Learning a different language comes with new experiences, and knowing a country's culture is one of them. Mexico has a long list of famous artists: writers, singers, actors... you name it, we have it. But today we're going to talk a little about a few of our most important painters, who have left a big mark in history even though they lived decades ago. All of them inspired the following generations of artists, and they still do.
Frida Kahlo
(Photo credit: fridakahlo.org)
Her name must be the first to pop into your mind when you read this article's title. Yes, Magdalena Carmen Frida Kahlo Calderón is one of Mexico's most famous artists, and today is known worldwide as one of the most revolutionary artists ever.
Physical pain and emotional wounds are the main things represented in most of Kahlo's portraits. At the age of 18 she was involved in a terrible bus accident, and due to the injuries she suffered, Frida had to stay in bed for months. During this period she painted several of her now famous self-portraits. The pain never ended, since throughout her life she had to undergo 35 operations.
When she was 22 years old, she married Diego Rivera, a 42-year-old Mexican painter whom she admired. Their marriage and affairs were also portrayed in many of her hundreds of paintings. Frida Kahlo died at the age of 47 in Mexico City, and it was only several years after her death that her work became widely acclaimed.
José Clemente Orozco
(Photo credit: zapotlancontrapunto.wordpress.com)
Born in 1883, this Mexican painter started making a name of his own as a political cartoonist and draftsman, but, after the Mexican Revolution ended, he decided to follow his true passion: murals, inspired by one of his teachers at the art academy he attended.
After several years of living in the United States, Clemente Orozco settled in Guadalajara, Mexico, where some of his most renowned murals live. Many of them are painted in dark colors, because he wanted to represent human suffering, cruelty and the reality of war.
Many people don't know it, but José Clemente Orozco lost one of his hands due to an explosion when he was a kid. When finding yourself surrounded by his art, you'd never believe that he did all of that with only one hand.
Leonora Carrington
(Photo credit: medium.com/@djpangburn/)
Leonora Carrington might be one of the most mysterious artists that Mexico has had in the last decades. Born in Mexico to an Irish mother and a British father, Leonora lived most of her adult life in Mexico City, where she founded the Women's Liberation Movement, and also where she died at the age of 94.
Since she was young, Carrington rejected her religious upbringing and rebelled against her family and teachers. After being kicked out from different schools, Carrington finally got her parents approval to study art at a prestigious institute, where she came in contact with surrealism for the first time.
Years later she would become romantically involved with Max Ernst, the famous German painter and sculptor. When they both moved to Paris, Leonora met Salvador Dali and André Breton, whom with she formed a strong friendship and, in a way, kept feeding her love for the surreal. What makes her a surrealist artist is her deep interest in alchemy, geometry, and magic, subjects she explored in her paintings.
Rufino Tamayo
(Photo credit: arteyartistas.wordpress.com)
This painter blended European styles and Mexican culture. Unlike Clemente Orozco, Tamayo didn't feel like portraying the political and revolutionary side of the country, but chose to give new life to its folklore instead.
Due to some of his ideas about the Mexican Revolution, he was considered by many as a traitor, which made him leave the country for a few years. He moved to New York and began to surround himself by the modern art happening in the city back then, which also made him appreciate the work of Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse, among other notable Europeans.
When he settled back in Mexico, he donated his large collection of pre-Columbian art to the city of Oaxaca (where he was born in 1899) and founded the Rufino Tamayo Museum of Pre-Hispanic Art.
Again in 1981, and alongside his wife, he donated a collection of international art that became the basis for the Rufino Tamayo Museum of Contemporary Art in Mexico City. With two museums in his home country named after him and a wide collection of portraits made during his lifetime, Tamayo died on June 24, 1991, at the age of 92.
Maria Izquierdo
(Photo credit: museoblaisten.com)
Born in 1902, she is known for being the first Mexican woman to have her artwork exhibited in the United States. Maria Izquierdo's art proudly displays her Mexican roots in bright oil paints and watercolors.
Maria Izquierdo had an arranged marriage at the age of 14, and by the time she was 17 years old she already had 3 children. She moved from Jalisco to Mexico City in her early twenties, then got divorced and started working on her true passion: painting. She attended Escuela Nacional de Bellas Artes (Academy of Fine Arts), where Rufino Tamayo was one of his teachers. He shared some of his skills, taught her how to use watercolor, and eventually shared an art studio in the city with her for a couple of years.
She grew up fast, experimenting with different styles and techniques. Although many think of her work as surrealism, she never did. She shaped her art under the influence of avant-garde ideas and the culture of the times. She became internationally recognized in 1930, showing her work not only in the United States, but also in Europe.
Maria Izquierdo died young, at the age of 53, but her work opened many doors for the next generation of female artists.
Even though the painters you just read about are no longer with us, their art is still available for us to appreciate. Have you had the chance to see some of their paintings in a museum? What do you think? Remember that art is subjective, talk with your online spanish tutor about what you've learned, and what the artists' work made you feel. Maybe he or she has some interesting ideas too!
Here are some of the places you can visit to enjoy the timeless work by these legendary artists!
Museo de las Artes (Musa) - Universidad de Guadalajara
Museo Tamayo
Museo Frida Kahlo
