FRIDA’S ARTISTIC INTENSITY

 “Art intensifies the presence of the world.”
― Thomas Moore, Care of the Soul: Guide for Cultivating Depth and Sacredness in Everyday Life

I was privileged to go to Frida Kahlo at The Dali Museum, in St. Petersburg, Florida years ago.  It is one thing to know her story.  It is another to see her actual work and study it closely for hours.  Her story was one of such devastation.  Her paintings are even more devastating.  The emotional impact stunned me.    It is true that art intensifies the world.  It is true that seeing great works of art by a beloved artist is intense.  This was the most intense ever, and I have seen the great artist's work in the Paris Art Museum.  

She was physically and emotionally broken and suffered unspeakable things.  She learned to use art as expression of those horrors.  Lying upon her special bed, wearing corsets and braces, she showed resilience and brutal honesty in her life and artwork.  She was said to be 'gender fluid' and I would think that whomever brought her comfort when the pain was at its worst is not something anyone should ever wish her denied.  How achingly beautiful is all of her art both in a brutal way and a deep-hearted sense of each stroke she made and how she expressed such things as betrayal on top of all else.

I had a background I had done, on wood, some experimenting on.  I chose to find the face within and began from there. I drew it in my white China Marker and then gesso'd over so I did not lose the lines.

 

I found the shape of the face. With some white acrylic.

I, then, do my usual and lay down the face color.

 

Getting some features down led me to the gold shapes on her right side and did flower shapes.  

She, of course, from the moment of doing the flowers, became Frida.  

I have no words, but perhaps take a look at this link and study it and wonder at it in this link:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ibajcRK1psA&feature=emb_logo

  

©Carol Desjarlais 4.12.20