Frida Kahlo's art was way ahead of its time. Born in 1907 and died in 1954, all of her art was made between the 1920s and 1950s and depicted many things that were considered taboo at the time, some of which still are. Some of the most notable include Henry Ford Hospital, A Few Small Nips, Self-Portrait with Cropped Hair, The Broken Column, and Marxism Will Give Health to the Sick. These paintings show miscarriages, grief and loss, internal struggle, independence, denial of gender roles, depression, disability, and political/economic beliefs. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original EssayIt's no surprise that his art is so progressive. As a child she had polio and was bedridden for nine months. Once she recovered, her father encouraged her to play sports like soccer and wrestling, which were extremely rare for girls at the time, and in some places still are. She was one of the few students to study at the National Preparatory School and studied to become a doctor there. Unfortunately, while there she was in a serious bus accident and was impaled in the pelvis by a pole. While convalescing in hospital, he learned to paint, also thanks to his father's encouragement. She benefited greatly from learning to paint while there, but was also affected by lifelong health problems as a result of the accident, and many of these problems are reflected in her art. Frida Kahlo painted Henry Ford Hospital in 1932. second miscarriage and was shocked by it, as well as the operation to remove the dead fetus. For this reason she was admitted to the Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, as she was living there with her husband Diego Rivera at the time. This oil painting, with a sheet of metal used as a support, depicts a crying Frida in a hospital bed, twisted uncomfortably with her pregnant belly and six things connected to it via an umbilical cord: a fetus, a flower , a car, a snail, a model of the female reproductive system and a pelvic bone. The bed sits in a barren courtyard with the Detroit cityscape in the background. It is clear that Kahlo was deeply troubled by her abortion, and the evidence makes this clearer. The snail was representative of how slow the operation was, according to Kahlo herself. The flower is symbolic of a womb. The reproductive system model symbolizes Frida's reproductive system, as the spine in the model references her spinal problems resulting from the bus accident she was in at the age of 18. The pelvic bone is also representative of this. The fetus is fairly self-explanatory, as it represents the child she would like to have. After the abortion, she even asked for the fetus to be brought to her so she could paint it in this painting. Denied this wish, Diego, as well as some of her doctors, provided her with illustrations for reference. Lastly, the car represents his feelings about living in Detroit. She felt trapped by the city and the local industry. There is a lithograph created by Kahlo in 1933, Untitled, which is often called by scholars The Miscarriage or The Abortion. Use images similar to Henry Ford Hospital. A naked, crying Kahlo is seen with two sides: the first side, once again tethered to a fetus, and the second, a third arm holding a paint palette. It may suggest that her role as an artist has taken the place of that of a mother which she was never able to satisfy due to her inability to give birth. This lithograph, which was temporarily displayed at the Detroit Institute of Arts, had a plaque next to it that read “Kahlo depicted herself mourning with tearsthat streaked her cheeks. At the bottom left, she drew a healthy fetus attached to her by an umbilical cord, suggesting her dissatisfied role as a mother. On the right, an arm holding a heart-shaped paint palette emerges from behind his body, as if to assert his role as an artist. "A Few Small Nips, created in 1935, is different from some of Kahlo's other works. About a third of her art consists of self-portraits. This painting is not a self-portrait, but still represents a personal expression of Kahlo's feelings about to herself and her marriage. A Few Small Nips shows a woman, bloodied, naked and dying, in bed, while a man, her boyfriend, stares at her in disgust, the frame is splattered with paint red to look like blood, to make the violence and desperation seem more real to the viewer. This painting was based on a news story that Frida read about a drunken man who stabbed her to death after finding out that she had cheated on him court the man stated that he had only given her “a few small pinches”, hence the title of the painting. The year before Frida had discovered her husband's affair with her sister Cristina. Although he had numerous affairs, she was not bothered by it most, as he had multiple relationships with men and women. However, it hurt her that he was having an affair with her sister. Metaphorically, this painting could represent the murder victim as Frida's psychological torture due to the relationship with Diego, and Diego as the murderer, the one who caused the pain. The murderous boyfriend in the painting also bears a slight resemblance to Rivera, in facial features and clothing style. There are also other elements of symbolism in A Few Small Nips. The birds holding the title banner, one black and one white, contrast with each other as the white symbolizes good in the relationship and the black symbolizes evil, which is the predominant image of this painting. Kahlo's Self-Portrait with Cropped Hair, painted in 1940, depicts Kahlo seated, with short hair in a men's haircut, wearing a man's suit, set against a barren hair-covered landscape with a musical pentagram and lyrics in high. Translated into English, the lyrics say “Look, if I loved you it was because of your hair. Now that you have no hair I don't love you anymore." This fits the situation, as Diego loved Frida's long hair, and in this painting, with her hair cut and scattered everywhere, he challenges that. This painting is commonly interpreted as the declaration of his independence from Diego Rivera. It was painted after they had divorced (only to later remarry). Frida normally wore very bright and flowing clothes, but in this photo she is wearing the opposite: a dark-colored men's suit. This can be seen as a display of sadness, or as taking power over herself and essentially saying that she doesn't need a man, that she can be the man in her life and still be herself. After all, she still has earrings and lips painted red. This painting challenges the gender roles of the 1940s and also shows Frida taking control over herself. This isn't the only painting Frida Kahlo made that challenges the idea of ​​how women are represented in art. In fact, almost all of his do, with his famous unibrow and facial hair. She refused to shave it and was even said to have darkened it with a makeup pencil. In his self-portraits he also highlighted the hair of his eyebrows and upper lip. Additionally, there is a lot of non-traditional nudity in his art. For much of art history, women in art were shown with smooth, perfect bodies, and when naked, they usually didthe bathroom, they relaxed or posed. In Kahlo's work, however, the least beautiful is shown. In Henry Ford Hospital and Untitled, she is shown naked and in pain, both physically and emotionally. A Few Smalls Nips shows the portrait subject dying and naked. Kahlo's way of using nudity is generally to show vulnerability, not sexuality or beauty for the viewer to admire. She wants viewers to try to feel how the subject of the painting, often herself, feels. The Broken Column also uses similar nudity to Henry Ford Hospital and A Few Small Nips in that it shows suffering and imperfection. The Broken Column was painted in 1944, after Kahlo underwent spinal surgery due to complications from her bus accident when she was younger. He is crying, similar to the Henry Ford hospital, but in this painting his body is much more distorted. His body, split vertically along the spine, is exposed and bleeding around the wound. He also wears a brace, and his body and face are pierced by dozens of small nails. It is also worth noting that this painting has a dull, empty landscape. There is an empty blue sky and cracked green earth, but no plant life, buildings or other people in the background. This shows how alone Frida felt in all of this, as well as the brokenness she felt. After all of her physical health issues, it's no wonder that they began to affect Kahlo on a mental level as well. The Broken Column is very similar to Henry Ford Hospital because they both depict her in a very personal way and also in a very vulnerable way, and they both show her suffering from her health issues as well as emotionally. However, not all of his paintings seem hopeless. Towards the end of his short life, he painted Marxism Will Give Health to the Sick. This oil painting, made in 1954 but never completed due to his early death, showed his belief in communism. Kahlo was an active communist, as was her husband. She was first introduced to political ideology at the National Preparatory School and was very active politically, especially as she grew up. She also temporarily hosted the infamous communist leader, Leon Trotsky, and had an affair with him. Kahlo had so much faith in this that she believed it would heal her. Marxism Will Give Health to the Sick is much brighter and more optimistic than many of his paintings. In it, Kahlo is shown standing up and falling to the ground with crutches on either side. She also had part of her leg amputated around the time this was done, due to a health issue. Large hands around her seem to heal her. In the top right corner, the face of Karl Marx is next to a hand that seems to crush the face of Uncle Sam on the body of an eagle, the American patriotic symbol par excellence, which could also be interpreted as a symbol of the capitalism. Frida was very vocal about her dislike of the United States while living there, and was eager to return to Mexico. On the left side of the painting there is a large white dove, which symbolizes peace. The Earth is also depicted and appears to be being reborn. Frida stares at the viewer with pride and strength, so different from many of her deranged paintings. In this painting he found health through the political belief he saw as a utopia. He stated regarding this painting "For the first time, I'm not crying anymore." Later in her life, Frida felt that her art should be more political so that she could spread her belief in Marxism. Please note: this is just an example. Get a custom paper from our expert writers now. Get a Custom Essay For..