Maria Sibylla Merian and Frida Kahlo

My daughter and I filled our art study hour with two special female artists.

We read and admired two small books with prints of Maria Sibylla Merian and I read aloud to my daughter Frida Kahlo (from the delightful Smart About Art series).

In detail we studied the many fine lines in Merian’s botanical drawings: her drawings show so much patience and diligence.

We read that Frida Kahlo suffered serious health problems and had to stay in bed long periods of time. Her mother provided her with some paints and brushes and put up a big mirror in the canopy of her bed. Frida could look up and see herself. Many self-portraits followed. Kahlo has said, ‘I paint myself because I am so often alone and because I am the subject I know best’.

It is quite an understatement to say that life was different to Maria Sibylla Merian. At the age of 52 she sailed with her daughter into a brutally dangerous, exotic and swampy Suriname to study the wonders of nature. Taking into account that Merian lived from 1647 to 1717 you can picture how brave that was for a divorced woman.

Frida Kahlo did travel too. She and Diego Rivera went to San Francisco, New York, Detroit, Paris and met Pablo Picasso. Frida died at the age of 47 in 1954.

Studying these artistic women made my daughter and I see how strong both were. Merian overturned many conventions at her time: as if being divorced wasn’t enough, she also travelled with her daughter alone to South America and (and oh, how shocking!) she collected bugs.
Merian’s work was and still is admired by many.

Frida dealt with her bad health and physical limitations bravely. Would you be able to paint after 32 operations and wearing a corset?

My daughter and I enjoyed our art-study hour of these two very different artists that had an unstoppable desire to draw and paint in common.

Paula