Abstract

LEVINZON, Gina Khafif. Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera: passion and pain. Ide (São Paulo) [online]. 2010, vol.33, n.50, pp. 196-210. ISSN 0101-3106.

Some liaisons intrigue us for their tenacity to remain, despite the great intensity of frustration and suffering they cause to the person. The question that arises is: what determines the persistent choice of a love partner that doesn´t correspond to the affection the partner gives? This work examines the tumultuous relationship between Frida Kahlo and her husband Diego Rivera, who was the central Frida’s life, that was characterized by repeated experiences of pain. Frida felt that Diego represented “more than her own skin,” as if she expected to reproduce through the link with him the initial fusion feeling established by the baby in his early life. What was repeated, however, was the failure to build a good enough primitive link, that lacked in Frida’s initial relationship with her mother. The tenacity with which Frida kept the connection with Diego seemed to be based on an attempt to master the traumatic situation, or in a way of maintaining the link with the “dead mother” who is seen as the absent and depressed mother. Through the paintings and her self-portraits, Frida Kahlo was a “mother of herself” and found a creative way to deal with her emotions and her pain.

Keywords : Frida Kahlo; Diego Rivera; Passion; Love relationships; Narcissistic injury; Pathology of the love link.

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