In 1925, Frida Kahlo was on her way home from school in Mexico City when the bus she was riding collided with a streetcar. She suffered near-fatal injuries to her spine, pelvis and hips, and was bedridden for months afterward.
1925 年, 芙烈達卡蘿正在 從墨西哥市的學校回家途中, 她搭乘的巴士撞上了有軌電車。 她受了嚴重的傷,受傷部位 包括脊椎、骨盆,以及髖骨, 意外後臥床了數個月。
During her recovery, she had a special easel attached to her bed so she could practice painting techniques. When she set to work, she began to paint the world according to her own singular vision. Over the course of her life, she would establish herself as the creator and muse behind extraordinary art.
在恢復過程中, 她的床邊裝設了一個特殊的畫架, 讓她能夠練習繪畫技巧。 當她恢復工作時, 她開始根據她自己的所見來畫畫。 在她一生中, 她成為不凡藝術的創作者 以及背後的靈感來源。
Though you may have met Kahlo's gaze before, her work provides an opportunity to see the world through her eyes. She painted friends and family, still lives and spiritual scenes; but it was her mesmerizing self-portraits which first caught the world’s attention.
雖然你以前可能 有見過卡蘿的凝視, 但她的作品提供一個機會, 讓觀者透過她的眼睛來看世界。 她畫的主題包括朋友和家人、 靜物畫和靈性的情景; 但她那些讓人著迷的自畫像 才是最早讓全世界注意到的作品。 在她的早期作品 《絲絨裝扮自畫像》中,
In an early work, "Self Portrait with Velvet Dress," the focus is on her strong brows, facial hair, long neck and formidable stare. Such features remained, but Kahlo soon began to present herself in more unusual ways. For example, "The Broken Column" uses symbolism, religious imagery and a ruptured landscape to reveal her physical and mental state.
焦點是在她堅毅的眉額、 面部的毛髮、 修長的脖子,及令人敬畏的注視。 這些特徵一直延續下去, 但,沒多久,卡蘿就開始 用更不尋常的方式來呈現她自己。 比如, 《毀壞的圓柱》用到了 象徵性、宗教意象, 以及破裂的地景, 來表現她的身心狀態。
In 1928, Kahlo started dating fellow painter Diego Rivera. They became lifelong partners and cultivated an eccentric celebrity. Together, they traveled the world and dedicated themselves to art, Communist politics and Mexican nationalism.
1928 年,卡蘿開始和同為 畫家的迪亞哥里維拉約會。 他們成為一生的伴侶, 培養出古怪的名聲。 他們一起到世界各地 旅行,並投身藝術、 共產政治,以及墨西哥國家主義。
Kahlo and Rivera shared a deep affinity with Mexicanidad, a movement which celebrated indigenous culture after the Revolution. In her daily life, Kahlo wore traditional Tehuana dress and immersed herself in native spirituality. And in her work, she constantly referenced Mexican folk painting, incorporating its bright colors and references to death, religion and nature.
卡蘿和里維拉都傾向支持 墨西哥文化認同運動, 該運動在革命後提倡原住民文化。 在日常生活中, 卡蘿會穿傳統特瓦納服飾, 讓她自己沉浸在原住民的靈性當中。 在她的作品中,她常常會 參考墨西哥民間繪畫, 整合它們的明亮顏色、 以及關於死亡、宗教, 和大自然的元素。 因為會用到的意象 包括漂浮的巨型花朵、
With her imagery of giant floating flowers, undulating landscapes, transplanted body parts and billowing clouds of demons, Kahlo has often been associated with Surrealism. But while surrealists used dreamlike images to explore the unconscious mind, Kahlo used them to represent her physical body and life experiences.
起伏的地景、移植的身體部位, 以及惡魔的滾滾烏雲, 卡蘿常常被認為是超現實主義派。 不過,超現實主義派會用如夢般的 影像來探索無意識的心靈, 卡蘿卻是用它們來代表 她自己的實體以及人生經歷。
Two of her most-explored experiences were her physical disabilities and her marriage. As a result of the bus accident, she experienced life-long health complications and endured many hospitalizations. She often contemplated the physical and psychological effects of disability in her work; painting herself in agony, recuperating from operations, or including objects such as her back brace and wheelchair.
她的經歷中最常被拿出來探索的, 是她身體的殘障以及她的婚姻。 因為巴士的意外, 她一生都有健康上的障礙, 且要忍受常常住院。 她常常把殘疾帶來的身心影響 放在她的作品當中; 畫出痛苦的自己、 從手術當中恢復, 或者放入一些物品, 比如她的背支架和輪椅。
Meanwhile, her relationship with Rivera was tempestuous, marked by infidelity on both sides. At one point they even divorced, then remarried a year later. During this period, she painted the double self-portrait "The Two Fridas," which speaks to the anguish of loss and a splintered sense of self.
同時,她和里維拉的 關係也是跌宕起伏。 雙方都有出軌行為。 到一個時點,他們甚至離婚了, 一年後又重新結婚。 在這段時間, 她畫了雙重自畫像 《兩個芙烈達》, 呈現出失去的極度痛苦 和破碎的自我感受。
The Frida to the left has a broken heart, which drips blood onto her old-fashioned Victorian dress. She symbolizes a version of the artist who is wounded by the past– but is also connected by an artery to a second self. This Frida is dressed in Tehuana attire– and although she remembers Diego with the tiny portrait in her hand, her heart remains intact. Together, the two suggest a position caught between past and present, individuality and dependency.
左邊的芙烈達有破碎的心, 流下來的血滴到了她的 舊式維多利亞服飾上。 她象徵的是因為過去 而受傷的藝術家—— 但也由一條動脈 連結到第二個自己。 這個芙烈達穿的是特瓦納服裝—— 雖然從她手中的小畫像 可看出她還記得迪亞哥, 她的心仍然完整無缺。 這兩個芙烈達合在一起, 表示她困在過去與現在之間, 困在獨立和依賴之間。
Kahlo died in 1954 at the age of 47. In the years after her death, she experienced a surge in popularity that has lasted to this day. And although her image has proliferated, Kahlo’s body of work reminds us that there are no simple truths about the life, work and legacy of the woman behind the icon. Rather, she put multiple versions of her reality on display– and provided us with a few entry-ways into the contents of her soul.
1954 年,卡蘿過世,享年 47 歲。 在她死後, 她的名氣高漲,一直持續到現今。 雖然她的形象突然變得火熱, 但她的作品提醒我們, 沒有簡單的真相, 不論對於人生、工作, 以及這個偶像背後的 女人的遺產,皆是如此。 她展示出她的現實的數個版本—— 提供我們幾條門道, 進入她靈魂的內含。