Vol. 13 No. 24 (2017): World Tensions

An outstanding feature of Frida Kahlo's work is introspection. Exploring physical and psychological traumas, Kahlo is persistent in self-portraits revealing her pain and anguish. The personal character of her production does not prevent it from being crossed by themes such as Mexican nationality, expressed in the use of typical costumes and in combining her image to the flora and fauna of her country. Frida and her husband, the muralist Diego Rivera, were leftist militants, and welcomed Trotsky and his wife when in search of exile in Mexico in 1937. Regarding the association of her work to surrealism, she adds: "I never painted dreams. What I showed was my reality."