Review of Frida Kahlo's Girl with Death Mask
By: David K. Montoya
Sometime I find it tricky to present an art review that falls with the theme of the magazine, you may not realize that there is one—but, trust me there is. This month being our Halloween issue, I wanted to present something unique and enlightening while at the same time being true to the vision offered this month.
Other than Halloween, Dia de los Muertos or Day of the Dead kicks off on the 31st of October, but unlike here in the States, it runs longer than a day and concludes on November 2nd. This event is what has truly inspired my choice for art this time around.
The masterpiece that I offer up to all of you is a painting from 1938, by renowned Hispanic icon and artist, Frida Kahlo and her Niña con Mascara de Muerte or in English, Girl with Death Mask. There has be speculation that it was actually a self portrait of Frida as a little girl celebrating the "Day of the Dead" while she wore a spooky mask of a skull.
One of the things that has always stood out to me is how different cultures celebrated the same thing (like honoring the dead) in two completely opposite ways. Halloween is portrayed as dark and spooky, you know death is a scary thing here in the States, as where in Dia de los Muertos it is more lighthearted and not a frightening event, but rather a celebration of a person's passing instead of mourning a death.
So with that perspective in mind, and like the little girl in the painting, the people of Mexico wear masks as a way of celebration—and we start to understand as to why we see scary and spooky images but, in a cheerful manner.
A fun fact to know is as Halloween is linked with the visual image of pumpkins or Jack o'Lanterns, in Mexico Dia de los Muertos is connected with Marigolds, which is why the little girl in the painting is hold a yellow flower (most likely a marigold), in her hands. It is tradition for people to place a single flower on a grave of a loved one, in honor, memory and celebration of that person.
Now, I just found this out in doing a little research, because I did not know much about the mask which is sitting next to her. According to online that mask was not a monster or demon (which is what I thought it was), but rather a wooden tiger mask, which was an exact replica of one that hung on the wall in her own living room.
Huh… Go figure.
So despite all this cheerfulness found in the painting, if anyone who knows me, I like to find a deeper interpretation to images found in art. So, with what I know about Frida Kahlo and applying it to this piece, we see something very personal about the woman and the life she lived.
For example, the painting has a subtitle that many do not know about—even art professors, just saying—which is "She Plays Alone." So, is she not actually telling a visual story about celebrating the dead, but rather a story of her life? It was well documented that Frida said that loneliness and sorrow were no strangers in her life growing up.
At only six–years–old, Frida, contracted polio which affected her right leg as it did not grow at the same rate as the left and gave her a noticeable limp. So, after a long stint in hospitals due to the disease and being labeled the outcast from neighborhood children, an adolescent Frida became well familiar with loneliness and emotional pain which even into adulthood.
Back to the painting.
It is my belief that Niña con Mascara de Muerte (Girl with Death Mask) is a snapshot from a childhood memory that Frida had and the isolation she endured as a little girl. An example of this is how the background was so empty, which suggests a forced reclusiveness—an only person around type feel, and even the cloud filled sky seemed to be brooding.
Another fun fact for all of you. Did you know that Frida originally painted and gave Girl with Death Mask to a close friend, Mexican Actress Delores del Rio as a gift?
Today, it is on display in the Nagoya City Art Museum in Nagoya, Japan. 