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FRIDA KAHLO, THE BRUSH OF ANGUISH |
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The Other Accident, Part 4
Cactus Fruit, 1937 Another accolade came Frida's way in Paris. The Louvre purchased a self-portrait, The Frame (c. 1938), from the Mexique exhibition. Diego spoke proudly of this, saying that none of the three great Mexican muralists, Orozco, Siqueiros, and himself, had been so honored. Frida arrived home in April 1939, feeling more sure of herself as an artist than ever before. Her pictures were selling and had merited praise from the most severe critics; she was not the least bit disturbed by critical comments from those horrified by her sanguinary and shocking themes. Frida looked forward to being truly independent and supporting herself by painting. She was feeling equally secure about her attractiveness as a mature woman, one who captivated prominent industrialists and distinguished political figures as well as famous artists and writers. But Frida's new-found security collapsed soon after her return, when she was confronted with Diego's request for a divorce. Manuel Gonzalez Ramirez, one of Frida's Cachucha friends from the Prepa, acted as her lawyer in preparing the papers. "I arranged the dissolution of the bonds, and I knew very well how sad she felt about the separation," he declared. "She was lost in a limbo bordering on despair." A single reason for the divorce is hard to find. Perhaps Diego found out about her affair with Trotsky. Perhaps Frida expressed displeasure at Diego's dalliance with American film star Paulette Goddard, who was staying at the San Angel Inn right across from their house. In a letter to a friend, Frida blamed Diego's ex-wife, Lupe Marin, for causing the divorce. Rivera's statement to journalists explained it as "purely a matter of legal convenience in the style of modern times. We did it for the purpose of bettering Frida's legal position. There are no sentimental, artistic, or economic reasons."
Self-Portrait Dedicated to Dr. Eloesser, 1940
Self-Portrait (The Frame), c. 1938 Frida was devastated, and she became deeply depressed. Suddenly living alone, she was compelled to produce enough work to support herself Paradoxically, the mental anguish and turmoil of her personal predicament resulted in some of her finest painting. The only large-scale canvases she ever made were done at this time: The Two Fridas (1939), a double self- ortrait painted a few months after her separation and in the worst moments of her emotional crisis, and The Wounded Table (1940), a self-portrait in which Frida is embraced by a bizarre, oversized Judas figure, while a macabre skeleton twirls a lock of her hair. Both paintings were exhibited in January 1940 in Mexico City at the important International Surrealism Exhibition in Ines Amor's Gallery of Mexican Art. The Two Fridas was next exhibited in New York in the Museum of Modern Art's exhibition Twenty Centuries of Mexican Art. Not until seven years later was The Two Fridas sold, to the Institute of Fine Arts in Mexico. The Wounded Table, last exhibited in Warsaw in 1955, reportedly was sent to the Soviet Union as a gift from the Mexican Communist party; its whereabouts are now unknown. Another fine self-portrait is Self-Portrait with Cropped Hair (1940). It was inspired by Frida's defiant act of cutting her long hair, which Diego adored. The lyrics and notes of a popular song are displayed across the top: "Look, if I used to love you, it was because of your hair, now that you're pelona, I don't love you anymore." Pelona, a slang word of the sort Frida liked to use, means bald or shorn. Frida's generally poor physical condition was exacerbated by extremely heavy drinking, and after the divorce her health deteriorated rapidly. She continued to suffer from the circulatory problems that had plagued her since 1934, when five joints on the toes of her right foot had been removed. General fatigue and back pain were always with her. In May 1940, a pro-Stalinist group involving the artist Siqueiros made an unsuccessful attack on Trotsky's life. A second attempt, on August 20, succeeded. Trotsky was fatally hit on the head with a climbing ax by a Soviet agent, Ramon Mercader. Since Frida had known Mercader in Paris as well as Mexico, she was among the many suspected accomplices. She and her sister Cristina were questioned for hours by the police.
The Two Fridas, 1939
Self-Portrait with Cropped Hair, 1940
The Earth Itself (Two Nudes in the Jungle), 1939
Self-Portrait Dedicated to Sigmund Firestone, 1940
Self-Portrait with Monkey, 1938 The stress of the police interrogation only intensified the gravity of Frida's already weakened physical condition. Diego was in San Francisco, painting a mural. When he heard how ill Frida was, he suggested that she consult with Dr. Eloesser, who had followed her medical history for the last decade. In September Frida flew to San Francisco. Eloesser prescribed absolute rest, a special nutritious diet, electro and calcium therapies, and abstinence from alcohol. This treatment, combined with Diego's tender sympathy, improved her health tremendously. Eloesser was instrumental in more than the momentary improvement of Frida's physical well-being. He urged the couple to reconcile, and on Diego's fifty-fourth birthday, December 8, 1940, they were married again. Frida went home to Mexico two weeks later, followed in a few months by Diego. They were ready to renew their life as partners.
But it was not the same Frida going back into the marriage. Despite her continued enjoyment of public attention, she was no longer an impulsive, flirtatious, and charming adolescent. The reality of her thirty-three years must have confronted her. Frida rejoined Diego with her eyes open, accepting the complexities of her own personality as well as his. She began to craft her own ambiance, a personal world apart from the one she shared with her husband. Frida was so completely convinced of the necessity for this change that shortly after her return from San Francisco she moved back to Coyoacan to the Casa Azul, determined to build an independent life for herself. There she created the rest of her pictorial autobiography, never going back to stay in the studio next door to her husband's. Diego could live with her or not, sleep in Coyoacan or at his studio in San Angel. Frida would not move out of her refuge again.
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