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Untitled at the moment see details of content - Essay Example These essays discusses the lives of two early twentieth female artists and two contemporary ones, and attempts to throw some light on the nature of their art and also how it affected their personal lives. Frida Kahlo, born in 1907 was an internationally acclaimed Mexican painter. Her paintings carried distinct undertones of realism, symbolism and surrealism. Kahlo has gained immense popularity in the past few years, both for her work and her turbulent life. Some critics have even called her the â€Å"female Che Guevera† as her life has become synonymous with the triumph of art. The â€Å"Kahlo Cult† as it is now called, started in the 1990’s, when her paintings were breaking all records fetching up to $ 1 million in one single auction (Miller, 1999). Since then, she has been the subject of various plays, documentaries, and novels, the latest of which is a movie starring Salma Hayek as Kahlo. Besides that, she has also been designated as the goddess of the women’s movement for her paintings express certain sensitive women’s issues. But more so because of her personal life and her portrayal as the gallant woman sufferer. Tragedy stuck Kahlo at the tender age of 6 when she was diagnosed with polio; nearly twelve years later, she had a fatal accident which left her with a broken spinal column, broken pelvis, ribs and multiple fractures. For months, Frida was encased in a box like plaster cast and the pain and agony that she underwent was later represented in some of her paintings. As a matter of fact, nearly all her paintings are manifestations of her personal emotions. If one wishes to develop a cultural understanding of Kahlo’s work, it become imperative to study her personal life as well. As she herself says, "I paint myself because I am so often alone, because I am the subject I know best. One of her most famous works, â€Å"The Broken Column†, portrays her in a back brace, strongly reminiscent of her days after