Frida Kahlo

The essay I chose to analyze for this assignment was, “Remembrance of an Open Wound: Frida Kahlo and Post-Revolutionary Mexican Identity”, by Corrine Andersen. The author argued for a more powerful meaning behind Frida Kahlo’s self-portraits, claiming that Kahlo’s works of art were not desperate, attention seeking pieces, but rather, a view of cultural and political strains of present-day Mexico. Andersen wrote this article for the critics who overlooked Frida Kahlo’s activism and public involvement. Andersen was successful in proving Frida Kahlo’s self portraits had a more powerful message. Throughout the essay, the author, used several works of art to explain the message of political and cultural issues shown in Frida Kahlo’s pieces. Andersen created a strong opening for her essay. She gives a small amount of detail about the Mexican Revolution of 1910 and talks about the election of Alvaro Obregon in 1920. Then talked of the thirty-four year dictatorship of Mexico. Giving the brief history of Mexico and Kahlo’s upbringing gives the reader a sense of time. This history also …show more content…
Frida can be seen wearing both the Victorian style and Tehuana style of dresses. Corrine Andersen stated the importance of the blood on the dress and said, “the violence of the past makes up the social fabric of the present” (123). The author strengthened her argument by tying symbols together through multiple works of art. Andersen does a good job at describing the cultural aspects of this work and calling attention to the awkwardness between the two women. Touching on how the awkwardness between the women resembles the relationship between her two cultures. Frida also touches on the cultural differences in her work on Self-Portrait on the Border Line between Mexico and the United States. Andersen talks of how Kahlo was between the current industrial boom in the United States and Aztec ruins of the