A new documentary titled Frida will be released on Prime Video on March 14, 2024. This project delves into the life of the legendary Mexican painter Frida Kahlo. According to Time Magazine, Kahlo’s story will be narrated through archival footage, animation, and clips from the artist’s writings.
According to IMDb, the documentary’s synopsis reads, “A raw and magical journey into the life of iconic artist Frida Kahlo, told through her own words from diaries, letters, essays, and interviews. Vividly brought to life with lyrical animation inspired by her unforgettable artwork.”
At the age of 18, Frida Kahlo met with a gruesome bus accident. The damage was so severe that Kahlo lived with the pain throughout her life. However, this is when she discovered her passion for painting. In the documentary, she says, “It wasn’t violent but silent. Slow. The handrail went through me like a sword through a bull.”
In a body cast and bored, Kahlo’s mother helped her set up a makeshift easel. In addition, she even hung a mirror over her daughter’s head so that she could paint self-portraits. Later on, self-portraits would become that painter’s motif.
How did art become so important for Frida Kahlo?
Time Magazine reported that the upcoming documentary features the painting that Kahlo created after a miscarriage in 1932. After the tragedy, she painted the famous self-portrait called Henry Ford Hospital. This heartbreaking artwork showcases her lying in a bloodied bed. She once famously said, “The only thing I know is that I paint because I need to.” Unfortunately, the painter suffered two more miscarriages.
Notably, Frida Kahlo saw painting as an outlet to support herself and not depend on her husband, Diego Rivera. He and Kahlo tied the knot in 1929. Rivera’s infidelity eventually culminated in the couple’s divorce. However, they remarried after Rivera’s persistence.
In the upcoming documentary, Kahlo says, “I’ve painted little without the slightest desire for glory or ambition, with the sole conviction to give myself pleasure, and the power to make a living with my trade. I’ve lost so many things I wanted for my life, but painting completed my life.”
Kahlo died on July 13, 1954, at the age of 47. Some of her last paintings include Marxism Will Give Health to the Sick, Frida and Stalin, and Viva La Vida.
