Comparative Writing on Kahlo and Bourgeois

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Comparative writing on Kahlo and Bourgeois Frida Kahlo and Louise Bourgeois are women who are very well respected in the art community. One theme that unites the artists is the sense of pain. Both artists are able to put psychological and physical pain into their very personal artworks. Frida Kahlo is known more for her paintings, depicting herself to demonstrate her pain and show how she is altered by certain events. Bourgeois is known more so for her sculptures, depicting her pain in more abstract ways. Frida Kahlo’s largest painting The Two Frida’s was created at the same time as her divorce to Diego Rivera. The painting depicts two Frida’s. One Frida sits on the left of the painting; she wears a white European dress, the Frida that Diego no longer loved and had betrayed and rejected. The rejected Frida’s bodice has been exposed, showing a damaged heart. She sits emotionless, staring straight ahead. Frida once told Diego “my blood is the miracle that travels in the veins if the air from my heart to yours”. The rejected Frida holds a pair of surgical pincers trying to stop the blood from spurting out, her emotions also, trying to severe the shared blood flow. A red vein links the two Frida’s together. At the age of six Frida got polio, which resulted in losing her right leg. Lonely and in pain, Frida made up an imaginary friend. The linking vein as well as the clasped hands suggests that Frida has re-created her imaginary friend in the form of herself. This imaginary friend being the only one to know how it felt to go through so much pain. The Frida that sits on the right wears traditional Mexican clothing linking back to her heritage. This is the Frida that Diego loved; this Frida’s heart remains whole. In her lap she holds a miniature photo of Diego. The stormy sky filled with agitated clouds may reflect Frida's inner turmoil. Diego was always on Frida’s
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