Cristina My Sister

This painting was painted after Frida found out that her sister had an affair with Diego. In her rage she created this painting of her sister. Frida Kahlo is a very famous Mexican painter. She created many of her painting from her life and what she saw and experienced. Her paintings are not only beautiful but interesting. She meticulously filled her paintings with culture.

Cristina my sister is a very interesting painting. As you view the painting the focal point is on the her sisters face. You can see the seriousness and anguish on her face. Her eyebrows are furrowed as though she is in deep concentration. I can only imagine the thoughts going through her mind as she is sitting for this painting. As you think of the background Frida has just discovered her sisters affair with her husband Diego. You can feel the pain that Frida is feeling as she paints the rage in her sisters face. Her face is a light pink and her lips are pursed. This displays the frustration in her face but also the frustration ans betrayal that she is feeling. As Frida continues to paint the pain that she feels as it is reflected in her face you move down the painting to her body. Cristina is wearing a white dress. I feel as though after betraying her sister she should be wearing red or some sort of angry color to represent her feelings. I think that her choice of white is appropriate though. She didn't want to blame her sister and she wanted to keep the focus of the painting on her face and her emotion that she is trying to portray instead of the coloring. Her body is rigid and her hands are folded across her lap. Her body seems uncomfortable and unsure of how to act and feel and of what she is planning on doing next.

The background of this picture is white with green grass as the foreground and a little bit of a pink in the right hand corner. I think that the barren background represents her feelings of hurt and despair but that in the far distant future the pink is her small ray of hope that someday everything will turn out for the best. Everything will work out. In the far distance in the right hand corner sits a small, lonely tree and out of the right hand side in the mid part of the picture a section of a tree branch is coming out. The background is almost barren. This is a stark comparison to many of her pictures. It displays the emotion that she is currently feeling. Lonely, distant, and apart from everyone. The little amount of green life in her picture not only takes the focus off of her sister but it represents the distance between them and the hope that she has of starting a new life and forgetting the past.
My Sister Cristina 1932
Kahlo, Frida. Cristina My Sister. 1932. Roseanna Lee Frida Kahlo Self Portraits. Web. 9 Sept. 2010. <http://www.roseannalee.com/fridakahlo/0008.jpg>.