Though it wasn't the title that drew me to that movie, it was the bright colored cover with Salma Hayek wearing a fancy traditional Mexican dress.
Frida Kahlo.
One of the greatest Mexican painter whose life was so full of tragedies and pain,but blessed with love. She's facing it fearlessly and passionately and it showed in her many paintings.Strong colors, very detailed strokes. The color selections might be the result of her Mexican root, but the strokes, i believe, showed her strong and passionate personality.
What's interesting from her,many of her paintings are self-portrait and scenes from personal experiences.
"I never painted dreams. I painted my own reality."
and she was the object she knew best.
I adore her.
And God was so kind to me, on a daytrip to Hamburg around year 2006, i passed an art gallery, there was a special exhibition of Frida Kahlo's in it! I passed a 45 minutes queue just to enter the venue. But it was worth it..
Finally! i could see her paintings with my own two eyes! None of the paintings were paint on an oversized canvas (perhaps due to her condition?) some were rather small. So i needed time to look carefully and closely at each for details (she loved to paint symbolic objects).
At the first half of the exhibition,the gallery displayed her still life paintings. She seemed as if she's obsessed with fruits...though those fruits just don't stay pretty on a plate,like some other cliche still-life paintings of fruits.Some were ripped open,showing its internal bodies.Some were decayed. They're all symbolical, and it's hard to understand these paintings without knowing any background of hers. Since her art was her life on a canvas.
But at that time,knowing only limited bits of her (from a movie!!) i could quite understand what she's trying to depict.At least the intense feeling i got from looking at those pieces.uneasy feeling. It's just impossible to look at her art and feel happy.
As i moved further into the gallery, i got to the part where her most famous pieces were being displayed. And this uneasy feeling were getting more and more intense. There were two paintings that had stopped me longer than any others.The first was a piece that titled "Broken Column". Just by looking at it, you can tell that she was trying to depict her pain. How can you paint yourself like that if you've never felt any pain?She must had been in a great pain, phisically and emotionally.
The second painting was the piece she made in 1932.She entitled it "Henry Ford Hospital" or also known as "The Flying Bed".My feet were nailed to the floor right in front of this painting. I couldn't explain why, because this one was rather small and less exquisite than the others.In the contrary, my friend only spent less than ten seconds in front of this painting.As he moved to the next, he whispered "This one is so disturbing".But still my eyes were glued to this piece where Frida tried to paint her miscarriage experience.Yes, it was disturbing indeed,but also very very sad and personal. The painting left a very special place in my heart.
The crowd of people pushed me over to the next painting,and then the next,the next and then the next... before i knew, it was over. Both me and my friend felt pretty surreal .We didn't rushed out of the gallery,we took small steps, and i was trying quite hard to leave the images i saw inside and got myself ready for the outside world.The last stair step took us back into reality.I was again in Hamburg, in the middle of a beautiful platz, with so many people around me talking in a foreign language.
It wasn't until two week ago that Frida and the painting filled my mind once again. That day i was so close to lose the baby i'd carried for 18 weeks.Doctor and medications saved us. Today, the baby still lives happily in my womb. But on the first nights i spent at the hospital,flashes of image from that painting was always on my mind.So that was it,i thought..what she must had felt when she painted it..it wasn't only sadness, it was grief. It wasn't a disturbing picture she was trying to depict,it was her whole painful experience of losing someone so dear.
That piece of hers,maybe,only mothers who could understand it best..
That's why dear Frida, i think i can quite understand you now.
The crowd of people pushed me over to the next painting,and then the next,the next and then the next... before i knew, it was over. Both me and my friend felt pretty surreal .We didn't rushed out of the gallery,we took small steps, and i was trying quite hard to leave the images i saw inside and got myself ready for the outside world.The last stair step took us back into reality.I was again in Hamburg, in the middle of a beautiful platz, with so many people around me talking in a foreign language.
It wasn't until two week ago that Frida and the painting filled my mind once again. That day i was so close to lose the baby i'd carried for 18 weeks.Doctor and medications saved us. Today, the baby still lives happily in my womb. But on the first nights i spent at the hospital,flashes of image from that painting was always on my mind.So that was it,i thought..what she must had felt when she painted it..it wasn't only sadness, it was grief. It wasn't a disturbing picture she was trying to depict,it was her whole painful experience of losing someone so dear.
That piece of hers,maybe,only mothers who could understand it best..
That's why dear Frida, i think i can quite understand you now.
|sorry for mistakes on facts..pictures are from http://www.buceriuskunstforum.de/h/index.php and private |
.jpg)
