Frida Kahlo's Story: Strength Born Out of a Broken Body
There are a few people; they carry the pain they suffer not as a burden, but as a canvas. Frida Kahlo was one of them. Life started testing her at a very young age. She contracted polio when she was only six years old, and it made one of her legs thinner than the other. When she was eighteen, almost every bone in her body was shattered in a tram accident. Her spine, ribs, pelvis. The doctors said she couldn't walk. But not only did she walk, but she also knew how to lift her soul onto her feet.
The physical suffering Frida experienced throughout her life changed her own perspective on the world. She started looking into mirrors more. Because on the days she couldn't move, her own face was the only model available. And possibly that is the reason why no other artist painted more self-portraits than Frida Kahlo. But there was not just a face in her portraits, but courage, rage, love, pain and resistance. Every brush stroke was a signature she was making on her own existence.
Her style was not only conveyed in her artwork. From her clothes to her stance, from her voice to her loves, she never ceased to declare "this is who I am" in every aspect. Frida's life was a complex story in which love and suffering were inseparable. Her stormy life with Diego Rivera fueled her inner life. She was betrayed, devastated, but she always came back to life. For Frida's greatest strength was inner, not outer.
Kahlo's life teaches us this: Physical boundaries cannot stop the way of the soul. Pain does not have to overwhelm someone; it can also transform someone. Someone who can look at his or her own pain straightforwardly is also someone who can look at the world more openly. When you look at Frida's self-portraits, you may see her eyebrows first. Then you notice the deep question in her eyes: "How much can you face yourself?"
Frida Kahlo is not an artist, but a friend to everyone who dares to step into the world of their own inner self. Her life testifies to how a strong spirit can flourish in a weak body. And that is probably why one sees in Frida's portraits most of all life; unfinished, tormented, deformed but despite everything a real and strong life.
Frida Kahlo Quotes
I think step by step I'll get over my problems and live.
At the end of the day, we can handle much more than we think we can.
Nothing is absolute. Everything changes, everything moves, everything rotates, flies and leaves.
Passion is the bridge that takes you from pain to change.
Only one mountain knows the heart of another mountain.
Feet, why do I need you when I have wings to fly?
The violence of what is unsaid is a violent, painful, self-destructive force. To speak is to begin salvation.
Beauty and ugliness are an illusion. Sooner or later everyone sees through you.
You don't cry about one thing in particular, it accumulates.
