For Frida Kahlo, art was a way to turn pain into artistic expression, it was her chain, her form of freedom. As he always refused to be a victim, he understood from an early age that life did not deserve to be understood through his physical suffering, for Frida Kahlo life was first and foremost passion.
When does anyone admire your work? (1944), cannot help but feel a deep shudder; in this context, the symbolism of pain acquires, more than ever, a palpable, physical and almost desperate intensity. Every year of treatment and orthopedics. The devices he had to use were recorded, as if it were a testimony of exaltation of the physical body as synonymous with torture.
“Feet, why do I want them, if I have wings to fly for?”- Frida Kahlo-
Frida herself once explained that she had painted all these self-portraits because she was lonely, rather than wanting to channel her physical suffering she needed to meet someone to explain how she felt, and that person was herself.
The example of life and attitude of the famous Mexican painter shows us something very concrete: creativity is a vehicle, it is an exceptional mechanism capable of helping us not only to restructure pain, but also to channel suffering through art. Expressive therapies, such as painting, writing or composition, are also a way to come together to take care of yourself and regain emotional stability.
The Broken Column, 1944
We often like to think that art, to attain its ultimate expression and genius, needs a tortured mind and a broken heart. The archetype of the tormented poet and the novelist who writes frantically in his nights formidable illusions remain very present in collective thought.
“Our existence is nothing more than a short circuit of light between two eternity of darkness. “Vladimir Nabokov.
However, in addition to suffering, there is a psychological reality that underpins this type of personality in a deeper and more delicate way, names such as Lord Byron, Edgar Allan Poe, Ernest Hemingway or Frida Kahlo hem are a clear example of a very specific situation. characteristic: passion. The spirit of these artists has never been ordinary. In fact, and if we look at every detail, we’ll find that they fit perfectly into what Howard Gardner understands as a creative mind:
Starry Night, 1889, Van Gogh
One of the most successful definitions of creativity is the one proposed by the writer Richard Luecke, for him creativity is not a mental state or a genetic thing, much less a product associated exclusively with the IQ, it is a process of development and a form of expression oriented to problem solving or (here it appears the most interesting) to the satisfaction of emotional needs.
Suffering is a catalyst for artistic expression, of which there is no doubt, but both happiness and fear and even anger, but pain finds in art a very cathartic refuge, where the person can rediscover himself and take care of himself, immerse himself in his depths of uncertainty and mingle with his black holes to strengthen himself.
Rufus Wainwright is a renowned Canadian singer who, in 2010, released an album (All Days Are Nights: Songs for Lulu) where he let them glimpse, one by one, the signs of suffering he had suffered at the time. He always vestido. de black during his shows and asked the audience not to clap between songs.
“Suffering is justified when it becomes the raw material of beauty. “Jean Paul Sartre
He had just lost his mother and his mind was still stuck in the traumatic past, in which he was abused at the age of 14. Today, and after a happy union, his life sails in a much more peaceful, mature and secure emotional ocean. However, there’s no shortage of people who ask you if today’s happiness won’t stop you from writing good songs like a few years ago.
Wainwright is very clear at this point. You know very well that when it comes to suffering there is not a before or after, especially if the trauma occurred in childhood, the demons will always be by our side, they never disappear completely, what happens is that there comes a time when the person has to choose if he wants to be considered a victim forever or if he will be allowed to be happy , even if I have to live with that memory.
In her compositions much of the sadness of the past has not yet lost her voice, she is still present because she is part of it and is one more relief that gives her her creativity, however, today’s happiness is also a powerful stimulant. in your works What would be the need to renounce or deny any of these aspects?
Finally, we are a complex mix of opposing emotions, light and darkness that make up who we are. The main thing is not to give up, because Frida Kahlo did not give up; we must find a passion and transform it into our refuge, as a catalyst, with which we can give the world the best of us and, at the same time, take care of our own emotional universe.