If you missed the posting before this, you may want to read that first on the relationship between Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo, two artists drawn together. Here are a few of Frida Kahlo's paintings.
If you are an artist or a photographer the study of Frida's work can help you understand how to bring more of your soul into your work. Perhaps you would like to do a series of self-portraits that reveal different aspects of your struggles or joys. An exercise such as this will bring a new depth to your art and portraiture and can be quite revealing. There are some links below also you can study her more in-depth.
Just as yesterday was about True Love's Kiss, today is about True Love's Fist - yes, the other side of two hearts beating together.
I spend a great deal of time studying artists and their muses. Artists seem to be drawn to each other in unmistakably passionate and sometimes destructive ways and I'm fascinated by their personal dynamics.
Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera are perfect examples. Frida is that uni-browed woman who painted self-portraits with the monkey's on her shoulders that you find in Mexican towns and stores. She was an incredible artist, literally pouring her pain and her feelings figuratively into her work. Her husband Diego, quite a few years her senior, was a cubist and muralist in Mexico and a communist supporter. If you haven't studied them, I would recommend it. Start with the movie Frida. This colorful, artistic production is fascinating to watch and gives you a peek into the lives and relationship issues of both Frida and Diego. I teach about Frida in my week long classes because in viewing her work we can learn a great deal about putting one's soul into one's art.
Here's a clip of the real Frida and Diego:
Can you feel the love... the connection? Frida and Diego shared a love of painting and had a deep respect for each one's artistic abilities. Their passionate personalities both fueled their love and their destruction. Their marriage was riddled with many infidelities and violent fights. Diego even slept with Frida's sister! The couple divorced and eventually remarried, living together till Frida's youthful death. For whatever reason they could not stay away from each other. I like to think it's because they were true soul mates to the core but their social skills were in dire need of an upgrade.
Here's a compilation of scenes from the movie that show the passionate and sometimes crazy nature of their love.
Frida and Diego teach us how fragile relationships can be. Certainly it is a lesson for those of us who tend toward the "passionate" side of things to learn to listen and be kind to those we love. They remind us to treat our loved ones with respect because as deep as love is, it can be destroyed by the things that we do or neglect to do. Spend some good quality time with those you love. Don't take them for granted, people need to feel cherished. Listen, hug, kiss, squeeze and love on them today. It's good for the soul!
