Frida Kahlo, a Mexican painter, is now remembered for her vibrant self-portraits exploring ideas such as gender, race and class. She is globally celebrated for her depiction of the female experience and form - also known as the female gaze. Kahlo is not only recognized as a prominent figure in art history, but is also regarded as an icon within feminism, the LGBTQ+ movement, and Mexican culture.

 

Frida Kahlo often featured herself in her paintings, using her own body as a metaphor to explore societal roles. She has portrayed herself as wounded, broken, or as a child. She frequently depicted her own body in unorthodox ways, straying away from the male gaze as much as possible. Kahlo rejected the traditional representation of women in art, existing for the sole purpose of pleasing male viewers, and chose to share real and raw experiences that so many women face. The subject matter of her art includes miscarriage, birth, breastfeeding and abortion, among other taboo topics for the time. Where so many women are painted as weak and futile, Kahlo’s gaze remains fierce and honest.

 

So, what is the male and female gaze, and why are they significant in art? The male gaze is the act of depicting women in art, literature and media from a masculine, heterosexual perspective, often portraying women as sexual objects for the approving eye of the heterosexual male consumer. The male gaze strips women of their agency. They are passive and dehumanized. She is looked at to be objectified. In contrast, the female gaze gives women agency, allowing them to choose how they want to be portrayed - not dictated by men. However, it is vital that we remember that the gaze is nuanced.  It is not always good or bad.

 

Perhaps Frida Kahlo’s most famous painting, Self-Portrait with Thorn Necklace and Hummingbird (1940), is crammed with symbolism and meaning. Many art historians believe it to be blasphemous due to her thorn necklace, a reference to Jesus Christ’s crown of thorns, showing how Kahlo likens herself to Christ as a result of the pain and anguish she has felt in her life which she endures patiently, like many women, as her expression is plain. Furthermore, a bird commonly represents freedom; although, this hummingbird is black and lifeless, possibly another symbol of her pain. Kahlo spent much of her life in physical pain following a bus accident when she was eighteen, with which she had to endure 35 operations to fix.

 

In addition, the painting was created as a result of her divorce from Diego Rivera, whom many suggest is represented through the monkey, as it is tugging her thorn necklace to make sure she suffers. The black cat in the painting is also seen ready to pounce, as though Kahlo feels her days are numbered. It could also be viewed as a bad omen. After all, Frida Kahlo stated that “they thought I was a Surrealist, but I wasn’t. I never painted dreams. I painted my own reality.”

 

In closing, due to her background and gender, Kahlo’s work was viewed as less political or important than her male counterparts up until the late 1980s. Today, her work sells for very high prices, and in fact, her self portrait Roots was sold for $5.6 million in May of 2006. I only wish she could have lived to witness her global success and recognition.

Frida Kahlo was truly ahead of her time.