Frida Kahlo's Political Art: Marxism, Nationalism, and Feminism
Frida Kahlo, who was born in 1907 just outside Mexico City, chose to state 1910 as her birth year to coincide with the Mexican Revolution, a significant influence on her art. Her artwork 'Moses' features female reproductive anatomy alongside historical figures such as Stalin and Gandhi. In 1929, she wed Diego Rivera and relocated to the United States in 1930, where she expressed her critique of American capitalism in works like 'Self-Portrait on the Borderline Between Mexico and the United States' (1932) and 'My Dress Hangs There.' In 1937, Kahlo and Rivera helped Leon Trotsky obtain asylum. Trotsky was assassinated on August 21, 1940. Kahlo remained politically engaged through her painting until her passing on July 13, 1954, in Mexico City, where she was cremated at Panteón Civil de Dolores.
Key facts
- Frida Kahlo was born in 1907 outside Mexico City but claimed 1910 as her birth year.
- The Mexican Revolution led to land reforms, equal pay laws, and socialist currents.
- Kahlo's painting 'Moses' was a reaction to Sigmund Freud's 'Moses and Monotheism'.
- She married Diego Rivera in 1929 and moved to the US in 1930.
- Her 1932 self-portrait contrasts Mexico and the US, criticizing US capitalism.
- Kahlo and Rivera supported Leon Trotsky, securing his asylum in Mexico in 1937.
- Trotsky was assassinated by Ramón Mercader on August 21, 1940, in Mexico City.
- Kahlo died on July 13, 1954, and was cremated with a hammer-and-sickle flag.
Entities
Artists
- Frida Kahlo
- Diego Rivera
- David Alfaro Siqueiros
- Leon Trotsky
- Natalia Sedova
- Iosif Grigulevich
- Ramón Mercader
- Sigmund Freud
- Vladimir Lenin
- Karl Marx
- Mahatma Gandhi
- Joseph Stalin
- Adolf Hitler
- Lázaro Cárdenas
Institutions
- Mexican Communist Party
- Rockefeller Center
- Palacio de Bellas Artes
- Panteón Civil de Dolores
- La Casa Azul
Locations
- Mexico City
- Mexico
- United States
- San Ángel
- Soviet Union