I love her for never bowing to convention...she once went to a party in New York and all the ladies were wearing satin gowns and diamonds, and Frida walked in wearing her beautiful colorful Mexican cottons with ribbons and flowers in her hair...such a powerful woman. She was so beautiful.
Her outfits had a lot to do with her respect for the average working class in Mexico. She wanted to show everyone her solidarity with the workers movement, and traditional style. She was a non conformist and also a communist.
"Mainly known as Diego Rivera's wife in her lifetime, it wasn't until her work was rediscovered by art historians and feminists that we now think of Diego as Frida Kahlo's husband." This got me screaming cathartically inside, "attagirl!!!!!!!!"
I went to visit her house in Mexico City now a museum. It was wild. So colourful and very eclectic. Cluttered and decorative. Canary yellow walls with pictures of Mao on her bedroom wall. It was an unreal experience actually walking through the house where she lived and worked towards the end of her life.
@@NobleWolf33I’m guessing she was a communist atheist. She didn’t believe in religion and had communist propaganda and symbols. Wonder why she would take that route? Communism is terrible.
Hi! At 3:42 he talks about her cutting her hair and a photo is shown. I just wanted people to know that that photo is actually a family photo that was taken in 1924. There is however, a very famous painting that Frida Kahlo did called Self-Portrait with Cropped Hair that was painted in 1940, a year after her divorce and that is shown at 10:27. I think this channel is doing a great job at engaging people and teaching them more about art and the history around the art world! I'm just trying to help by clearing up something that could confuse someone
So compelling and entertaining. Another great episode that brings artists and their art to life - with fascinating insight and illuminating commentary. I learnt loads, as ever!
For me not .she was arrogant and she ate human meat 🥩 and she was not folloylaw rules . She was bipolar person. People from Mexico knows the she was a bad person narcissist
The fact that the most famous female painter is a disabled openly bisexual Jewish-Mexican woman who became famous on her own terms and not just because she was Diego’s wife is the coolest thing to me. Her life was marred with struggles and tragedy and yet she was able to express it so beautifully and fight for her place in the spotlight in a male-dominated field. I have so much respect for her it’s unreal.
Yus!! Been waiting for more people to recognize this incredible Ladino & Sephardi Mexican feminist activist & artist who was so far ahead of her time, that the world's apparently still not ready! People still get stuck in a loop refusing to digest Megdalena Carmen Frida Kahlo y Calderón's complex culture and life experience. Further, she fell in love with Leon Trotsky, and her most famous self-portrait was painted for him. Diego Rivera was also a Jewish-Mexican (Ladino), but a Converso. Like so many Conversos, he embraced his Jewish heritage, wanting to right the wrong of his family's forced conversion, and tried to encourage more like him to live in the open as they really are: "My Jewishness is the dominant element in my life. From this has come my sympathy with the downtrodden masses, which motivates all my work." - Diego Rivera, 1935 All of this accomplished by Jews of color in the 1930s & 1940s, in spite of Jewish persecution in Europe; they proudly stood behind their identities & their people. This, despite the massacres that plagued Mexico City's first 300 yrs, continuing the Spanish Inquisitions against Conversos believed to be practicing Judaism in secret; and the new type of Inquisition spreading throughout German colonies South America when the NSDAP came to power. They risked everything as Axis spies encroached on Mexico as one of several planned invasion points into the US, and as Stalin embedded an NKVD agent into their inner circle, who'd ultimately assassinate Trotsky.
@@Andreaagutierrez Frida's father was a Jewish-German emigrant, and mother mixed Spanish and indigenous Mexican Converso (Jews force converted to Catholicism during 400 yrs of Inquisitions). That's as far as anyone can logically define "what" Frida is by way of tracing her family's place in a world of rapidly changing borders, social upheaval, and cyclical bouts of Antisemitic persecution globally with "peace time" often few and far between, and still plagued with discrimination. Further, thought-out just the Inquisitions and Holocaust, Jewish records were plundered, destroyed, and hoarded by hostile governments that presently deny their existence as they live under lock & key. Information and personal familial records, are nothing but a weapon stowed away by primarily the modern-day British, German, Spanish, and Russian states. We're not simply talking the theft of census and immigration records, or even Synagogue membership or Converso data - but all records of human existence (i.e. birth certificates, education, residence, employment, paystubs, IDs, deeds, business registration, licenses & certifications, property & tax records, citizenship, gravestones, photographs, autobiographies, journals, writings, academic research, awards, memberships, military service, bank accounts, life insurance policies - and everything else that society uses to discern and confirm that you, in-fact, existed, and where and when you existed) being wholesale collected by state authorities stateside, in all colonies, legally/illegally annexed lands & territories; and countless "temporarily" invaded or permanently destroyed states, duchies, and kingdoms - either hidden or destroyed, on Jewish populations worldwide, virtually non-stop for nearly 2,000 years. So, when you inquire about a Jewish figure's identity, especially a beloved figure like Frida where ideology intentionally obfuscates and manipulates what little is actually known to the public as fact (meaning shared by that figure in their lifetime), and request it to be defined by state & regional borders with long bloody histories displacing indigenous people, vast eras of changing rulers colonizing the same land, and imperialization of minds by state religion & nationalism - there's only, at best (very rarely) up to 3 generations of their family's emigration records (full of misspellings & errors due to language barriers) and/or ship manifests (ships only show where & when one was finally able to obtain safe travel, and when/where they landed). These records don't capture the migrations many times over (there's never a final destination for a persecuted refugee), and today, most historic Jewish villages and ghettos worldwide have been renamed. Then, add to that the fact that Jews didn't have surnames until they were forced by the state starting in the Middle Ages. Surnames, at best, reveal a job someone held (e.g. Schwartzmann = "black man" = blacksmith), or where they lived at one point (e.g. Wolinksy = Volynskyi = Novohrad-Volynskyi, Ukraine = Zviahel, Ukraine). To define someone holding two immovable ethnicities: Jewish and part-Indigenous Mexican, by the present-day name of the state their parents fled unspeakable brutality from, is not only inaccurate; it's wholly irrelevant. It's the wrong question to ask for the jump. Borders don't define human beings. Only our roots and ethnicity, for those who have them, can inform assumptions about our ancestors. What makes an ethnic or cultural identity is actually the shared persecution experienced for generations because solely on their cultural differences - often comparatively relative to the "norms" and so-called "values" of colonizers long long ago. Persecution causes people to cling to their identity, because it's being used as justification for barbarism and injustice against Innocents, and thus the only power a powerless people can wield is to hold on to that culture as rebellion against the colonizers & rulers sending armies, or spreading pan-nationalistic ideology; to destroy. Understand that Frida was most prominent during the Holocaust. Her written communications with her father demonstrate how cryptic they had to be, for both of their safety; never getting to outright discuss their fears eating them alive, nor any memory that involved religious practice. Only frequent mentions Guillermo Kahlo's "prayers to God" for the well-being of his beloved daughter, "Frieducha," without any further religious context, can be found. Self-censorship. And for good reason... Because obviously these letters became public. The Holocaust, contrary to popular belief, wasn't restricted to Europe. Throughout South American and North African colonies of Germany, Italy, Spain, and Britain, (not to mention the massive Soviet operation under the secret German-Soviet Motolotov-Ribbentrop Pact that didn't end in 1945 and goes completely unacknowledged by mainstream historians) - the Holocaust thrived in the shadows of the largely European theater of World War II, starting as early as 1932. Why would Allied leaders draw attention to all the countries across the Mediterranean and Atlantic they didn't liberate? Or acknowledge the atrocities in all collaborationist/Axis nations intentionally misbranded as "neutral"... Or even "Allies?" "Allied" simply means "ally of Britain." Same since WWI and even earlier. Britian acted more as an Axis power until their friend "Blitzed" them for mouthing off about "we gave you Czechoslovakia, if you invade Poland we'll have to declare war... even if we don't mean it." This was also further enabled due to the simple fact that the Allies never fought against the destruction of Jews, and for most nations, it was never a primary or even secondary concern. But for the very few American leaders who did care, it was a liability to be seen as caring due to Antisemitic conspiracy theories calling FDR a "secret Jew" whose "real name" these uncreative losers speculated must be "Rosenfeld" (instead of Roosevelt, get it? Because apparently all Jews wear identifying surnames like a yellow stars of David). With the further expulsion of Middle Eastern Jews starting most aggressively in 1948, even more records and ancient villages and Synagogues have been destroyed and/or hoarded and used as bargaining chips. My family spent years doing our genealogy, and it left us with more questions than answers. European relatives showed up "disappeared" between 1941-1942, including two 1 year old infants, a 16 year old drafted into Red Army without a weapon during Barbarossa; 33 in all dead just under that one surname that's unique to only my family - only discovered when Russia handed over some more records locked-up in the Kremlin, to Israel in 2018... That took years to digitize and translate. The records tell us nothing about where they're from beyond the last ghetto or "transit camp" they were held in. All our records in the Middle East - impossible. We go based on the few family stories, languages, and ship manifests. Fleeing Europe doesn't make you European - just like the push & pull for Mexican identity between the Spaniards, indigenous Mexicans, and lesser known ethnic "tribes." Countless Mexicans are more European than Latino, but nobody calls those people out nor digs into their ancestry unless they're JEWISH. Let's not whitewash Frida for being the daughter of refugees, with one side being part indigenous to the land, not simply the state, of Mexico. There are many native ethnic groups besides just the prevailing Aztecs & Mayans.
Always thought she challenged the modern way of viewing beauty and I like it because I myself have some dark features and love my moustache but now that I understand the story behind her paintings and suffering, I m so much impressed than ever.. May she rest in peace.
Wait? She's the most famous female painter? 😲 Wow. Now that I think about it I can't name another famous female painter from the top of my head. I can name male painters like Picasso, Monet, Van Gogh easily but I only know about Kahlo and that's because I'm Mexican too. We definitely need more female painters.
The only ones that come to mind for me are Emily Carr, Maud Lewis and Grandma Moses. It is stunning sad how so many talented women have gone unrecognized.
@Twitty Fatcat - A mere sampling of women artists that I know of --- The woman who created the Bayeux Tapestry (their names may not be known, but their work certainly is), Artemisia Gentileschi, Judith Leyster, Elisabeth Vigee-Le Brun, Mary Cassatt, Yayoi Kusama. I wish there were more globally located women on my list.
I was able to see this painting at the Museum of Modern Art in Mexico City, where it is currently exposed, and it is absolutely impressive. Pictures do not make any justice. It has so much texture and volume that even from the distance it looks like its coming out of the frame into life.
@@janetownley I know you’re a troll but you’re probably also the kind of person that would look at a Pollock or Rothko and say “I could have done that”. 🤣
Yes agreed that song Paloma Negra is so incredibly powerful in the scene where she’s drinking and cutting her hair raging over Rivera’s constant infidelities.
Selma hyek went through so much to get that movie produced- Weinstein was being his disgusting self to her so essentially she had to overcome the male Hollywood dominance but in the end it was worth it.
Frida Kahlo had a way to express both her love for life and her suffering in her artwork, she displayed her strength and frailty in a way that you could some times fee it yourself. I’ve always found her paintings captivating in a bewitching way.
I’d describe myself as a mediocre art aficionado at best. I do not possess the sophisticated language others use to critique art at an art gallery. And if you ask me to draw or paint something, I doodle sticks and wiggles. But when I look at a piece of art, something about it moves me. Sometimes I cry, I laugh, I cringe, I relate, I get excited, and even aroused depending on the subject matter. This is why I go to art galleries, for my own pleasure by letting art speak to my emotions in ways I cannot explain. So thank you to the maker of these videos for you, sr., just add an extra layer of appreciation to my truly humble understanding of art. Thank you sr.!
@@rpb3348 yes it is from a technical standpoint. But Frida is transcendental my friend, you may not like her paintings the same way you don't like suffering. Her art is tragic, and awfully truthful.
When I think about Frida Kahlo, I can’t help but wonder: how many other people, people with multiethnic backgrounds or non heterosexual/gender-confirming identities, artists have been lost to history? How many didn’t have Kahlo’s support system or their works were destroyed?
More than one can comprehend. Further, the same happened in Science, literature, philosophy, medicine, and music. Intolerant doctrine and ideology, has stifled and held back scientific and medical advancement for generations - and countless inventions, books, and theories that define our society today were stolen from countless persecuted ethnic/cultural groups. Just the creation of Lutheranism around 1542, held back science for a low estimate of 200 years - because science disproves primarily Christian doctrine. Then see the loudest voices of the Enlightenment cut down Jewish intellectuals, banning them from teaching and criminalizing their writing for up to 20 years at a time because they continued to criticize counter-intellectual movements in science and philosophy that preached Spiritualism, aka the belief in creation of all that mankind can't figure out by the Divine and thus "faith" and "belief" can't be removed from any hypothesis or theory - branding people who exercised too much free thought as "self-centered and indulgent" - leading to an Enlightenment Inquisition of so-called "Atheists" like Spinoza accused of essentially "heresy" against philosophy itself... And by atheist, they always meant "Jewish" because most famous Enlightenment figures (many being appointed to their positions of prestige by the state, no less) realized it started to look bad outside of Europe to be so blatantly Antisemitic. The Germans, for example, get credited with all their "enginuity," but they blatantly stole inventions from Jews, kept Freud's most important unpublished work under lock and key after he fled Austria with nothing but the clothes on his back to a reluctant London in 1938 (only to die a year later), and Einstein was almost killed 4 times during his weeks long escape to the US after months and months and months of trying to secure a work visa from a non-Jewish University to get around the antisemitic Immigration Act of 1924 virtually barring all Jewish emigration just in time for the Holocaust. The Theory of Relativity, nuclear science itself, and much more, would also be credited to the Nazis, had Einstein not escaped. Just imagine how many Einsteins were systematically kidnapped and killed at Dachau, starting years before the NSDAP gained control over Germany.
Was going out with my girlfriend one night and commented that her outfit reminded me of Kahlo, she excused herself and when she came back she had penciled in a monobrow and we went out like that
Thankyou for sharing this. I watched it whilst soaking in the tub at 3:06 a.m.. My right leg was injured in a accident with my horses when they got spooked in their stall, knocked me down and trampled me until I finally pulled myself up by grabbing onto one of their long tails. That was 15 years ago. Sometimes at night my right hip and leg are on FIRE with pain even with all the meds I take sometimes nothing else works but getting into the tub and soaking for several hours. Frida has been an inspiration to me for decades but after my accident I really began to relate to the constant pain that can either KILL your very SOUL or you can use the pain and the visions that come from the undying pain that you can Express your feelings on canvas and with your writing. Thankyou again for sharing this information about Frida with us. Peace. ✌❤🇨🇦🐈
@@GreatArtExplained Wow, you actually replied! Thankyou. Yes it was a crazy experience. But sometimes it takes those dramatic changes along your path that Really open your eyes. Freda has always had a place in my heart long before my trampling. . After the accident, I have been laid up. So I started to appreciate painting my pain gave me relief. I finally got that she too must have got great relief in focusing on painting where the Pain and constant Torture lived in her body. Stupidly I showed my paintings to one of my Doctors. In the painting I had removed my right leg and it was hanging behind me in my room, while I am finally able to relax on my bed in the foreground. I was showed him the painting so he could see what techniques was finding useful in dealing with the debilitating constant raw pain late at night. Let's say he wasn't a fan, and he has never had another appointment with me again. Bwahahah! I thought it was positive that the painting of my pain was actually helping me. It focused me so much on the details of where the pain lives inside me that it oddly helped me deal with it. Clearly he didn't see it as a good thing. Bwahahah. I have suggested trying to paint to pain to others who have chronic pain as a way of dealing with it. Sadly Most people just prefer to Zone out on the heavy meds they give you to try and cope. These Heavy meds only move the pain to another room in the house that is my body. They don't ever really get rid of the pain though. Again thanks for sharing this video. It really helped me tonight! Peace 🙏 🇨🇦🐈
Hi! I work at La Casa Azul. I loved your video, thank you for sharing about Frida. The picture shown at 9:30 is not Frida's corset, that's a high couture dress inspired by Frida.
I love the spirit of Frieda eventhough she was a sufferer. I have an art book of all her work-- right down to scrap paper drawing and water colorings. I cherish this book. It has made many a subject of conversations sitting on my cocktail table.
Chris Martin told Rolling Stone that he named Coldplay's album and song " Viva la vida" after he saw the phrase on a painting by Frida Kahlo. Amazing video! I learned a lot about Frida. x
thank you for also talking about her disability in this film! i sometimes forget that not only was she a woman and POC, she also talked about her disability in her own art.
I had the privilege of seeing the 'Making Herself Up' exhibition at the V&A in 2018. It was so stunning, so inspiring. She coped with so much pain and heartache. From her smallest retablos to a massive display of her dresses, it really showed the character of Frida. Her prosthetic legs and shoes were decorated in the same vibrant colours of her clothing. I stood in front of her 'Self Portrait on the Border of Mexico and the United States of America' for what seemed like hours. Thank you for this insight into the artist, I truly enjoyed it.
I can't begin to explain how much I love this woman. When I think of her and her art I feel such a warmth and joy In my heart. She inspires me on my everyday life.
The leather corsets said to be used by Frida were not hers nor used by her. They were art pieces designed by Jean Paul Gaultier for the opening of the “Appearances Can Be Deceiving” exhibit at La Casa Azul in Coyoacán, México City.
I’m just discovering this amazing channel! As an Art History and Religious Studies graduate, I would say that Frida Khalo will always be the most important influence on my life in terms of inspiring the direction of my career and studies. When I first discovered Frida’s art, I was 5 years old and ever since it’s felt as if my entire being had been infiltrated by her essence…it’s an inexplicable connection that I’ve never questioned, though it’s remained a haunting aspect of my life. I nearly cry every time I see anything about her…she was so beautiful, free, vibrant, yet so deeply wounded and fragile. I love her as if she were my family. Thank you so much for this amazing piece!
Yes Frida is an avatar and an example for us especially those who suffer. How to fight creatively. I was asked and have been doing presentations "Frida Collaged and Me Too" for many years.
Oh wow man, you're amazing! I've never been a huge fan of art history, but your explanation and interpretation of these great paintings are so intriguing that I watched for hours nonstop. I learned so much and am definitely gonna keep watching your other videos. By the way, your ending sentence is very touching. Love it. Keep up the great work!
YOUR WORK IS GENIUS AND SHOULD BE RECOGNIZED. These videos are enlightening as well as inspiring and should be included in the regular coursework of students. Does anyone else agree?
I was looking for 15-20 min art videos. And I've found them. Thankfully to you now I realise that I want 1,5 hour long videos! Huge thank you for your work 🧡
My Mexican female friends all revere Frida, and rightly so. It’s awesome to see a strong woman overcome so many obstacles to become an artistic and cultural icon. Bravo, Frida. Bravo!
I’ve never particularly liked Frida Kahlo’s paintings, but her life story is gut wrenchingly compelling and in that sense her paintings are the same. I’m watching your videos every time I can take time for RUclips and so pleased you manage to pack so much into fifteen minutes! I’m sharing this one with a friend who’s a huge Kahlo fan. 😊
I absolutely love your channel. Thank you so much for the amazing work. There is one thing I’d like to add about this piece. Frida is believed to have had Borderline Personality Disorder. Although incredible human beings, they suffer frequent emotional shiftings. This would represent her two selves - herself. Incredible painting of a reality that couldn’t be captured in a classic portrait.
The videos are the anxiety relieving content we need these days. My only suggestion- the audio on most videos are off at places when it starts with a fresh narrative (omitted beginning words or unheard). Everything else is just perfect!
13:36 hi, I did the conversion + inflation. The National Institute of Fine Arts in Mexico paid Frida $11,877 in today's USD for her painting. disclaimer, im not a math person
I just happened to find your channel and I’m so glad I did, I love learning about the history of artists and their work, Frida is one of my favorites! I also enjoy your interpretations, thank you for your content!
There’s something so present about Frieda, even in black and white where things and people seem to be aged with time, she never seems to be. It feels as if she’s right there looking back at you from whatever year you’re in on this earth. She’s always amazed me that way.
I have seen numerous works of Frida in San Francisco, Reno, and Los Angeles. You cannot underestimate her talent as the most famous female painter in the world. You will be blown away by the passion of her art.
Thank you for making this really. I just came back from reading other articles about art, but it's very much biased. This is very packed with information and neutral yet passionate. Thank you !
Even as a child, Kahlo was strong willed because she didn't let her thinned leg from polio at age 5 stop her from playing sports and attending the National Prep school in Mexico(she wanted to be a doctor before she became an artist).
Great Art Explained totally unique merchandise available here - crowdmade.com/collections/greatartexplained
Someone give this guy a TV show and book contract!
Ha! Thanks so much!
Couldn't agree more. These are excellent.
TV's dead. All the quality content is on youtube.
Exactly
Ay no, porfavor
I love her for never bowing to convention...she once went to a party in New York and all the ladies were wearing satin gowns and diamonds, and Frida walked in wearing her beautiful colorful Mexican cottons with ribbons and flowers in her hair...such a powerful woman. She was so beautiful.
Great story! Thanks 🙏
@@GreatArtExplained I think the reason why she was a gender non-comformist is because her dad wanted a son and Kahlo had 3 other sisters.
@Dennis Lee Frida was wearing a Rebozo. Mexican hand made shawl. Regards from Mexico 🇲🇽
Her outfits had a lot to do with her respect for the average working class in Mexico. She wanted to show everyone her solidarity with the workers movement, and traditional style. She was a non conformist and also a communist.
She has to be a fucking Leo rising 😂😂😂
i hadn't even considered the skin tone differences in "The Two Fridas" adds such an intensity to the painting, thank you!
That's a very small detail perhaps, but i love how respectful your language towards every artist is, no matter who they are
Thanks so much - I appreciate the comment 🙏
"Mainly known as Diego Rivera's wife in her lifetime, it wasn't until her work was rediscovered by art historians and feminists that we now think of Diego as Frida Kahlo's husband."
This got me screaming cathartically inside, "attagirl!!!!!!!!"
Same!!!
chilllllsssss!
Me too!!!!
Brilliantly put!!!
It gave me a surge of lighting energy. Such a great way to conclude.
I went to visit her house in Mexico City now a museum. It was wild. So colourful and very eclectic. Cluttered and decorative. Canary yellow walls with pictures of Mao on her bedroom wall. It was an unreal experience actually walking through the house where she lived and worked towards the end of her life.
I went to the house - amazing!
Isn’t it?
Mao? As in Mao zingdong?
@@NobleWolf33 Yup.
@@NobleWolf33I’m guessing she was a communist atheist. She didn’t believe in religion and had communist propaganda and symbols. Wonder why she would take that route? Communism is terrible.
“May my exit be enjoyable and may I never return.” This was Frieda’s remarks before she died.
Hi! At 3:42 he talks about her cutting her hair and a photo is shown. I just wanted people to know that that photo is actually a family photo that was taken in 1924. There is however, a very famous painting that Frida Kahlo did called Self-Portrait with Cropped Hair that was painted in 1940, a year after her divorce and that is shown at 10:27. I think this channel is doing a great job at engaging people and teaching them more about art and the history around the art world! I'm just trying to help by clearing up something that could confuse someone
I noticed that discrepancy in the vid too, but you've documented the details much better than I could... Thanx
I always wondered what the big deal was about Frida Kahlo. These little films really made me change my view on art. Brilliant as always James x
Thank you!
@Rachel James you sad little woman.
@Rachel James I agree. It’s ugliness for its own sake.
@@sybo59 you and your “cohort”know nothing which is why you compliment each other so…
@Rachel James you obviously need attention, this explains your tactless comment
So compelling and entertaining. Another great episode that brings artists and their art to life - with fascinating insight and illuminating commentary. I learnt loads, as ever!
Thanks so much for the comment - glad you enjoyed it!
@@GreatArtExplained Look how many likes!
True about Frida Kahlo: ruclips.net/video/pFfb-BqG5uM/видео.html
Thank you for making this video. She has been such an inspiration and her life influenced my art career. I always enjoy watching videos about her
Thanks for watching 🙏
For me not .she was arrogant and she ate human meat 🥩 and she was not folloylaw rules . She was bipolar person. People from Mexico knows the she was a bad person narcissist
🤣🤣🤣
@@hope5047 ok
@@hope5047 LMAO
The fact that the most famous female painter is a disabled openly bisexual Jewish-Mexican woman who became famous on her own terms and not just because she was Diego’s wife is the coolest thing to me. Her life was marred with struggles and tragedy and yet she was able to express it so beautifully and fight for her place in the spotlight in a male-dominated field. I have so much respect for her it’s unreal.
Isn’t she half German and Oaxacan?
Yus!! Been waiting for more people to recognize this incredible Ladino & Sephardi Mexican feminist activist & artist who was so far ahead of her time, that the world's apparently still not ready! People still get stuck in a loop refusing to digest Megdalena Carmen Frida Kahlo y Calderón's complex culture and life experience.
Further, she fell in love with Leon Trotsky, and her most famous self-portrait was painted for him.
Diego Rivera was also a Jewish-Mexican (Ladino), but a Converso. Like so many Conversos, he embraced his Jewish heritage, wanting to right the wrong of his family's forced conversion, and tried to encourage more like him to live in the open as they really are:
"My Jewishness is the dominant element in my life. From this has come my sympathy with the downtrodden masses, which motivates all my work." - Diego Rivera, 1935
All of this accomplished by Jews of color in the 1930s & 1940s, in spite of Jewish persecution in Europe; they proudly stood behind their identities & their people. This, despite the massacres that plagued Mexico City's first 300 yrs, continuing the Spanish Inquisitions against Conversos believed to be practicing Judaism in secret; and the new type of Inquisition spreading throughout German colonies South America when the NSDAP came to power. They risked everything as Axis spies encroached on Mexico as one of several planned invasion points into the US, and as Stalin embedded an NKVD agent into their inner circle, who'd ultimately assassinate Trotsky.
@@Andreaagutierrez Frida's father was a Jewish-German emigrant, and mother mixed Spanish and indigenous Mexican Converso (Jews force converted to Catholicism during 400 yrs of Inquisitions). That's as far as anyone can logically define "what" Frida is by way of tracing her family's place in a world of rapidly changing borders, social upheaval, and cyclical bouts of Antisemitic persecution globally with "peace time" often few and far between, and still plagued with discrimination. Further, thought-out just the Inquisitions and Holocaust, Jewish records were plundered, destroyed, and hoarded by hostile governments that presently deny their existence as they live under lock & key. Information and personal familial records, are nothing but a weapon stowed away by primarily the modern-day British, German, Spanish, and Russian states. We're not simply talking the theft of census and immigration records, or even Synagogue membership or Converso data - but all records of human existence (i.e. birth certificates, education, residence, employment, paystubs, IDs, deeds, business registration, licenses & certifications, property & tax records, citizenship, gravestones, photographs, autobiographies, journals, writings, academic research, awards, memberships, military service, bank accounts, life insurance policies - and everything else that society uses to discern and confirm that you, in-fact, existed, and where and when you existed) being wholesale collected by state authorities stateside, in all colonies, legally/illegally annexed lands & territories; and countless "temporarily" invaded or permanently destroyed states, duchies, and kingdoms - either hidden or destroyed, on Jewish populations worldwide, virtually non-stop for nearly 2,000 years.
So, when you inquire about a Jewish figure's identity, especially a beloved figure like Frida where ideology intentionally obfuscates and manipulates what little is actually known to the public as fact (meaning shared by that figure in their lifetime), and request it to be defined by state & regional borders with long bloody histories displacing indigenous people, vast eras of changing rulers colonizing the same land, and imperialization of minds by state religion & nationalism - there's only, at best (very rarely) up to 3 generations of their family's emigration records (full of misspellings & errors due to language barriers) and/or ship manifests (ships only show where & when one was finally able to obtain safe travel, and when/where they landed). These records don't capture the migrations many times over (there's never a final destination for a persecuted refugee), and today, most historic Jewish villages and ghettos worldwide have been renamed. Then, add to that the fact that Jews didn't have surnames until they were forced by the state starting in the Middle Ages. Surnames, at best, reveal a job someone held (e.g. Schwartzmann = "black man" = blacksmith), or where they lived at one point (e.g. Wolinksy = Volynskyi = Novohrad-Volynskyi, Ukraine = Zviahel, Ukraine).
To define someone holding two immovable ethnicities: Jewish and part-Indigenous Mexican, by the present-day name of the state their parents fled unspeakable brutality from, is not only inaccurate; it's wholly irrelevant. It's the wrong question to ask for the jump. Borders don't define human beings. Only our roots and ethnicity, for those who have them, can inform assumptions about our ancestors. What makes an ethnic or cultural identity is actually the shared persecution experienced for generations because solely on their cultural differences - often comparatively relative to the "norms" and so-called "values" of colonizers long long ago. Persecution causes people to cling to their identity, because it's being used as justification for barbarism and injustice against Innocents, and thus the only power a powerless people can wield is to hold on to that culture as rebellion against the colonizers & rulers sending armies, or spreading pan-nationalistic ideology; to destroy.
Understand that Frida was most prominent during the Holocaust. Her written communications with her father demonstrate how cryptic they had to be, for both of their safety; never getting to outright discuss their fears eating them alive, nor any memory that involved religious practice. Only frequent mentions Guillermo Kahlo's "prayers to God" for the well-being of his beloved daughter, "Frieducha," without any further religious context, can be found. Self-censorship. And for good reason... Because obviously these letters became public.
The Holocaust, contrary to popular belief, wasn't restricted to Europe. Throughout South American and North African colonies of Germany, Italy, Spain, and Britain, (not to mention the massive Soviet operation under the secret German-Soviet Motolotov-Ribbentrop Pact that didn't end in 1945 and goes completely unacknowledged by mainstream historians) - the Holocaust thrived in the shadows of the largely European theater of World War II, starting as early as 1932. Why would Allied leaders draw attention to all the countries across the Mediterranean and Atlantic they didn't liberate? Or acknowledge the atrocities in all collaborationist/Axis nations intentionally misbranded as "neutral"... Or even "Allies?" "Allied" simply means "ally of Britain." Same since WWI and even earlier. Britian acted more as an Axis power until their friend "Blitzed" them for mouthing off about "we gave you Czechoslovakia, if you invade Poland we'll have to declare war... even if we don't mean it." This was also further enabled due to the simple fact that the Allies never fought against the destruction of Jews, and for most nations, it was never a primary or even secondary concern. But for the very few American leaders who did care, it was a liability to be seen as caring due to Antisemitic conspiracy theories calling FDR a "secret Jew" whose "real name" these uncreative losers speculated must be "Rosenfeld" (instead of Roosevelt, get it? Because apparently all Jews wear identifying surnames like a yellow stars of David).
With the further expulsion of Middle Eastern Jews starting most aggressively in 1948, even more records and ancient villages and Synagogues have been destroyed and/or hoarded and used as bargaining chips. My family spent years doing our genealogy, and it left us with more questions than answers. European relatives showed up "disappeared" between 1941-1942, including two 1 year old infants, a 16 year old drafted into Red Army without a weapon during Barbarossa; 33 in all dead just under that one surname that's unique to only my family - only discovered when Russia handed over some more records locked-up in the Kremlin, to Israel in 2018... That took years to digitize and translate. The records tell us nothing about where they're from beyond the last ghetto or "transit camp" they were held in. All our records in the Middle East - impossible. We go based on the few family stories, languages, and ship manifests. Fleeing Europe doesn't make you European - just like the push & pull for Mexican identity between the Spaniards, indigenous Mexicans, and lesser known ethnic "tribes." Countless Mexicans are more European than Latino, but nobody calls those people out nor digs into their ancestry unless they're JEWISH. Let's not whitewash Frida for being the daughter of refugees, with one side being part indigenous to the land, not simply the state, of Mexico. There are many native ethnic groups besides just the prevailing Aztecs & Mayans.
Yes I agree ❤ she was so beyond her time
Who did she fight with in the art community?
Always thought she challenged the modern way of viewing beauty and I like it because I myself have some dark features and love my moustache but now that I understand the story behind her paintings and suffering, I m so much impressed than ever.. May she rest in peace.
Love that Corpse profile picture! :D
I really hope we're moving towards a time when we give female artists the recognition and respect they deserve before they've died
Even male artists don’t get that so… probably not
Wait? She's the most famous female painter? 😲 Wow. Now that I think about it I can't name another famous female painter from the top of my head. I can name male painters like Picasso, Monet, Van Gogh easily but I only know about Kahlo and that's because I'm Mexican too. We definitely need more female painters.
The only ones that come to mind for me are Emily Carr, Maud Lewis and Grandma Moses. It is stunning sad how so many talented women have gone unrecognized.
check out zinaida serebriakova, she was brilliant.
Georgia 'O Keefe
@@goldmother2238 Georgia came to my mind too, I love her work.
@Twitty Fatcat - A mere sampling of women artists that I know of --- The woman who created the Bayeux Tapestry (their names may not be known, but their work certainly is), Artemisia Gentileschi, Judith Leyster, Elisabeth Vigee-Le Brun, Mary Cassatt, Yayoi Kusama. I wish there were more globally located women on my list.
I was able to see this painting at the Museum of Modern Art in Mexico City, where it is currently exposed, and it is absolutely impressive. Pictures do not make any justice. It has so much texture and volume that even from the distance it looks like its coming out of the frame into life.
The movie _Frida_ is extraordinary. It is beautifully photographed, and the music is exquisite.
@@janetownley ..who has to ask? The comment section is open for a reason.
@@janetownley I know you’re a troll but you’re probably also the kind of person that would look at a Pollock or Rothko and say “I could have done that”. 🤣
Yes agreed that song Paloma Negra is so incredibly powerful in the scene where she’s drinking and cutting her hair raging over Rivera’s constant infidelities.
Selma hyek went through so much to get that movie produced- Weinstein was being his disgusting self to her so essentially she had to overcome the male Hollywood dominance but in the end it was worth it.
Y faltaron miles de estampas, más crueles que ninguna película de Cleopatra
I admire that she used her own pain and disability to make her art. And that she didn't allow that to stop her.
Frida Kahlo had a way to express both her love for life and her suffering in her artwork, she displayed her strength and frailty in a way that you could some times fee it yourself. I’ve always found her paintings captivating in a bewitching way.
I’d describe myself as a mediocre art aficionado at best. I do not possess the sophisticated language others use to critique art at an art gallery. And if you ask me to draw or paint something, I doodle sticks and wiggles. But when I look at a piece of art, something about it moves me. Sometimes I cry, I laugh, I cringe, I relate, I get excited, and even aroused depending on the subject matter. This is why I go to art galleries, for my own pleasure by letting art speak to my emotions in ways I cannot explain. So thank you to the maker of these videos for you, sr., just add an extra layer of appreciation to my truly humble understanding of art. Thank you sr.!
Yay we at least got one for the world history to remember us! 🇲🇽🇲🇽
🇲🇽
We have a lot more than one lol
Such a great mini-documentary film. And I love how she is now so much more famous than Diego Rivera. Brilliant as always, James. (Andrea)
Thanks so much! I loved making this one!
The muralism of Diego is much more better and interesting than the selfish Frida's paintings
@@rpb3348 yes it is from a technical standpoint. But Frida is transcendental my friend, you may not like her paintings the same way you don't like suffering. Her art is tragic, and awfully truthful.
@@rpb3348 his muralism was much better than her work over all we gotta leave gender out of it. This chick is just an over zealous feminist
@@latuya5887 "We gotta leave gender out of it" in the fist sentence. "This chick" in the second. Is this attentional irony?
Frida has inspired me & given me a roadmap to my Self.
I recommend her journal, which is a fantastic journey inward.
Thanks!
This man should have a Netflix show man it’s so good
These videos make RUclips worthwhile , superb and so well delivered .
That’s a really nice thing to say - thank you!
When I think about Frida Kahlo, I can’t help but wonder: how many other people, people with multiethnic backgrounds or non heterosexual/gender-confirming identities, artists have been lost to history? How many didn’t have Kahlo’s support system or their works were destroyed?
Way too many
I’m starting to think intersectionality is a cult.
More than one can comprehend. Further, the same happened in Science, literature, philosophy, medicine, and music. Intolerant doctrine and ideology, has stifled and held back scientific and medical advancement for generations - and countless inventions, books, and theories that define our society today were stolen from countless persecuted ethnic/cultural groups. Just the creation of Lutheranism around 1542, held back science for a low estimate of 200 years - because science disproves primarily Christian doctrine. Then see the loudest voices of the Enlightenment cut down Jewish intellectuals, banning them from teaching and criminalizing their writing for up to 20 years at a time because they continued to criticize counter-intellectual movements in science and philosophy that preached Spiritualism, aka the belief in creation of all that mankind can't figure out by the Divine and thus "faith" and "belief" can't be removed from any hypothesis or theory - branding people who exercised too much free thought as "self-centered and indulgent" - leading to an Enlightenment Inquisition of so-called "Atheists" like Spinoza accused of essentially "heresy" against philosophy itself... And by atheist, they always meant "Jewish" because most famous Enlightenment figures (many being appointed to their positions of prestige by the state, no less) realized it started to look bad outside of Europe to be so blatantly Antisemitic.
The Germans, for example, get credited with all their "enginuity," but they blatantly stole inventions from Jews, kept Freud's most important unpublished work under lock and key after he fled Austria with nothing but the clothes on his back to a reluctant London in 1938 (only to die a year later), and Einstein was almost killed 4 times during his weeks long escape to the US after months and months and months of trying to secure a work visa from a non-Jewish University to get around the antisemitic Immigration Act of 1924 virtually barring all Jewish emigration just in time for the Holocaust. The Theory of Relativity, nuclear science itself, and much more, would also be credited to the Nazis, had Einstein not escaped. Just imagine how many Einsteins were systematically kidnapped and killed at Dachau, starting years before the NSDAP gained control over Germany.
Leonardo Davinci was gay and a genius.
Was going out with my girlfriend one night and commented that her outfit reminded me of Kahlo, she excused herself and when she came back she had penciled in a monobrow and we went out like that
Queen!
Thankyou for sharing this.
I watched it whilst soaking in the tub at 3:06 a.m..
My right leg was injured in a accident with my horses when they got spooked in their stall, knocked me down and trampled me until I finally pulled myself up by grabbing onto one of their long tails.
That was 15 years ago.
Sometimes at night my right hip and leg are on FIRE with pain even with all the meds I take sometimes nothing else works but getting into the tub and soaking for several hours.
Frida has been an inspiration to me for decades but after my accident I really began to relate to the constant pain that can either KILL your very SOUL or you can use the pain and the visions that come from the undying pain that you can Express your feelings on canvas and with your writing.
Thankyou again for sharing this information about Frida with us.
Peace.
✌❤🇨🇦🐈
Oh my gosh, what a story! Glad that frida is an inspiration. Thanks 🙏
@@GreatArtExplained Wow, you actually replied!
Thankyou.
Yes it was a crazy experience.
But sometimes it takes those dramatic changes along your path that Really open your eyes.
Freda has always had a place in my heart long before my trampling. .
After the accident, I have been laid up.
So I started to appreciate painting my pain gave me relief.
I finally got that she too must have got great relief in focusing on painting where the Pain and constant Torture lived in her body.
Stupidly I showed my paintings to one of my Doctors.
In the painting I had removed my right leg and it was hanging behind me in my room, while I am finally able to relax on my bed in the foreground.
I was showed him the painting so he could see what techniques was finding useful in dealing with the debilitating constant raw pain late at night.
Let's say he wasn't a fan, and he has never had another appointment with me again.
Bwahahah!
I thought it was positive that the painting of my pain was actually helping me.
It focused me so much on the details of where the pain lives inside me that it oddly helped me deal with it.
Clearly he didn't see it as a good thing.
Bwahahah.
I have suggested trying to paint to pain to others who have chronic pain as a way of dealing with it.
Sadly Most people just prefer to Zone out on the heavy meds they give you to try and cope.
These Heavy meds only move the pain to another room in the house that is my body. They don't ever really get rid of the pain though.
Again thanks for sharing this video. It really helped me tonight!
Peace 🙏
🇨🇦🐈
May G-d bless you
with a whole healing. REFUAH SHLEYMA...
@@asherkrupnik Thank you!💞💗🕯🙏
Hi! I work at La Casa Azul. I loved your video, thank you for sharing about Frida.
The picture shown at 9:30 is not Frida's corset, that's a high couture dress inspired by Frida.
I love the spirit of Frieda eventhough she was a sufferer. I have an art book of all her work-- right down to scrap paper drawing and water colorings. I cherish this book. It has made many a subject of conversations sitting on my cocktail table.
Chris Martin told Rolling Stone that he named Coldplay's album and song " Viva la vida" after he saw the phrase on a painting by Frida Kahlo. Amazing video! I learned a lot about Frida. x
My attitude towards art is changing because of content like this. Can’t wait to see your upcoming videos.
thank you for also talking about her disability in this film! i sometimes forget that not only was she a woman and POC, she also talked about her disability in her own art.
I had the privilege of seeing the 'Making Herself Up' exhibition at the V&A in 2018. It was so stunning, so inspiring. She coped with so much pain and heartache. From her smallest retablos to a massive display of her dresses, it really showed the character of Frida. Her prosthetic legs and shoes were decorated in the same vibrant colours of her clothing. I stood in front of her 'Self Portrait on the Border of Mexico and the United States of America' for what seemed like hours. Thank you for this insight into the artist, I truly enjoyed it.
Love this artist..the honesty smacks you in the face 😯
I can't begin to explain how much I love this woman. When I think of her and her art I feel such a warmth and joy In my heart. She inspires me on my everyday life.
Really interesting - loved the analysis of the painting "The Two Fridas".
Thanks so much - and thanks for watching!
These videos are the reason I’m passing my art class
That’s what I like to hear! 🙏
The leather corsets said to be used by Frida were not hers nor used by her. They were art pieces designed by Jean Paul Gaultier for the opening of the “Appearances Can Be Deceiving” exhibit at La Casa Azul in Coyoacán, México City.
She spoke to me through her art. I appreciate her coming to me.
Such a strong and talented woman with a tragic destiny. When I think about all her sufferings, I’m horrified. Thank you for this episode.
I’m just discovering this amazing channel! As an Art History and Religious Studies graduate, I would say that Frida Khalo will always be the most important influence on my life in terms of inspiring the direction of my career and studies. When I first discovered Frida’s art, I was 5 years old and ever since it’s felt as if my entire being had been infiltrated by her essence…it’s an inexplicable connection that I’ve never questioned, though it’s remained a haunting aspect of my life. I nearly cry every time I see anything about her…she was so beautiful, free, vibrant, yet so deeply wounded and fragile. I love her as if she were my family. Thank you so much for this amazing piece!
Today her art was auctioned in ny for 34 million making her the highest auction bid for any Latin American artist man or woman
Yes Frida is an avatar and an example for us especially those who suffer. How to fight creatively. I was asked and have been doing presentations "Frida Collaged and Me Too" for many years.
This was beautiful. Frida is one of my favourite artists of all time. Very well detailed and great presentation. Keep up the good work!
Thank you and Thanks for watching 🙏
I can't say I ever cared for her work but your narration and history lesson gives insight I wouldn't have had. Thank you!
This tells me more than I ever knew about Frida Kahlo.
Very interesting. This lady was courageous, talented, bold.
Thanks for watching 🙏
I was fortunate to see this in person at a special exhibit in the SFMOMA many years ago. It blew me away. So rich in symbolism.
Oh wow man, you're amazing! I've never been a huge fan of art history, but your explanation and interpretation of these great paintings are so intriguing that I watched for hours nonstop. I learned so much and am definitely gonna keep watching your other videos.
By the way, your ending sentence is very touching. Love it.
Keep up the great work!
YOUR WORK IS GENIUS AND SHOULD BE RECOGNIZED. These videos are enlightening as well as inspiring and should be included in the regular coursework of students. Does anyone else agree?
These videos are so illuminating and so relaxing. They give you so much to consider and think about while lowering your blood pressure! HA!
I was looking for 15-20 min art videos. And I've found them. Thankfully to you now I realise that I want 1,5 hour long videos! Huge thank you for your work 🧡
A remarkable woman and an artist - quite the force of nature! ❤️
Thank you ever so much for all you do to spread art among the hoi polloi, the interested, the dilettante and so many more... 😊
Frida and Diego are my favorites. Your channel is outstanding.
Thank You, Thank You, Thank You! You are an Inspiration of humble excellence. Thank you for your work!
My Mexican female friends all revere Frida, and rightly so.
It’s awesome to see a strong woman overcome so many obstacles to become an artistic and cultural icon.
Bravo, Frida.
Bravo!
If my teacher thought art history like you I would remember it all
It's so nice to see these influences listed .
Thank you for making this video. Frida Kahlo is one of my favourite artists, warts and all.
Thanks for watching (and for commenting)! 🙏
All of the closing sentences in these videos are so genius!!
this is EASILY one of the best channels on youtube! i thank you for your work, and anyone else involved in bringing this amazing content to us.
I’ve never particularly liked Frida Kahlo’s paintings, but her life story is gut wrenchingly compelling and in that sense her paintings are the same. I’m watching your videos every time I can take time for RUclips and so pleased you manage to pack so much into fifteen minutes! I’m sharing this one with a friend who’s a huge Kahlo fan. 😊
Thanks 🙏 that is what I am trying to do. It’s nit the “greatest” work of art, but “great” art because it is important.
I absolutely love your channel. Thank you so much for the amazing work. There is one thing I’d like to add about this piece. Frida is believed to have had Borderline Personality Disorder. Although incredible human beings, they suffer frequent emotional shiftings. This would represent her two selves - herself. Incredible painting of a reality that couldn’t be captured in a classic portrait.
Thanks for the comment 🙏
The videos are the anxiety relieving content we need these days. My only suggestion- the audio on most videos are off at places when it starts with a fresh narrative (omitted beginning words or unheard). Everything else is just perfect!
13:36 hi, I did the conversion + inflation. The National Institute of Fine Arts in Mexico paid Frida $11,877 in today's USD for her painting. disclaimer, im not a math person
I just happened to find your channel and I’m so glad I did, I love learning about the history of artists and their work, Frida is one of my favorites! I also enjoy your interpretations, thank you for your content!
Love this channel. I’m making my way through all of of the videos!
There’s something so present about Frieda, even in black and white where things and people seem to be aged with time, she never seems to be. It feels as if she’s right there looking back at you from whatever year you’re in on this earth. She’s always amazed me that way.
I love your series. I'm glad she did to scale. The Greco skies. It is her masterpiece!!
Thanks so much for commenting - and watching!
Ahh Frida! 😍 I was 6 yo when Frida Khalo 2002 biopic came out. I have been utterly in love with her ever since
After three or four of these videos I feel so cultured, like I could walz right into the Louvre and become a tour guide
😂🤣😂🤣
I'm learning english with your work about art! I love art and add this with english will be wonderfu!
Excellent - Good luck! And thank you for watching
The two Fridas is my all time favorite painting, thanks for the in-depth analysis.
Excellent history telling and also story telling and an insight into her life and also the style of art. Brilliantly done. 🥳
Impressed by this narrative of the artist.
I'm still heartbroken I had to miss an exhibition of her art a state away from me. Thanks for making such a good exploration of this painting
Great Channel! Its actually something i've been looking for a long time! Thank you for your wonderful work!
Great explanation! Definitely one of my favorite artist, such a strong and unique soul
Exceptional analysis. Very impressive. Very enjoyable. Keep them coming.
Terrific, thank you for educating people on a great and misunderstood artist.
Thank you 🙏 for watching and commenting!
I am binging your videos and loving them so much. Frida Kahlo is a particular favorite of mine and I loved the way you described her strength.
Outstanding presentation with clear, insightful explanations. Bravo!
I am obsessed with your channel. It’s reigniting my love for art history
8th March is coming.And your making has earned a special light on Kahlo's story!It is so relevant...You are wonderful!
Ah thanks - yes please do post on social media for the 8th March 🙏
I have seen numerous works of Frida in San Francisco, Reno, and Los Angeles. You cannot underestimate her talent as the most famous female painter in the world. You will be blown away by the passion of her art.
Thank you for making this really. I just came back from reading other articles about art, but it's very much biased. This is very packed with information and neutral yet passionate. Thank you !
So much to unpack with The Two Fridas
She's a huge inspiration and a personal hero of mine
My daughter Avantika, who's a visual artist, is majorly influenced by Frida's art and life.
So thankful for the quality of your works!
Even as a child, Kahlo was strong willed because she didn't let her thinned leg from polio at age 5 stop her from playing sports and attending the National Prep school in Mexico(she wanted to be a doctor before she became an artist).
Wooow!
It is the first episode I watched. My sincere congratulations and thanks!
I will keep on watching.
And I cant emphasize this enough; I never understood any peace of art before your videos
My all time favorite artist 😍
This is just amazing. Thanks for doing it!
Fascinating and enlightening. I've always admired her and her work. Thank you.
LOVED seeing this!
Fabulous piece. I ♥️ Frida Kahlo so much. Thank you for explaining this painting 🌸