Few stories in art history are more heart wrenching than Frida Kahlo’s, as a child she was disabled with polio for some time, later in 1925 when Frida was only eighteen years old she was seriously injured in a bus crash which left her in severe pain for most of her life. A promising medical student before the crash, Frida painted from her bed during her slow and arduous recovery was forced to undergo painful and multiple surgeries. She painted numerous portraits integrating symbolism to express her personal suffering and physical pain. She was inspired by Mexican folk culture and it would become a major theme in her work. She was very well known during her lifetime, a kind of cultural icon in Mexico as she was married to the Mexican painter Diego Rivera. Their relationship was fraught with turbulence and Diego is often the subjects of her paintings.
Frida Kahlo’s Still Life
What are the distinguishing features of Kahlo’s paintings?
What motifs, symbols, or icons do you see her many images?
Based on the what you see, what do you think she is trying to express?
Frida Kahlo’s Portraits
Portrait Drawing
A portrait is a picture of a person’s face and is a subject that has been studied for a long time by artists over throughout the ages. The key to creating an accurate portrait is placing the parts in the right spot in relation to the whole. By analyzing where the features are on the face, how big they are compared with the other parts. Typically, an amateur’s portrait drawing will often show the eyes on the top their head, not realizing the true proportions of the face.
Symmetry
- The quality of being made up of exactly similar parts facing each other or around an axis.
- Correct or pleasing proportion of the parts of a thing.
Proportion
- A principle of art that describes the size, location or amount of one element to another (or to the whole) in a work.
2. A portion or part in its relation to the whole.
Student Portraits
Project Rubrics
