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Frida Kahlo
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[[File:FibroArt-FridaKahlo.jpg|alt=Image of a naked woman split in half vertically by a metal column, with straps across her body.|thumb|upright=0.75|right|The Broken Column by Frida Kahlo, photograph by Ambra75]] '''Frida Kahlo''' or '''Magdalena Carmen Frieda Kahlo y Calderón''' (1907–1954) was a famous Mexican artist who suffered ill health and pain throughout her life, often representing it in her paintings.<ref name="britannica">{{Cite web | url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Frida-Kahlo | title = Frida Kahlo {{!}} Biography, Paintings, & Facts |website =Encyclopaedia Britannica|language=en|access-date=2021-12-05}}</ref><ref name="Frida" /> Kahlo was born with spina bifida, and developed [[poliomyelitis]] at age 6, which left her with reduced strength and infections affecting her right leg, which was shorter than the other.<ref name="FineArts" /> ==Art representing pain== Frida Kahlo was famous for her colorful self portraits.<ref name="Courtney2016" /> She often represented her physical and emotional pain in her self-portraits, including her spinal pain, her anguish during a miscarriage, and all-over body pain.<ref name="nytimes">{{Cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1990/10/28/arts/art-view-why-frida-kahlo-speaks-to-the-90-s.html?src=pm&pagewanted=3 | title = ART VIEW; Why Frida Kahlo Speaks to the 90's | first = Hayden | last = Herrera | date =Oct 28, 1990 | publisher = New York Times}}</ref> Kahlo begin painting from bed, during the months she was recovering from the streetcar accident that almost killed her.<ref name="FineArts" /> She also kept a diary, sometimes painting in watercolor next to her writing.<ref name="PortraitPain" /> ===What the Water Gave Me=== Alternatively known as What I Saw in the Water, Frida is shown in a bath, with a bleeding toe and her right foot shows abnormalities common to the spina bifida she was born with.<ref name="FineArts">{{Cite book | title = The Fine Arts, Neurology, and Neuroscience: Neuro-Historical Dimensions|isbn=978-0-444-62736-0| date = 2013 |editor-first = François|editor-last = Boller|chapter=Frida Kahlo's Neurological Deficits and her Art | first = Valmantas | last = Budrys | pages = 241-254|chapter-url=https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=1CI_RS88uPwC&lpg=PA241&ots=laIBBP3P4O&lr&pg=PA242#v=onepage&q&f=true| publisher = Elsevier}}</ref> Her right leg has a volcano over it, with lava streaming from the top, which may represent either burning or unpredictable chronic pain in her right leg, which suggests nerve pain.<ref name="Courtney2016" /> Her right foot had been crushed during the streetcar accident, and the pain in her right leg could be the rest of [[post-polio syndrome]], which commonly causes moderate to severe pain although Frida had polio as a child or is not known whether she had post-polio syndrome.<ref name="Courtney2016" /> ===The Broken Column === The Broken Column shows the impact of the streetcar accident, with her injured pelvic area, a metal handrail from the streetcar had pierced womb, which would later result in her being unable to bear children.<ref name="PortraitPain">{{Cite book | title = Body Talk in the Medical Humanities: Whose Language?|isbn=978-1-5275-4232-7|language=en | url =https://books.google.com/books/about/Body_Talk_in_the_Medical_Humanities.html?id=FBu7DwAAQBAJ | date = 2019-10-28| publisher = Cambridge Scholars Publishing|editor-last = Patterson|editor-first = Jennifer|editor-last2 = Kinchington|editor-first2 = Francia|chapter-url=https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=FBu7DwAAQBAJ&lpg=PA207&pg=PA207#v=onepage&q&f=true |chapter=Portrait of Pain: Frida Kahlo | last = Demonte | first = Nicola | pages = 207-215 }}</ref> The Broken Column shows her spine replaced by a metal column and the straps of the medical corset she was forced to wear while recovering. It has been noted that the facial pain it shows could not have been caused by her spinal injury.<ref name="FineArts" /> She painted The Broken Column while wearing a steel corset and unable to sit unless she was tied top the back of a chair. She would spend years bedbound or using a wheelchair, with her spinal and leg pain in particular steadily increasing.<ref name="FineArts" /> ===Self-Portrait with Thorn Necklace and Hummingbird=== Frida is shown wearing a thorn necklace held by a black monkey. The thorns pierce her neck, causing bleeding. She has a calm and solemn expression, "patiently enduring the pain".<ref name="nytimes" /><ref>{{Cite web | url=https://www.fridakahlo.org/self-portrait-with-thorn-necklace-and-hummingbird.jsp | title = Self-Portrait with Thorn Necklace and Hummingbird, 1940, By Frida Kahlo | website = fridakahlo.org|access-date=2021-12-05}}</ref> ===The Wounded Deer=== Frida's body is a deer, with her chest and spine pierced by arrows. She painted it immediately before spinal surgery, which she hoped would cure her pain. She gave it as a gift to a friend who has recommended the surgeon who helped his back pain.<ref name="PortraitPain" /> ===Marxism will give health to the sick === This was one of Kahlo's last paintings. After over 30 surgeries during her lifetime, her right lower leg was amputated due to gangrene, after a lifetime of sores, infections and ulcers. Kahlo probably had [[fibromyalgia]] by this time and she was [[fatigue]]d, [[depression|depressed]] and suicidal. In the painting she wears a metal corset to support her spine, ans the painting expresses hope from politics.<ref name="FineArts" /> {{Quote frame|text=Her greatest appeal is her strength in adversity. Her chief subject was pain, pain caused by the slow deterioration of her body due to injuries suffered when a streetcar plowed into the bus she was riding when she was 18, and pain caused by her turbulent 25-year marriage to Diego Rivera who deceived her often -- even with her favorite sister -- and who divorced her once for a year. Frida confronted the pain of her 35 or so surgical operations and her sorrow over not being able to bear a child by projecting it into paint. She made light of Rivera's philandering and forgave him, saying "I do not think the banks of a river suffer by letting the water run."<ref name="nytimes"/> | author = Hayden Herrera|source=ART VIEW; Why Frida Kahlo Speaks to the 90's, New York Times (1990) | date = 1990}} ==Fibromyalgia == Frida Kahlo suffered from [[chronic pain]], which had various causes including horrific injuries from a streetcar accident as a teenager,<ref name="Courtney2016">{{Cite journal | last = Courtney | first = C.A. | author-link = | last2 = O'Hearn | first2 = M. A. | authorlink2 = | last3 = Franck | first3 = C. C. | authorlink3 = | date = 2017 | title=Frida Kahlo: Portrait of Chronic Pain | url =https://academic.oup.com/ptj/article/97/1/90/2896952|journal=Physical Therapy|volume=97|issue=1 | pages = 90-96|doi=10.2522/ptj.20160036|issn=0031-9023|pmc=|pmid=|access-date=|quote=|via=}}</ref> plus additional pain, and it was likely that she suffered from [[fibromyalgia]].<ref name="Frida">{{Cite journal | last = Martínez-Lavín | first = M. | author-link = | last2 = Amigo | first2 = M. C. | authorlink2 = | last3 = Coindreau | first3 = J. | authorlink3 = | last4 = Canoso | first4 = J. | date = Mar 2000 | title = Fibromyalgia in Frida Kahlo's life and art| url = https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/1529-0131%28200003%2943%3A3%3C708%3A%3AAID-ANR30%3E3.0.CO%3B2-0|journal=Arthritis and Rheumatism|volume=43|issue=3 | pages = 708–709|doi=|issn=0004-3591|pmc=|pmid=10728769|access-date=|quote=|via=}}</ref><ref name="Frida2">{{Cite web | url=https://daily.jstor.org/frida-kahlo-suffer-fibromyalgia/ | title = Did Frida Kahlo Suffer From Fibromyalgia? | last = Caldwell | first = Ellen C. | date = 2018-04-28 | website = JSTOR Daily|language=en-US|access-date=2021-12-05}}</ref> Symptoms consistent with fibromyalgia reported by Frida: * [[Chronic pain]] in areas without injuries, e.g. both arms and her face as shown in ''The Broken Column'' * Pain on both sides of the body, above and below the waist * [[Fatigue]] * Severe pain * She had [[depression]], which is very common in people with fibromyalgia * She may have developed [[allodynia]], which is common in people with fibromyalgia<ref name="ACR2010">{{Cite journal| url = https://www.rheumatology.org/Portals/0/Files/2010_Preliminary_Diagnostic_Criteria.pdf | title=American College of Rheumatology (ACR) Preliminary Diagnostic Criteria for Fibromyalgia | last = Wolfe | first = Frederick | date = May 2010|volume =62 |issue = 5 | pages = 600–610| doi = 10.1002/acr.20140|type=PDF | authorlink = Frederick Wolfe | last2 = Clauw | first2 = Daniel | authorlink2 = Daniel Clauw|journal=Arthritis Care & Research | last3 = Fitzcharles | first3 = Mary-Ann | first4 = Don | last5 = Katz | last4 = Goldenberg | first5 = Robert | last6 = Mease | first6 = Philip | last7 = Russel | first7 = Anthony | last8 = Russel | first8 = I.Jon | first9 = John | last9 = Winfield | first10 = Muhammad | last10 = Yunus}}</ref><ref name="PatientInfo">{{Cite web | url = https://www.rheumatology.org/I-Am-A/Patient-Caregiver/Diseases-Conditions/Fibromyalgia | title = Fibromyalgia | last = | first = |website=American College of Rheumatology|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=2021-11-27}}</ref> {{See also|Fibromyalgia}} ==News and feature articles== *[https://www.vanityfair.com/culture/1995/09/frida-kahlo-diego-rivera-art-diary/ Diary Of A Mad Artist] - Vanity Fair (2013) *[https://www.theguardian.com/film/2003/feb/14/artsfeatures1 Salma Hayek on why Frida Kahlo was a great artist] - The Guardian (2003) *[https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2005/may/21/art Feel my pain] - The Guardian (2005) *[https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/frida-kahlo-70745811/ Frida Kahlo] - Smithsonian magazine (2002) ==Films== *Frida (2002) starring Selma Hayek ==Books== *1983, Frida: A Biography of Frida Kahlo, by Hayden Herrera *1991, Frida Kahlo: The Paintings, by Hayden Herrera *1995, The Diary of Frida Kahlo: An Intimate Self-portrait, by Carlo Fuentes and Sarah M. Lowe ==Websites== *[https://www.fridacenter.com/ The Frida Center] *[https://www.frida-kahlo-foundation.org/ Frida Kahlo Foundation] ==See also== *[[Fibromyalgia]] *[[Chronic pain]] *[[Post-polio syndrome]] *[[List of famous people with ME, CFS, and/or FMS]] ==Learn more== *[https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/1529-0131%28200003%2943%3A3%3C708%3A%3AAID-ANR30%3E3.0.CO%3B2-0 Fibromyalgia in Frida Kahlo's life and art] *[https://www.frida-kahlo-foundation.org/biography.html Frida Kahlo biography - Frida Kahlo Foundation] *[https://www.britannica.com/biography/Frida-Kahlo Encyclopedia Britannica] *[https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/1529-0131(200003)43:3%3C708::AID-ANR30%3E3.0.CO;2-0 Frido Kahlo and Fibromyalgia] ==References== {{reflist}} [[Category:People with ME, CFS, and/or FMS]] [[Category:Deceased people with ME, CFS, and/or FMS]] [[Category:Mexican famous people with ME, CFS, and/or FMS]] [[Category:Famous people with ME, CFS, and/or FMS]]
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