Breathe
By Patricia Vega
This year 2024, July 13, marks the 70th anniversary of the death of Mexican painter Frida Kahlo. In these seven decades Frida went from being the wife of famed muralist Diego Rivera to being recognized as a painter of merit, fame and her own light. Moreover, thanks to the wide dissemination of her life and work, Frida became one of the most iconic figures of feminism worldwide and of Mexican culture.
Beyond the hundreds of catalogs, books and exhibitions with the painter's work, documentaries and films, a worldwide fridomania was born, which made Frida Kahlo's image and name become a registered trademark -with the authorization of her heirs- from which juicy royalties are obtained from the sale of thousands of postcards, posters, T-shirts, key chains, perfumes, T-shirts, pens and other merchandise that remind us that she is an object of worship, occupying a place on home altars.
The paradox lies in the fact that the more Frida Kahlo is cultivated as an iconic figure, the more she is emptied of a content that allows us to immerse ourselves in the vicissitudes of a life that was complex in many ways and a pictorial work that stands out for its artistic intuition.
