INTRODUCTION
Andre Breton, the founder of Surrealism, was fascinated by Frida Kahlo's art. He labeled her a Surrealist because she utilized the elements European Surrealists used to convey their ideas. However, Frida Kahlo never intended to be part of the movement. She painted her life like she did because it was how she felt. This should help readers comprehend Surrealism as an art movement, discuss Kahlo's life, and also examine the surrealistic elements in her paintings. Once readers are familiar with the characteristics of Surrealism, Kahlo's art, and her life, they can determine whether or not Frida Kahlo was truly a Surrealist.

CHARACTERISTICS OF SURREALISM:
Surrealism, initially an abstract literary movement, was founded by the French poet André Breton. He adopted the word Surrealism and used it in his movement to "position reality into a higher plane". In 1924, Breton published his first manifesto in which he defined Surrealism as "pure psychic automatism, by which one intends to express verbally, in writing or by another method, the real function of the mind ". Surrealism was a movement that occurred after Dadaism. Tristan Tzara, the leader of Dada, was outraged by World War I. He thought that society did not deserve beauty, so he demonstrated his discontent by give it anti-art, not beauty, but ugliness in order to offend the new industrial commercial world the bourgeoisie". Like Dadaism, Surrealism emphasized the role of the unconscious to explore the human mind. Unlike Dadaism, it tried to liberate the mind by employing the psychic unconsciousness in a more orderly and serious manner through thoughts, fantasies, dream-images, and desires.

CARL JUNG AND SIGMEUD FREUD INFLUENCES ON SURREALISM:
Surrealists were also interested in the psychology of Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung. After studying Freud's experiments, Breton adopted Freud's automatic method of free association to interpret dreams. Freud's central thesis was that adult "dreams are distinguished fulfillments of infantile sexual desires". Freud used psychoanalysis to explore dreams because he believed they contributed to the truth of real thoughts and wishes of the mind. Carl Jung, a psychologist who also was interested in the study of the unconscious mind, explained, "the unsatisfied yearning of the artist reaches back to the primordial image in the unconscious, which is the best fitted to compensate the inadequacy and one- sidedness of the present". The artist seizes on this image and raising it from deepest unconsciousness, he brings it into relation with conscious values, thereby transforming it until it can be accepted by the minds of his contemporaries according to their power.

FRIDA AND SURREALISM:
Jung's analysis typifies Frida Kahlo's art: she unconsciously utilized the first images, thoughts, and desires that crossed her mind. In her art, Frida interpreted these themes in a symbolical manner to express and understand the tragedy of her life. The use of Freudian and Jungian psychology took Surrealism to a higher intellectual level. Surrealists began to experience "the intimate relationship between the expression and the awakening of erotic desires". They favored particular types of media like primitive forms and shapes, collage, self-portraits, and photography. Through their interest in Freudian psychology they created metaphysical interiors in their work using specific images such as oceanic artifacts, nudes, phallic symbols, animal heads with human parts, dreams, and word images.

CLASSIFICATION OF SURREALISM:
The use of specific icons in Surrealist images led Michael Bell, a specialist in American art, to classify Surrealism in to two categories: Automatist and Veristic. He defined Automatist as "a form of abstraction in which feelings and emotions take over the subconscious and deliver in an abstract way the subconscious image that reaches the real of consciousness". In other words, Surrealists believed that abstractionism was the only way to depict the subconscious. Bell defined Veristic Surrealism as a means in which" human beings reach the unconscious and make the connection between dream imagery in an attempt to construct meaning that can be understood by the conscious mind". Bell closely studied the characteristics and elements of Veristic Surrealism, breaking it down into three main categories: Classical, Social and Visionary. Classical and Visionary are the most evident in Kahlo's art. Classical Surrealism was deliberate spontaneity, focusing on the unconscious release of thought, allowing it to flow onto the canvas without interpretation or judgments. On the other hand, Visionary Surrealism utilized life experiences in a positive, intuitive manner allowing the individual to reencounter their true selves. Even though Kahlo stated that she was not a Surrealist, André Breton utilized Frida's art to support his interpretation of Surrealism. He defined Surrealism as "a form of art that tries to discover the large reality, liberating the unconscious from repression, dreams, desires and thoughts to freely explore the unconscious lay beyond the narrow rational notions of what is real". Though this definition essentially describes Kahlo's art, "she stated that she was not Surrealist".

ANDRE BRETON AND SURREALISM:
An International Surrealist exhibition took place in Mexico City in 1940. This exhibition was important because the Surrealists viewed Mexico as a fertile ground for Surrealism. André Breton says, "I find the Surrealist Mexico in its relief, in its flora, in its dynamism conferred, on it by the mixture of it races, and also on its highest aspiration". Breton realized that Kahlo's work went beyond the limits of reality. She transfers every single thought into her paintings. She demonstrates that her life revolved around pain and horror. Therefore, she explores subconsciously what Freud psychoanalysis is about. She explores her thoughts and also gets in touch with her self. She goes beyond reality and its imagery to translate in a realistic manner her feelings about life. One can say that Kahlo used fantasy to portray an intensity of feeling and express emotional and physical pain. There is no doubt that she consciously demonstrated a naive combination of Veristic and Automatistic Surrealism. Kahlo explored her unconscious, allowing her feelings to become conscious and finally portrayed them in her art. On the other hand, she also demonstrated Veristic Surrealism by making the connection between the conscious and unconscious through compositions showing of her physical and emotional pain.
After exploring the characteristics and elements of Surrealism, and the comparison that Breton makes between Kahlo and Surrealism, it is important to discuss Frida Kahlo's life in order to determine whether or not she can be categorized as a Surrealist.

FRIDA KAHLO'S BACKGROUND:
Frida Kahlo, the eldest child of Guillermo and Matilde Kahlo, was born on July 6, 1907, in a suburban area of Mexico City. Frida was an extroverted and mischievous child with a great sense of humour and sharp mind. She lived in a healthy environment, and grew up in a supportive and loving Catholic Mexican family. She seemed to be very happy with life. Kahlo's sense of humour began to fade away when she had to confront her first tragedy-- poliomyelitis. As a result of the polio, her right leg was slightly deformed. This illness stopped her from having fun or socializing with her friends. Frida became an "introverted child who instead, of playing with other children, spent time with her imaginary friends who kept her company in her loneliness". As a result of her difficulties, Frida and her father become so close that she shared her illness and loneliness with him. After her recovery, Frida became her father's favorite child. He comforted her and encouraged her intellectually. One reason why Kahlo is so in touch with nature is because her father encouraged her to share his curiosity for all manifestations of nature-stones, flowers, animals, birds, insects, and shells. Though Frida and her father shared many similarities, she differed from him in that she painted her inner world.

THE ACCIDENT:
The most devastating event in Kahlo's life was her car accident. This event took place on one of the busiest streets of Mexico City. The bus that Frida was riding in burst into a thousand pieces. The consequences were so severe that her spinal column was broken and her reproduction system was damaged. Doctors and specialists gave her a slim chance of living. Kahlo had to put up with confining plastic and metal corsets, as well as numerous operations. While she was healing, Kahlo decided to begin "writing with the mixture of literal detail, fantasy and intensity of feeling that was to characterize the imagery in her later paintings". Frida used her life as the theme for her self-portraits. Through them, she demonstrated to herself her will to live and have a normal life. She focussed on self-portraits, but also on animals, flowers, and fruits that symbolized experiences or thoughts in her life. Painting thus became the medicine for her physical and emotional pain. Kahlo was a bright student whose personality and character were well known. While Kahlo was studying in high school, she met the famous Mexican muralist, Diego Rivera. She was fascinated by his artwork. Though she had no intentions of starting anything intimate, both enjoyed each other's company. When Kahlo and Rivera met at Tina Modiftis's party, they discovered they had much in common. Painting was one of them. Kahlo was so fascinating by him that they began to spend more time with each other. Gradually, she became part of his life. By this time Kahlo was obsessed with painting, so she decided to ask Rivera whether her work was worth it or not. Rivera soon became her mentor, and encouraged her to develop her own forms of expression. Rivera was a mature man ten years older than Frida. He was attracted by her straight forwardness, and self-confidence. Both enjoyed each other's company because they saw life the same way. "Both talk about dialectal materialism and social realism, but thought that realism was riddled with fantasy. As much as they admire a non-sense approach to life, they boosted the banal into the marvelous, and worshipped the nonsense imagination. Their budding relationship was encouraged by Frida's father, who wanted to ensure the financial future of his family. He wanted Frida to marry the "fat, ugly, rich" Diego because he had a financially stable career. Frida finally decide to marry Rivera, because he could be relied on to support not only her but her family as well. At the time, marriage seemed a good idea to Kahlo because she though that he was the tender man with whom she could she spend her life. Diego start gaining popularity. His trips abroad with Frida were also of great significance because he was gaining fame. Frida started introducing her art into a new society. Even though she was the wife of a famous painter, she wanted to be recognized as an artist and not just the wife of Diego Rivera. Kahlo's career started at the National Autonomous University of Mexico. After a successful exhibition there, she decided to go to New York, which was the focal point of the Surrealist movement. There she had an exhibition and was critically acclaimed. This event encouraged her to go to Paris, where André Breton was organizing an exhibition called "Mexique". Parisians accepted Kahlo's exhibit. It was during this time that Kahlo and Breton met and became good friends. After seeing her art and analyzing her paintings, André Breton dubbed her a member of the Surrealist group and Kahlo into the Surrealist Pantheon. He said that her work "promises of fantasies is filled with greater splendor by reality itself.

FRIDA KAHLO'S SECOND ACCIDENT:
A few months after their marriage Frida and Diego were not as close as they used to be. Perhaps the inability to give birth was one of the reasons why they started having difficulties. The fracture of her pelvis and spine caused several miscarriages, and she was not likely to have children. This fact not only affected her psychological state but also her relationship with Diego. Reflecting upon her life and her circumstances in her marriage, Frida felt disappointed. She believed that she had two major accidents in life: her car accident and Diego. While Kahlo was recovering from one of her miscarriages at the hospital, Rivera-- her idol, her love, her life, had an affair with her sister. Kahlo dealt with the situation by exercising the violence and the emotional pain she felt. After the incident Kahlo painted A Few Small Nips (1935), which represented the pain Rivera, and her sister caused her. Even though Frida and Diego were having difficulties, she was obsessed with him. She simultaneously loved and hated him. One can say that she was more a mother than his wife. Though Diego was unfaithful to her, he was oblivious to the pain he caused her. Aside from his affairs, Diego was a very busy man. He dedicated most of his time to work and not to Frida, who spent a lot of time by herself. Painting became her best friend because she could trust it. She used it to express all the frustrations and emotions that plagued her mind. She felt that she could not spend her life with Diego. Gradually their lives grew farther and farther apart causing Frida to start thinking about a divorce. Herrera makes an excellent comparison between Frida and a piñata: Frida was like a piñata; a fragile vessel decorated with frills and ruffles, filled with sweets and surprises, but destined to be smashed. Just as blindfolded children swing at the Piñata with a broomstick - life dealt Frida blow after blow. In the same way, Frida's decoration was touching: it was at once affirmation of her love of life and a signal of her awareness and defiance of pain and death. This is an excellent metaphor for Kahlo's life. Though it was full of tragedy and pain, the dream imagery, wishes and thoughts portrayed in her paintings showed that she tried to find the beauty and meaning in her self-existence. After ten years of marriage, Kahlo divorced Rivera. She became an independent artist who supported herself by painting portraits and other pieces of art. Kahlo's pain and misery, however, was reflected in her paintings. Kahlo's self-portraits represent the most intimate moments in her life. A good example is The Two (1939). This painting identifies her as two different Fridas: the one who paints and the one who is painted. Furthermore, it shows how Frida expressed the surreal landscape of her heart and mind.

What Water Gave Me

André Breton and the surrealists became more and more interested in Kahlo's work. Breton considered Kahlo's paintings a good example to reinforce his movement. He included in his Surrealism and painting book What Water Gave Me (1938). In this painting, Frida painted her own legs from the bath's viewpoint, partially obscured by the water. The tips of her feet have the look of fleshy crabs. The big toe of the deformed right foot is cracked open-- it refers to the accident and her later operations. One can say that Frida was an extraordinary artist who manipulated her feelings and thoughts into images. All the objects and elements in her work can be read symbolically and they all have strong meaning. In Kahlo's work, a good sense of humor and violence were an effective and recognizable way to display the constant battle between her life and her existence. No one had opened their heart to demonstrate every single event in their life more sincerely than Frida had. What Water Gave Me; it is more real than surreal. This painting demonstrates Kahlo's true thoughts by using symbols that represent her deepest feeling about her life. She also symbolically reflects her childhood, dreams, sadness and sexual desires; therefore, "the accumulation of small and fantastic details makes this painting appear to be less coherent and less grounded in earthly reality. In other words, all her images are closely tied to events in her life, and the scene taken as a whole is perfectly plausible, as a real depiction of the dreamer and the dream. In addition, this painting absolutely fits the definition of Surrealism because she utilizes iconography, which combines dream imagery with reality.

The Little Deer Root.

Another extraordinary self- portrait is The Little Deer Root (1946). In this painting Kahlo used the flawed object to demonstrate physical and emotional pain. For instance, the elements that she uses in her portraits have a very significant meaning in her life. An example of this flawed object is the cracked wood branches. The wood can be seen as a metaphor for decay and death while the broken branches symbolize "youth". The use of symbols has to do with Kahlo's background. One can say that the relationship between her and this living creature symbolizes the idea of continuance and rebirth. The Surrealists had strong opinions about of Kahlo's art. They believed that the traditions of Mexican culture were Frida's inspiration to motivate her and create a unique and playfully imaginative art. Also, this self-portrait is another example that Breton utilizes to show that "Kahlo's frequent opening up or severing of portions of the human body recalls the severed heads and hands or the fallen torsos often seen in Surrealist paintings ". Therefore, this painting demonstrates some similarities with surrealist painting. They use of hybrid figures show Kahlo's loneliness and sadness. The deer seems to represents a vulnerable and victimized natural creature. The Aztecs, and ancient Mexican culture, tended to worship certain animals. Frida uses them as a metaphor in her paintings. They believed that a newborn human has an animal counterpart as a person's fate was tied to that of the animal that represents the calendar sign of the day of her birth". Frida Kahlo and André Breton had similar approaches to art. Frida demonstrated through her self-portraits the biography of her life. Kahlo was adamantly convinced that "she was not a Surrealist". She did what she did because she was the best subject she knew in life. This fact amazed André Breton because he realized that Kahlo and other Surrealist painters, such as Salvador Dali, were trying to liberate the suppressed desires and thoughts of the mind. Dali was trying to liberate the unconscious in order to free the mind from conscious control. One could say that Dali could be considered a pure surrealist, because he used paintings of hallucinations, fantasy, and desires to express the deepest thoughts of the mind. Dali's aim was to "set up a chain of metamorphosis in which he gradually transformed an object into a nightmare image, and gave conviction through a hard realistic technique". On the other hand, Kahlo uses painting to show the facts of her life; Dali portrayed the first idea that crossed his mind. To Dali, art was a way to answer "the torment and erotic fantasies he suffered since his childhood". To Frida, it was her life. Stokstad stated that "Whether she could have painted it in the imaginative ways that she did without the example of Surrealism, is an open question".

CONCLUSION:
Kahlo naively utilized the elements of surrealist art. She never intended to produce surrealism in her paintings; she simply portrayed her tragic life. If we could interview Frida Kahlo and ask her about her life, she might explain how she has been called a Surrealist many times. Frida Kahlo did not try to convince herself or anyone else that she was just a regular woman who had spent most of her life attached to a chair, fighting with life. Frida shared from the bottom of her heart the expressions of her childhood, the suppressions of sexual desires, the feelings and thoughts of marriage, and the impulses and emotions stored in her mind. These were the subjects of her paintings and the reasons for her to live. Every moment, every thought, every colour and brush stroke distinguished her from other women and made her a heroine of Mexican Art.

©Lucyeileen Hernandez