Frida Kahlo - Influences

• Frida Kahlo's work was impacted by her divorce to her husband Diego Riveria. This is her largest canvas which shows how significant the event was. The pain of her divorce is represented by the exposed hearts and bleeding veins. the Mexican married Frida's heart and dress are hole and undamaged and connected to the image of her husband while the European unmarried Frida has an exposed heart and damaged dress bleeding onto her skirt.
• Frida's mixed German and Mexican heritage was an extremely important influence in her life, before her marriage she adopted a European style of dress, Mexican nationality was of huge importance, and once married Frida adopted a traditional style of dressing. we can see in this painting that both sides of Frida are represented by her outfits and equally important. the link between the two sides of Frida's personality is shown by the holding of hands and the intertwining veins.
• In 1939 Frida was invited to Europe to showcase her art, and while there she experienced European Renaissance and romantic Art. we can see the influence of Renaissance art in the accurate depiction of the faces and clothes in this painting and also the theme of duality which was popular in European art as a way of representing opposing ideas such as good and evil which Frida used, through painting herself twice, to represent opposing sides of her personality.
• Votive paintings are a tradition of the catholic church, these paintings with a personal story which were presented as offerings to god, either giving thanks or asking for help. Having had a devout Catholic upbringing Frida was familiar with this concept and we can see its influence in the Two Fridas which shows the pain of her divorce and perhaps she was asking God for help.