A week or so ago, I went to see the Frida Kahlo exhibit at SFMOMA. I like art I can understand, and I feel like I can understand Kahlo’s art. I look at it, and I just feel like I get it.

My interest in her work follows my interest in her husband Diego Rivera’s work. I had Vendedor de Flores on my wall all through high school but didn’t discover Kahlo’s work until college. I love her diary and have read several biographies and bad fictionalizations of her life. Her life is shaped by two tragedies. One, she was injured in a streetcar accident where a metal stake went through her back and made her an invalid. She suffered great physical pain throughout her life because of it. Two, she married Rivera, who repeatedly cheated on her (she cheated on him too, I guess), including with her sister. She suffered great mental pain throughout her life because of it.

Her paintings are an imagistic response to that pain. As such, it is their emotional content that makes them so relatable.

I had only seen one or two of her paintings in person before the exhibit. Now I have seen all the important ones. Here are some thoughts:

A. Kahlo was a brilliant portrait artist. I didn’t understand the sheer scope of her ability before this exhibit. The eyes, which I understand are a major way to judge portraits, are filled with subtle yet very specific emotions. Emotions you don’t expect. For example, look at the complicated ways the eyes are unfocused and pointed inward in this painting, giving me a sense of the sadness and disconnection from the viewer:

B. Seeing Kahlo’s art in person changes it. With all the mass marketing of her work, you think you know these paintings before you see them, but more than any artist I have ever seen, Kahlo’s paintings get lost in photographs. You don’t get the subtleties. I had seen copies of the below painting hundreds of times, but had never noticed that the face it androgynous until I saw it in person.

The photo makes it look like it is just a little off, but in person you see that it is a deliberate choice on her part. She made half of her face like a woman and half like a man. It is one of the best androgynous paintings I’ve ever seen.

C. A portrait of chronic pain:

D. Her last paintings are interesting after all. Before Kahlo died, she was mostly painting fruit. I don’t go in for fruit or flower paintings, so I never paid much attention to these paintings before. In person, they are truly gory and disturbing. The fruit looks like rotting body parts and things that wriggled out of birth canals and other creepy things. I liked them.

E. San Francisco needs a fourth major art gallery. Every time I go to one of these exhibits, they are stuffed full of people. It’s like the perpetual crowd in front of the Mona Lisa in the Louvre. There are many art lovers in that town, and that’s great. Some clever person should take advantage and build another gallery. S/he would make a killing. Demand and supply, man.