Something that just caught my eye!
Florence Welch from Florence + The Machine has done it again. I wrote about Welch’s love of the Pre-Raphaelites and how her stage persona seems inspired by the paintings of Alfred L. Tennyson and others in the group. Welch has now returned to the painting world for song writing inspiration for her sophomore album. The single What The Water Gave Me is a bleary lullaby that sounds like a ghost singing out her sorrow.
Welch has filched the title of the tune straight from this painting by Mexican artist Frida Kahlo. Nowadays most people know Frida Khalo because of Salma Hayek. Hayek made a beautiful, passionate film about the artist in 2002. Suddenly Frida became part of pop culture. When I saw the bewitching Mexican singer Lila Downs from Oaxaca I thought “Frida.” I’ve even seen Frida’s influence in the blogosphere -that barometer of everything “cool.” For example, in 2009 Fashion Blogger Jessica Quirk from What I Wore dressed as Frida for Halloween.
That painting is a tableau depicting the artist’s inner turmoil. In the piece we see what the water gave her, what life gave her. Some of the items are symbolic but others are obvious allusions to people and things in her life. The man and woman behind the bushes are her parents. Kahlo painted them in much the same way in another work called My Grandparents, My Parents and I (Family Tree) 1936. The women on the bank may be a reference to her own sexuality. She had affairs with women even though she was married to the philandering Diego Rivera. The dress seems like a traditional garb from one of the indigenous tribes – a heritage in which she took great pride.
The woman in the center of the painting seems like a fair representation of herself. Her pain suffocated her. And some of that pain was caused by her husband, the well-known muralist Diego Rivera who was a star in the leftish literati of the 1950s. His inability or indisposition for monogamy gave her much heartache. And, she had to endure a lifetime of physical ailments.
Her pain was also physical. She was in a bus crash in her youth so she spent her adulthood having reconstructive surgeries that often left her bedridden.
Look up, the skyscraper, like the Empire State Building, the symbol of New York, USA, the money capital of the world. That tower of power has been shoved into a piping hot volcano. Frida was a well-known Communist, having befriended and perhaps consorted with Leon Trotsky.
Now, Welch has come along and given a voice to this painting:
But, knowing that Welch is from London it seems likely that some of the inspiration was drawn from Virginia Woolf. In particular the lines,
Lay me down
Let the only sound
Be the overflow
Pockets full of stonesLay me down
Let the only sound
Be the overflow
Woolf, who suffered from depression throughout her adulthood, killed herself in just this manner. I find this kind of work interesting because it uses art as personal exposé. It is so hard to explain emotions. Sometimes a piece of music or a painting will do it much better than mere conversation. ‘I’m sad’ really just doesn’t do it sometimes. I’ve known people who personally suffered greatly from depression and they carried it like a secret. They felt they had to. If someone has cancer, everyone agrees that it’s just misfortune. But when someone caves under depression, there’s a kind of reluctance to share it for fear he or she will be judged as weak-minded. This kind of work is cathartic and may be a way to start talking about such feelings. And, it is important to talk about them.
I know we are reading Happy Blogs and doing the 10 Things to Get Happy Yesterday list but when you sign off Facebook and sit down for real face time, you’re not always looking at a happy mug. It is good to be happy, no one disputes that. But it is better to be honest. If you are drowning you must scream so someone can pull you out!
Tell the truth. What work of art has meant the most to you personally? Share it in the Comments!
