Links

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frida_Kahlo
Wikipedia entry about Frida Kahlo

http://www.fridakahlo.com/
Short biography about Frida Kahlo

http://www.frida-kahlo-foundation.org/
Gallery of Frida Kahlo's artwork

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120679/
Information on 'Frida', the Frida Kahlo movie

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ypoQbrLiRJE&feature=fvst
A tribute video to Frida Kahlo

"Self-portrait with Thorn Necklace and Hummingbird" is a symbolic self-portrait of Frida Kahlo surrounded by animals, insects and Mexican leaves from a cactus. She wears a necklace of thorns around her neck that represent pain and constriction from which a hummingbird hangs motionlessly. The hummingbird represents freedom and hope, the fact that it is dead presents a depressing metaphor.

On either shoulder sit a monkey and a black cat. The monkey is playing with the thorns and he represents the children that Kahlo could never have due to the accident. The cat signifies death and its position behind her shoulder suggests that she believes death is following her wherever she goes.

Above her head fly two dragonflies in a figure-8 motion. These could represent freedom or yet-to-be-had experiences and the fact that they are flying annoyingly above her head imply that they are out of reach, another depressing metaphor used by Kahlo.

Though "Self-portrait with Thorn Necklace and Hummingbird" looks like a warm and happy picture, we can tell through use of symbolism and meaning that it is actually a very sad and hopeless representation of Kahlo's life.

Frida Kahlo's 'The Little Deer" features A deer with Kahlo's head. The body of the deer is stabbed and wounded with nine arrows that have drawn blood in places all over her body. It is painted in a running motion and it appears to be leaping over a fallen branch in the forest. The far background's horizon is made by the ocean and the sky.

   Though this looks to be a very sad self-portrait the colours are warm and inviting, it makes the viewer wish they were there for the nice weather. The mixture of greens and browns that surround Kahlo the little deer come together harmoniously and make her look at home in the forest.

   There is a great sense of contrast in this image as the blacks are dark and the browns are light. This is used to bring Kahlo the little deer forward as the motif and to help convey the message or story of the self-portrait. The area behind Kahlo is dark and it appears as though she is in the light.

   The picture is asymmetrical, even though there are trees on either side of Kahlo the little deer and the background appears only in the middle of the image. The way these things have been positioned causes a feeling of asymmetry in an otherwise symmetrical self-portrait. The deer is right in the centre of the picture.

   This picture's elements and principles come together nicely to depict an inviting environment with a not-so-inviting Frida Kahlo as a little deer.

Frida Kahlo was a Mexican painter born on July 6 1907. On September 17 1925 she was involved in a tram accident and had serious injuries such as a broken spinal column, a broken collarbone, eleven fractures in her right leg, a broken pelvis, a crushed and dislocated right foot, a dislocated shoulder, broken ribs and a handrail pierced her abdomen and her uterus which left her unable to have children. Frida was in a full body cast for 3 months and during that time learnt to paint with her mouth and when she was able she started using her hands. The accident made her have relapses of extreme pain and sometimes had to go to hospital or was bedridden for months at a time which is where Frida did most of her paintings.
In 1929 she married Diego Rivera who was also a painter. Their marriage was often troubled and they both had affairs including Diego having an affair with Frida's younger sister Cristina. They divorced in November 1939 and remarried in December 1940.
Frida died on July 13 1954 just after she turned 47 due to pulmonary embolism, her right leg was already amputated to the knee from gangrene and she had been very ill the previous year. Frida left a note a few days before her death that read: "I hope the exit is joyful and i hope never to return-Frida." Her ashes is on display in her former home which is now a museum of her artworks and artifacts from her personal life.