The Bus - Frida Kahlo
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Description
A seminal early work by Frida Kahlo, depicting a diverse group of passengers on a bus, reflecting the social stratification of 1920s Mexico.
Painted in 1929, The Bus is an early work by Frida Kahlo that captures a cross-section of Mexican society during a period of rapid industrialisation. The composition presents a row of passengers seated on a wooden bench inside a public bus, arranged in a manner that suggests a deliberate social hierarchy. From left to right, the figures include a young girl, a blue-collar worker holding a tool, a barefoot indigenous woman wrapped in a rebozo, a small boy looking out the window, a wealthy businessman in a suit, and a young woman in a light dress.
Kahlo employs a flattened perspective, which draws influence from the Mexican retablo tradition. These small, devotional paintings often depicted scenes of everyday life or miraculous events. By adopting this aesthetic, Kahlo creates a sense of detachment, allowing the viewer to observe the disparate social classes sharing a confined space. The background visible through the windows shows a simplified view of the Mexican countryside and industrial buildings, providing context to the urbanisation occurring at the time.
The painting is notable for its lack of interaction between the subjects. Each individual remains isolated in their own thoughts, despite their physical proximity. The work reflects Kahlo's early interest in the social conditions of her country, moving away from the surrealist imagery she would later adopt. The colour palette is relatively muted, relying on earthy tones and soft blues to define the figures and the interior of the vehicle. This piece offers a clear window into the artist's formative years, demonstrating her ability to observe and document the human condition with precision and clarity.
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Each print is produced to order using 12-colour giclée printing on FSC-certified archival paper. Designed in Britain and printed at your nearest production hub to reduce waste and speed up delivery.
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Specific Features
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- Archival matte fine-art paper, FSC-certified
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Materials & Sizing
Museum-grade giclée on FSC-certified archival matte paper, with framed and canvas options.
- Paper sizes: A4, A3, A2, A1, A0 and B2 (50×70 cm)
- Canvas: XS (20×30 cm) to Large (60×90 cm)
- Frames: black, natural wood, dark wood or white
The Bus - Frida Kahlo
Artist Biography
Frida Kahlo
She had already been ill. Polio at six left her right leg thinner than her left, a disproportion she hid with long skirts. The bus accident compounded everything. She would have thirty-five operations over her lifetime. Pain was the background condition of her work, though reducing her paintings to autobiography misses what she actually did with the medium.
She married Diego Rivera in 1929. He was twenty years older, already Mexico's most famous muralist, and physically twice her size. Her parents called the marriage a union between an elephant and a dove. They divorced in 1939, remarried in 1940, and continued a relationship that was mutually unfaithful, politically intense, and artistically competitive. Rivera said she was the better painter. He may have been right.
Her paintings are small. Most are self-portraits. They use the visual language of Mexican folk art, ex-votos, and Aztec mythology, combined with a physical directness that makes Surrealism look polite. Andre Breton called her a Surrealist. She disagreed: 'I paint my own reality.' She was right about that too.
She died in 1954 at forty-seven. Her diary entry for the last day reads 'I hope the leaving is joyful and I hope never to return.'
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