her. One part of her wants to show pride in her indigenous culture and all that was good with the past. However, simultaneously, another part of her is influenced by the colonial rule and the outside world. It's the divide between inside and outside that she is struggling with and trying to find out who she really is, and how she can embody two contradictory ideas. Is it possible to move on to the future whip clinging to the past? Should one sacrifice his or her indigenous culture for the modern, globalize do world? All these questions of national identity and self identity is conveyed by her painting.
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Memo Lopez
11/25/2015 03:00:36 pm
In the “The Two Fridas”, Kahlo is reminiscing on what she has and what she lost. On the left, she portrays herself with clamps attempting to stop the flow of blood with clamps, which depicts
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Evan Brooks
11/25/2015 03:10:12 pm
Both paintings have an evident theme of the passing of life and death. In "My Birth" we see the literal birth from a dead body, and the transference of what was supposed to be life from one being to the other. In "The Two Frida's" there is the transfusion of blood from one Frida to the other, and both their attire and their possessions indicate the actions they are committing. It is clear that Frida is mourning over the loss of her husband, and this painting indicates that the has had suicidal thoughts since the loss. The wedding dress Frida signifies that at the time of the marriage, she was full of life. Despite the rough life that Frida went through, she was still lively at the time of her husbands life. "The Two Frida's" works to portray a sense of the feeling of life and how over time we feel the need to not continue it anymore. The two together portray a sense of the passing of life and death and the feelings that have overcome Frida's life.
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Bailey Boone
11/25/2015 03:23:39 pm
In the painting, "The Two Frida's", she is conveying a sense of unity through pain and suffering. The Frida on the left is draining her heart and filling Frida on the rights heart. She is using the transferring of blood as a metaphor for the pain she is feeling. I also think this is Frida showing she is changing who she is for her husband. She is wearing a different style of clothing and is holding a picture of her husband on the right. I think when she got married she was forced to give up her old ways and her old self. This painting relates to "My Birth" in the sense that unity is found in pain. The child is dead while half inside of the mother. Both the child and the mother are dead and are still united.
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Julie Lunnon
11/25/2015 03:32:01 pm
What do you think Frida is conveying about her dual nature? And, can you see any similar themes or ideas in both My Birth and The Two Fridas?
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Michelle Tham
11/25/2015 03:58:05 pm
Looking at "The Two Fridas", I believe that she is trying to convey her love and despair associated with her marriage. The painting dictates the emotions she had dealing with separation and depression crisis. The Frida on the left has an exposed heart which symbolizes her weakness and torn heart when she and her husband divorced. The clamp in her hand is trying to stop the bleeding; however, the blood continues to drip on her beautiful white dress. On the other hand, the Frida on the right has an intact, strong heart. Also, we can see that she is wearing a dress -- commonly worn after the revolution -- and holding a picture of her husband. This fashion indicates that she is also trying to hold strong despite her loneliness. Although "The Two Fridas" and "My Birth" at first glance seem ultimately different, these two paintings have a common theme of dealing with despair. "My Birth" was painted after Kahlo experienced her miscarriage and the death of her mother. Despite seeming gruesome, these two artworks portray a strong emotion of anguish and desolation.
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11/25/2015 04:16:39 pm
Most people interpret "The Two Fridas" in connection with her marriage and divorce from Diego. I think this interpretation is flawed. Rather, i believe the painting to be a study on duality that Frida was so engrossed by in much of her work. The duality of symbols in Frida’s work is perhaps best executed in this painting where nothing—even Frida herself—is only one thing. Diego is at once life and death, Frida is at once dead and alive. Spilt blood drains life but also allows it by cleansing the death seeping into her through Diego.
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Katherine frees
11/25/2015 11:47:51 pm
In looking at the two Fridas, I think she is trying to convey two sides of herself. I think after visiting Mexico, she has discovered a new sense of self and pride she feels towards the country, and she wants to represent that on the right. On the left, is an earlier time and Fridas life, but she isn't rejecting her past self- she is uniting her past and present to combine and be harmonious and present together. This shows Fridas strength and her ability to be the best self she can be.
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Vanessa Chen
11/27/2015 03:35:06 am
In The Two Fridas, it looks like Frida is trying to convey that she is trying to severe ties with her former self or imagining doing so—the blood connecting herself from her heart to the heart of her old self and the fact that she is holding a pair of scissors that is cutting the blood flow connecting the two, the blood seeping into her white dress represents that. Also, to me, white symbolizes purity and innocence, even freedom or a chase to perfection in that by trying to be free of her past, she is trying to become a better self in the present by wearing a white dress vs the colored one in the past and the fact that her old self is holding a picture of her husband shows that she is trapped in the past, unable to be set herself from severing that tie. Both My Birth and The Two Fridas show blood and “lost.” The blood in My Birth indicate the pain that the mother goes through at childbirth and the pain the child is in from losing her mother. Both of them show Frida’s pain in different lives of the characters.
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Michael Mortimer
11/29/2015 12:04:41 pm
Frida is representing the dichotomy between the two states of rule in Mexico. The Frida holding clamps illustrates the distress during colonial rule while the other exudes pride and respect. Ultimately showing that while Frida is proud of her heritage she has strong political leanings.
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6/1/2016 12:09:09 pm
I think Frida Kahlo is a very symbolical painter and all of her works is full of sacred sense. The work "Two Fridas" show us all her strengths and weaknesses of faces - we can see the many surrealistic elements and give them their colour. This article is very interesting for me, thank you.
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6/2/2016 08:14:33 am
Both "In my Birth" and "The Two Fridas" paintings show us extremely different sides of Frida Kahlo. These theme is really implicate us in her mystery of life. Thanks for a clear description of that art.
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6/8/2017 06:27:53 am
What's up, well put together web site you've there.
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Chana Ellenberger
11/19/2019 03:15:56 pm
Yanez had such a strong admiration of Fridas art because she was also mexican.It isnt as simple as that though. He wanted to find someone to look up to that might have a similar heritage to him. The fact that she was mexican, but spent time in American was familiar to him. He was fascinated by the way that she felt about living in American vs living in Mexico. He was able to have someone with somewhat shared experiences and have someone who also express themselves through art to look up to and relate to. This can be very inspiring and encouraging because it gives people an example of who they can be and what they can achieve.
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Navarro Tienda
11/19/2019 03:21:12 pm
Yañez enjoyed Frida's work so much because he felt that it was able to be unique and extremely unconventional while still showing signs of personality. He was also able to take pride in her as a Mexican person - something other Chicano artists may or may not have been able to invoke. There was also a sense of wanting to support someone up and coming who Yañez knew could be great. There were dimensions to it that he was able to understand in various ways which made the appeal of her work never seem to fade.
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Yanxin
11/19/2019 03:55:31 pm
I think the reason why Yañez enjoyed Frida's work so much is that they are both Mexicans, and Frida sets an good example for Yanez. Frida's work is amazing, it combined diverse mix of cultures. At the mean time, it shows the uniqueness of Mexican culture among other cultures. We can see the same thing in Yañez's works.
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James Redden
11/20/2019 04:59:44 pm
Apologies for the late comment, I misread this was supposed to be a journal entry and wrote it down in the journal so here it is:
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Celia Stahr teaches art history at the University of San Francisco. She’s interested in women artists and artists who cross cultural boundaries. She fell in love with the power of Frida Kahlo's art in the 1980s, a feeling that has intensified over the years. Frida in America took 10 years to research and write, but Stahr never lost interest in this fascinating woman and artist.
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