Frida Kahlo's La Venadita (little dear) and Other Works of Grief

 Magdalena Carmen Frida Kahlo y Calderon was a Mexican painter, which I am sure you know. She was an extremely influential artist whose works are known around the world. She is a household name at this point, when you say Frida Kahlo everyone knows who you are talking about. She was known for her vibrant, symbolic self-portraits that explored themes of identity, the body, and death. A lot of her work was influenced by traditional Mexican folk art, indigenous cultures, and European movements like Surrealism and Realism. Kahlo's art often merged depictions of the body, earth, and the cosmos with Mexican history allowing her to express her personal pain through art. We will be looking at some of her art that represents grief because like Nick Cave talks about in Faith, Hope, and Carnage grief influences a lot of work but also puts you in this sort of trance when creating. He created lots of music that is almost uncanny in sound which we can also see in Kahlo's work where she also examines grief.

                                                                Diego and I, 1949

Kahlo created this piece after her husband Diego Rivera had an affair with Maria Felix. This painting shows Kahlo's great anguish because Diego almost divorced her at this time. Maria was a beautiful film star and an intimate friend of Kahlo. She has loose hair around her neck which represents strangulation and it is obvious that the cause of her distress is her husband. Diego was always in Kahlo's mind which is revealed in her diary which a lot of is a love poem to him.

                                                 La venadita (little deer) 1946

"I suffered two great accidents in my life: one in which a streetcar knocked me down...The other accident is Diego", said Kahlo in an interview in 1951. Her relationship with Diego was deeply volatile that toggled between passionate highs and bitter lows. The latter were often inspired by Diego's insistent cheating and infidelity on Kahlo's part as well. Little deer represents her pain inflicted by the relationship as well as her immense physical pain from enduring numerous surgeries she underwent throughout her life.