"Do you enjoy the work of Frida Kahlo? What is your favorite painting?"

I enjoy her surrealist paintings most of all, those that say something personal and/or profound about her life, her pain, and her body's suffering.

'The Little Deer'

Obviously this is representative of her physical and emotional suffering, portraying her self as a helpless deer, riddled with arrows from humans---critics, Diego, political enemies, whomever wanted to harm her and cause her pain.

'The Broken Column '  is an allegory to Frida's crippling accident suffered in a bus accident while a teenager.  Her youthful and beautiful body is pierced by nails , she is held together by belts, and her spinal column fractured in many pieces.  Not surprisingly she weeps,  for all the unfairness and pain Life has dumped on her.

'Girl with Death Mask'  is both whimsical and macabre.  the girl chooses to wear the skull mask rather than the demonic one, the lesser of two evils one might imagine.

Sources of images:   http://www.abcgallery.com/K/kahlo/kahlo-3.html

Frida Kahlo

About a year ago Anna Almazan, a Catalan poet, linguist and university teacher, published a brilliant book of poetry titled ’Columna vertebral’. On page 39 I saw for the fist time a work by Frida Kahlo with the same title as the book. Anna also has a very back spine, but in the surprising language and richness of her work, this theme is touched but doesn’t form the main part of its content. It is only just her point of departure. 

In the meantime I had seen many works by Frida Kahlo and was surprised about the versatility of her work. She masters not only the forms, but the themes have an endless variation and the styles she uses show an exceptional mastery in the arts of both painting and drawing.

I started reading about her life and got very angry when I read about the horrible accident that could have been the end of her creative work. But no, she went on working and the sad theme of her physical condition was only a part of het work.

Then I read Anna's poetry again and noticed an analogy between the two artists. Anna uses the Catalan language with an exceptional and original richness of expression that touched me and my wife deeply.

Her themes have a healthy variation and go from sadness in the many moments of pain she lives to a kind of soft and gentle humor. 

The first poem Anna has put in 'Columna Vertebra' is about her daily swim in the Mediterranean. The simple form she uses contrasts with the deep content. It is a fine piece of rich Catalan.

Poetry is not translatable: only meanings can be transmitted. Maybe one day such work should be done.  

Frida Kahloo and Anna Almazan have both Latin characters. They express a dignity and a have the talent to express strong feelings in a fascinating way. Those feelings are worth while to know in depth.

By a technical mistake the painting 'Columna vertebral' by Frida Kahlo is put on this page two times.

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My favorite painting

Johannes Vermeer (1632-1675)

Girl with a pearl earring

'Meisje met de parel' is the title in the original Dutch language 

Johannes Vermeer (1632-1675) is a Dutch painter from Delft and produced only forty works. They all are of a quality that is now recognized as one of the greatest in the world.

The very best way to get to know this work as an introduction to his work is reading the novel 'Girl with a pearl earring' by Tracey Chevalier AND see the British/Dutch coproduced movie, based on Chevalier's work. It is a fine introduction to the technics of his paintings and a proper description of the Holland that Jan Vermeer live in.

No my favorite painter.  Probably "Self Portraint with Monkey" is my favorite... hard to tell really which is the monkey.  I always get a bit of a chuckle when I see that one.  Check link... see if it works for you?

http://www.allposters.com/gallery.asp?aid=85097&apnum=414387&LinkTypeID=1&PosterTypeID=1&DestType=7&Referrer%20=http://www.artcyclopedia.com/artists/kahlo_frida.html

I don't know... if I had a unibrow (I do... but I pluck it) then I think I would either correct it or not paint it into the self portrait... but the honesty in her painting is above reproach.

Frida Kohlo boldly painted her agony.  She loved Diego Velàzquiz, however he was a womanizer.  I can't remember the names of her works.  There is a painting of the bus accident, lying in bed to only suffer, and the frontal painting with memorabila filling her body.  Koholo's brings tears to your eyes.  I like the three painting equally.

My favorite artist is Van Gogh, and my favorite painting is "Crows Over the Wheat Field"

This was his last painting reflecting death, sadness, and I think it was his prediction to call it quits.