La Balada para Frida Kahlo

An essay by Allie Skupin

Women, Surrealism, and Mexico

Surrealism in Mexico represented a diverse movement filled with artists from a variety of countries that elevated women artists unlike any before it. Unlike the Surrealism of Europe, women played a far more central role, depicting their own personal, complex identities. In Europe, women were assigned to the role of the muse, who served the inherently sexualized role as an object that bears the signs of unconscious desire. [1] Women surrealists in Mexico came from a variety of countries as expatriates, fleeing events such as WWII and the Spanish Civil War in Europe, in search of a new home to foster their artistic careers. Mexico allowed them a more liberated existence, where they wouldn’t be living in the shadows of male artists who they were associated with.[2] Women artists in Mexico were very much in contact with each other and spent time with one another, as seen in Rahon’s own connections with Kahlo. Other artists were also closely linked and drew inspiration from one another, such as the bond between Leonora Carrington and Remedios Varo. Rather than having to rely on the mentorship of male artists like their European counterparts, these women worked with each other in order to flesh out ideas relating to gender and identity.

Who was Alice Rahon?

As we begin to reexamine women artists within the art historical canon, some still live in the shadow of their husbands or male counterparts. This is certainly the case of Alice Rahon, whose husband, Wolfgang Paalen, is one of the biggest names in the Mexican Surrealist movement.

Beginning as a surrealist writer and poet, Rahon frequently contributed to her husband's journal on surrealism, Dyn. The journal was unique in that it often contradicted ideas set forth by French surrealist writer, Andre Breton.

Only later did she move into the world of painting. In her artistic journey, she befriended another famous woman who was once in her husband's shadow, Frida Kahlo.

Wolfgang Paalen's Dyn Magazine Cover No.1, Mexico, 1942

Alice Rahon: The Painter

Alice Rahon, La Balada para Frida Kahlo, 1956. Oil on canvas

Embodying a sense of mysticism, La Balada para Frida Kahlo, pays homage to a day spent together between artists Alice Rahon and Frida Kahlo at the plaza of Coyoacán in Mexico City. Clearly a day filled with fun, objects such as a ferris wheel and kites are depicted. Rather than choosing to depict a single event or place from their day, however, Rahon lays out the day as a more abstract journey in a magical dimension. The apparently spiritual realm that this composition undertakes to portray reflects the growing influence of alchemy on women artists in Mexico of the time.

Shamanism and Cave Art

The style in which the animals and figures are rendered harkens back to prehistoric influences. In 1933, Rahon visited the caves of Altamira in Spain, where she likened her descent into the caves to that of shamans in the Paleolithic era. [3] Rahon’s interest in cave art was a continuing theme throughout her career, as caves are often tethered to mystic ideas and shamanistic practice. Obviously drawn to ancient artistic practices it is unsurprising that Rahon utilized materials earthen materials such as volcanic sand from Popocatépetl (given to her by Rufino Tamayo) to color her canvas. [4] This sand, used for black in many of her canvases, reflects again these ancient cave art practices, this time in material rather than style, connecting her canvases to the land they were created in (a practice inherently shamanistic in itself.) [5] In regard to the canvas as representative of this shamanic journey, the subject appears to float in an indiscernible background with no grounding features. It is unclear whether it is daytime or nighttime, as yellow pigments provide vague hints toward light further blurring this distinction of the physical and spiritual realms.

Cave of Altamira and Paleolithic Cave Art of Northern Spain (Photo by Yvonne Fruneau for UNESCO)

Animal Symbolism

Remedios Varo, Creation of the Birds, 1957, oil on masonite

The animals in this composition are bizarre, yet intriguing, as they hover around the periphery of the buildings. Specific animals like giraffes and cats are identifiable, despite their less naturalistic rendering. These seemingly random animals reflect a dominant trend in the works of many female artists in Mexico. Women surrealists selected animal personas to express different intellectual or sexual aspects of identity. [6] Remedios Varo, for example, often represented herself as an owl as seen in Creation of the Birds, 1957 . Rahon most commonly selected giraffes, birds, or cats to represent herself or aspects of her identity. These giraffes and cats therefore may emerge as symbols of the artist’s perceptions of her own gender identity, hovering in the background. The shape of the composition is also symbolic of a particular vision that appeared to Rahon of Mexico itself, in which she envisioned it as a “flying fish in space.”[7] The procession of the canvas does indeed take the shape of a fish, as a semicircle of people and building form the body, while the right end of the buildings and end of the line of figures respectfully fan out to the form the tail of the fish.

Alice Rahon and Frida Kahlo

Rahon and Kahlo met in 1939 in Paris and from there they traveled together to Mexico. Initially working as a surrealist poet upon her arrival in Mexico, her later incorporation of words into her paintings makes perfect sense. Words and language also play a role in this piece, as well as other works by Rahon. Etched into this canvas are the words “Frida aux yeux d’hirondelle” which roughly translates to “Frida with swallow eyes.” The French references her own country of origin. This further provides a nod to her friend Kahlo, and could serve as a tribute to the artist’s personal memories of Kahlo. Likewise, it furthers the association of Rahon and her use of birds as a symbol for female identity that was noted previously. Completed in 1956, with Kahlo’s death being in 1954, the painting is a posthumous celebration. Though small and potentially easy to miss at first glance, her incorporation of words into the paintings provide a poignant touch, emphasizing that words are a powerful means to transmit messages.

Detail from La Balada para Frida Kahlo

Conclusions

Alice Rahon’s La Balada para Frida Kahlo provides us with an excellent view into the complex worlds of Mexican Surrealism and Magical Realism. Not only does it help us understand the intricate network of connections present between artists in Mexico, but it also allows for us to see an example of two women artists connecting and collaborating. Rahon herself, an expatriate, also emphasizes the tendency of European artists to find refuge and inspiration in Mexico. The honorary nature of the work as a posthumous celebration of Frida Kahlo highlights the meaning and depth of their relationship. Though not as well known as her husband, Rahon’s painting, La Balada para Frida Kahlo, still remains a remarkable work, and her oeuvre certainly deserves further exploration in the world of art history.

Notes

[1] Marcella Munson, “Eclipsing Desire: Masculine Anxiety and the Surrealist Muse,” French Forum 29, no. 2 (2004): pp. 19-21, https://doi.org/10.1353/frf.2004.0051)

[2] Maya Jiménez. “Women, Expatriates, and Surrealism in Mexico.” Smarthistory, December 3, 2019. https://smarthistory.org/women-expatriates-surrealism-mexico/.

[3] Edward J. Sullivan. Making the Americas Modern: Hemispheric Art, 1910-1960. (London: Laurence King Publishing, 2018), 210-211

[4]Nancy Deffebach. "Alice Rahon: de poeta frances a pintora mexicana." In Alice Rahon. Una Surrealista en México 1939-1987 Exhibition catalogue. (Mexico City: Museo de Arte Moderno, 2009), 189

[5] Gloria Feman Orenstein. "Down the Rabbit Hole, An Art of Shamanic Initiations and Mythic Rebirth." In In Wonderland: the Surrealist Adventures of Women Artists in Mexico and the United States. Exhibition catalogue. (Munich: Prestel, 2012), 181

[6] Deffebach, “Alice Rahon,” 186

[7] Tere Arcq. "In the Land of Convulsive Beauty, Mexico." In In Wonderland: the Surrealist Adventures of Women Artists in Mexico and the United States. Exhibition catalogue. (Munich: Prestel, 2012), 82

Additional Resources

Bibliography

Arcq, Tere. "In the Land of Convulsive Beauty, Mexico." In In Wonderland: the Surrealist Adventures of Women Artists in Mexico and the United States. Exhibition catalogue. Munich: Prestel, 2012, 82

Deffebach, Nancy. "Alice Rahon: de poeta frances a pintora mexicana." In Alice Rahon. Una Surrealista en México 1939-1987 Exhibition catalogue. (Mexico City: Museo de Arte Moderno, 2009), 186-189

Jiménez, Maya. “Male Surrealists in Mexico, an Introduction.” Smarthistory, November 11, 2019. https://smarthistory.org/male-surrealists-mexico/.

Jiménez, Maya. “Women, Expatriates, and Surrealism in Mexico.” Smarthistory, December 3, 2019. https://smarthistory.org/women-expatriates-surrealism-mexico/.

“La Balada De Frida Kahlo.” Museo de Arte Moderno. Accessed April 4, 2020. https://mam.inba.gob.mx/objeto?obj=610.

Munson, Marcella. “Eclipsing Desire: Masculine Anxiety and the Surrealist Muse.” French Forum 29, no. 2 (2004): 19–21. https://doi.org/10.1353/frf.2004.0051.

Orenstein, Gloria Feman. "Down the Rabbit Hole, An Art of Shamanic Initiations and Mythic Rebirth." In In Wonderland: the Surrealist Adventures of Women Artists in Mexico and the United States. Exhibition catalogue. Munich: Prestel, 2012, 181

Sullivan, Edward J. Making the Americas Modern: Hemispheric Art, 1910-1960. (London: Laurence King Publishing, 2018), 210-211

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