Frida Kahlo & Diego Rivera in Australia

Frida Kahlo was shackled in a body, and rooted to an artist, that life had chosen for her. She may have aspired to be a doctor, and marry a young man, to have a car load of children; but this was not for her.

“There have been two great accidents my life, one was the trolly, and the other was Diego.”

Her flowing garments distracted the viewer of the restrictions within.

The exhibition celebrates the marriage of a Mexican couple that played definitive roles in the Modern Art movement, that of Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera. Rivera was an artist employed by the communist party to promote the working class and Kahlo became an icon for the feminist movements.

Their marriage was not a happy one due to Diego’ affairs and Frida’s health issues. They divorced after Diego slept with Frida’s sister and reunited after many years of difficulty.

Within the deep loneliness of betrayal, she made a friend of self portrayal, documenting her stoic response to a body was held together, and coming apart, like her marriage; she was on shaky ground. The unsmiling cool demure, and films of Diego shuffling around her like a creative volcano, that was ready to explode, depict the tension.

Despite Frida bravado and staunch feminist tendencies, she was vulnerable to the whims of her husband. Somewhere within this mistress of disguise, was a frail heart, that revolved around her Rivera.

Diego, an accomplished artist, was 20 years her senior, who studied fresco painting in Italy and a was a Mexican art star. As a communist he was interested in the condition of the worker.

In his portraits and paintings, we see the ‘lover of persons’, that Frida would have basked in. His sensitive attention to the the subject and ‘eye’ for subtle beauty is enriched in his depictions.

It is disappointing that there is no portrait of Frida by Diago, in the exhibition . There is, however a portrait Cristina Kahlo, who betrayed her sister.

Why should Frida care, she can paint herself. Years of watching her face develop in the mirror over her bed, made her a authority of her image.

Art, science and a husband could not heal Frida, they just added to her pain. The catholic and communist doctrines could not dress her wounds. Death like a skeleton hovered over her bed, like other South Americans, the dead haunted the living.

The tender call from Heaven, to heal it’s daughter was unheard, her idols were Lenin and Diego. A life without God, as we know it. However as injured as she was, she forgave. She forgave the trolly and she forgave her husband, they married twice.

Both Diego and Frida painted portraits of their Art Patron, Natasha Gelman.

Friedas depiction has the intimacy of a woman painting another, with curls that echo the shape of the curlers, as though they are invisible and present. Her face paint, earrings and fur coat are fashionable, without personality and the cold gaze of her eyes, reveals very little of her character. The clothes , like Frida’s costumes, distract us from the truth within. Frida does not depict a content person, the eyes seem to linger on an unhappy memory.

In contrast, Rivera’s portrait of Natasha is a much more dramatic and sensual with a statement of glamorous fashion. Frieda painted her with eyes glazed over, but Diego captures a bold and defiant stare. The lily theme re-appears, (refer to the vendors) however when he painted them with the flower traders they were vibrant and dramatic, now they have lost their power, and fade in the customers abode. To Diego, she is a woman of sexual appeal.

The flowers are designed to ornament the patron, she is the principle Lily. her money can buy her a place in a Diego composition, and in return he gets a commission and a champion for his artistic inheritance.

Ironically the capitalist exchange of Art Patron and Client, harnesses Frida and Diego, despite their ideology .The Gelman’s even framed a letter written by Frida begging for money,.. a rather shallow thing to do.