Self-Portrait with Thorn Necklace and Hummingbird (Frida Kahlo)

Self-Portrait with Thorn Necklace and Hummingbird (Frida Kahlo)

Introduction

One striking aspect regarding the painting is that it reflects the life of the individual painter. Frida Kahlo’s work highlights the immense suffering that she underwent during her failed marriage with Diego Rivera, and she one admitted that the painting reflected his inner feelings that were always plagued with sadness and misery. Having been involved in a nasty road accident in her late teenage years and having endured emotionally absent marriage, the portrait overtly highlights her ordeals during such period. All the elements present in the picture symbolizes various aspects that she faced during her tumultuous marriage, extreme suffering and being that she was confined in bed for several years (Darbyshire, 1994). In the portrait, Frida uses a thorn as a necklace around her neck. The thorn draws blood from her and slowly drains and simultaneously chocks her. On the necklace, the once lively and colorful hummingbird hangs lifeless and changed. On her shoulders, there stands a monkey and a black cat that depends on her for support and other essential benefits. The animals on her shoulders weigh on her and are a huge burden for her to bear. The scene behind the portrait is a thicket that harbors various animals and is suffocating. Just like Frida in this work, her monstrous nature emanated from the loneliness that she experienced and the immorality of her husband just as Claire (2017) views that female artists’ monstrous sides are motivated by the isolation they endure.  Through fabricated connection, irrepressible nihilism, immorality and mistreatment by men and complicated emotions, female artists tend to create artworks that reflect such experiences (Claire, 2017). However, the essay would examine various aspects that bring out the monstrous nature of the works right from how such monstrous acts brought to the concepts of intimacy, objectivity, and difficulty.

Analysis

The artwork signifies the undertakings in society, especially after people are bedridden or suffer from multiple shortcomings. As depicted by Frida, the people who feel isolated are usually fragile and drowns in their thoughts without the intervention of those who are close to them. The work, thus, reflects the day-to-day undertakings that are typical of the people around that drown in loneliness and sorrow as well as the feeling of betrayal, especially if they feel incapacitated or bedridden. The ever-glowing face of Frida also portrays Their yearning to glow amidst the pain amid the suffocating environment. Thus, the artwork rekindles the day to day experience of the people in the society.

How the Artwork Relates to the Key Concepts

The artwork relates to the critical concepts of intimacy, difficulty, and objectivity in a various manner. Though it aligns to these concepts, the ideas are housed in what Claire (2017) highlights as monstrous arts. Monstrous arts exists when the artist is evoked to artistry by the complicated emotions, loneliness, fabricated connection, and mistreatment by the people close to them. Thus, the concepts of intimacy, difficulty, and objectivity revolve around Claire (2017) assertions in various ways. In intimacy, the artwork highlights the lack of intimacy between Frida and the husband. The existence of the animals on Frida points out to the fact that Frida got solace from other people except for the husband. She was like in a wilderness. In objectivity, the artwork remains object in highlighting the ordeals that people in solitude experiences and most of the things she has used in the portrait are reminiscent to the ordinary elements that are in existence in the society. The difficulty of the work comes in trying to understand why the artist paints herself so painfully with blood oozing around her neck, but the spirit remains resilient as evident on the face.

Responsibility of the Artist and the Target Audience

The responsibility of the artist, therefore, is to ensure that she uses emotion to portray her experiences in the hands of the absentee husband who will never support her though she is bedridden. In this regard, the artwork tries to portray the unjust world where people who are confined in bed or incapacitated through sickness largely remain isolated and depressed without people close to them (Darbyshire, 1994). Therefore, after the work has drawn the emotions of the world to highlight the mistreatment of men and the monstrous nature of female artists that come out as a result of abuse. Additionally, the audience of the work could be different depending on the context where one places the work. However, one underlying aspect is that the artwork talks to everyone in all walks of life regarding the treatment of people who are incapacitated or bedridden. In what Claire (2017) could have described as a monstrous artwork, Frida’s artwork portrays how loneliness and solitude could drive an individual to embark on producing work that paints their inner feelings, sufferings and desires.  The work could be responding to the consumers of her previous artworks who wondered why her works were constantly premised on pain and suffering. She painted a suffocating environment to react to the consumers and show them how such an environment heightens her pain and suffering.

The Difficulty of the Artwork and the Evolution of the Emotions

The difficulty of the work arises from the fact that the work resembles other previous works of the artist. Therefore, it is relatively hard for an individual to establish and identify the context of the given artwork. However, the interpretation could be premised on the assertion that just like other artworks, this artwork also highlights her pain and sufferings. Again, the evolution of emotions regarding the artwork starts from sympathy to extreme sadness after understanding the background and the struggle of the artist with a runaway husband and her struggles with health issues.

Historical Context of the Artwork and how it relates to the Consumers

The artwork is mostly premised on the historical and social contexts of the artist. The artist, Frida, always painted regarding her life and her relationship with the husband, Diego. There are several artworks where she has depicted her life with Diego, and on one occasion, she pointed out that “my painting carries with it the message of pain” (Kahlo, 1940). Such assertions highlight the fact that the paintings of Frida, this included, portrayed her life of solitude and loneliness as she was bedridden and incapacitated. Struggling to get the love of her promiscuous husband Diego, Frida ventured into the artwork to vent her frustrations. Therefore, the consumer of this artwork would have a different perspective on life. Owing to the emotional attachment that the artwork possesses, one would start to appreciate the fact that in every artwork, various motivations trigger the artist to engage in the literary work (Kahlo, 1940). On the other hand, the work substantially relates to my artistic practice in various ways. First, it rides on the emotional attachment that my work finds its premise. Again, it highlights the individual experience of the artist. Just like all my artistic practice, the artwork portrays the real-experience of the artists and also ensures that such aspects reflect the experiences of the people in the society.

References

Darbyshire, P. (1994). Understanding the life of illness: learning through the art of Frida Kahlo.

Dederer, C. (2017). What Do We Do with the Art of Monstrous Men? The Paris Review, 20.

Kahlo, F. (1940). Self-portrait with Thorn Necklace and Hummingbird. Pomegranate.