Posted on 09/27/2021 5:27:21 PM PDT by nickcarraway
The painting superimposes the visage of Diego Rivera, Kahlo's husband, over the space where her third eye would be.
Frida Kahlo’s indelible image has permeated the cultural membrane so thoroughly, it stands to reason her artworks tend to do incredibly well at auction, and an upcoming auction at Sotheby’s seems destined to continue this trend: scheduled for this November, the planned sale of Kahlo’s gorgeous Diego y yo (Diego and I) is predicted to net upwards of $30 million. The painting is reportedly the last bust portrait the artist completed before her death in 1954, and depicts how Kahlo conceived of the overlapping intellects shared between herself and her prolific husband, the monumental muralist Diego Rivera.
Towards the end of her life, Kahlo was bedridden after having her leg amputated; nevertheless, she continued to work and to pay homage to her husband, who was her constant companion. Rivera championed his wife’s work regularly. “I recommend her to you, not as a husband but as an enthusiastic admirer of her work,” Rivera once told Picasso. “Acid and tender, hard as steel and delicate and fine as a butterfly’s wing, lovable as a beautiful smile, and profound and cruel as the bitterness of life.”
Diego y yo is a profound example of their connection: Kahlo painted the visage of her husband at the center of her forehead, directly where her third eye would be in a more spiritual portrait. However, she also chose to render Rivera’s face with a third eye, creating a doubling effect that speaks to the artist’s deep wells of insight and foresight.
“A painting by Kahlo of this quality and excellence is a rarity at auction,” Julian Dawes, the Co-Head of Impressionist & Modern Art at Sotheby’s New York, said in a statement. “When I look at this painting, the phrase ‘abre los ojos,’ Spanish for ‘open your eyes,’ immediately comes to mind. In the literal sense, it refers to the penetrating stare of Kahlo as the sitter of the portrait (and the double portrait of Rivera), but I think it also symbolizes the incredible moment this painting will surely usher in for Kahlo, as the market opens its eyes to Kahlo in a new way and secures her place in the auction echelon she belongs.”
Great observation. Trotsky was a brilliant orator and agitator, as well as a psychopathic anti-Semitic warmonger.
You obviously haven’t lived on my block!!!
Plug-whipped bottom-feeding catfish-rejected ugly ...
LOL - produced by Phil Collins.
That’s a good song. I always preferred Frida of the two ABBA women.
Yet another second rate “artist” with an overblown reputation due to her politics, her and her husband both.
When he ODs on crack, we'll be rich!
Eyebrows Unite!
So true.
She was in a bus accident as a child i believe and her uterus was destroyed by a pipe that went thru her uterus. Got to leave an mark other than physical.
The movie, Frida, from HBO. Starring, and I think directed by. Selma Hyek. There is a great scene of her in a bathtub. Definitely not guilty.
Mostly inferred through reading her biography... and I also recommend seeing Selma Hayek's portrayal in the movie "Frida." I have had a long-time love affair with early twentieth century Modern art and Frida is always in those galleries.
How long has it been since this guy got the jab?
Trotsky’s real name was LEV BRONSTEIN! I had no idea he was Jewish.
If I had that hanging in my house, I would probably have nightmares every night.......
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.