Cristina Kahlo

Sister of artist Frida Kahlo

In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is  Khalo and the second or maternal family name is  Calderón.

Cristina Kahlo

Born|

Cristina Kahlo y Calderón

(1908-06-07)7 June 1908

Coyoacán, Mexico City, Mexico

Died| 8 February 1964(1964-02-08) (aged 55)

Coyoacán, Mexico City, Mexico

Resting place| Panteón Inglés, Miguel Hidalgo, Mexico City, Mexico
Other names| Christina Kahlo Pinedo
Spouse| Antonio Pineda
Children| 2
Parents|

* Guillermo Kahlo (father)
* Matilde Calderón y González (mother)

Relatives| Frida Kahlo (sister)

Cristina Kahlo y Calderón (7 June 1908 – 8 February 1964) was the sister of artist Frida Kahlo.[1] Frida painted a portrait of Cristina, titled Portrait of Cristina, My Sister, and Diego Rivera, Frida's husband, also portrayed Cristina Kahlo in his work. Cristina, with whom Rivera had an affair, was painted by Rivera in the nude.[1][2]

## Personal life

[edit]

Matilde, Adriana, Frida and Cristina Kahlo (1916)

Cristina Kahlo y Calderón was born June 7, 1908, and was the youngest daughter of the Kahlo family.[3] Her parents were Guillermo Kahlo and Matilde Calderón. Guillermo Kahlo, who worked as a photographer, had a previous marriage in which he had two children before his wife died. Cristina and Frida had two other sisters, named Matilde and Adriana, and two half sisters named María Luisa and Margarita.[4] Cristina was eleven months younger than Frida,[3] and the pair were very close. The Kahlo y Calderón family lived in a house built by Guillermo in Coyoacán, Mexico.[4]

Cristina came from a meager background but her father, Guillermo, a photographer during the Mexican Revolution when there was hardly a market for photographs, provided for her education.

Cristina later married and had two children, Isolda and Antonio. Cristina's abusive husband left her after the birth of Antonio. When Frida and Diego Rivera returned to Mexico as successful painters, Cristina acted as subject for both artists.[4] She was one of Diego's favorite subjects, and he often painted her in the nude.[3] Soon after her husband left, Cristina and Diego began an affair.[4]

## Subject of Frida Kahlo

[edit]

Cristina and Frida were very close,[3] and Frida used Cristina as an indirect and direct subject for some of her paintings. Frida painted Portrait of Cristina Kahlo near the start of Frida's career. Art historians note that its style was similar to Diego's. After this painting, Frida was able to find her own stylistic preferences.[4]

In Frida's painting Mi Nodriza y yo ("My wet-nurse and I") Cristina, although not in the painting, is its subject. The painting depicts Frida being breastfed by a wet-nurse as opposed to her own mother, because when Frida's mother became pregnant with Cristina she could no longer breastfeed Frida.[3] Cristina is also an indirect subject of Frida's 1937 painting Memory, the Heart, a self-portrait displaying Frida with a metal rod going through an empty space in her chest. Art historians have suggested that this symbolizes "displacement of penetration." In other words symbolizing Cristina's affair with Diego. The pole replacing her heart, which lies wounded and bleeding on the ground, also shows the immense pain which was the result of the affair.[5]

## Subject of Diego Rivera

[edit]

Rivera portrays Cristina in his art work, and she was one of his favorite models.[3] Cristina was depicted on the South Wall of Rivera's 1929-1935 mural The History of Mexico: The World of Today and Tomorrow. She lies at the bottom of the mural alongside her children and Frida. This could be an indication of her importance to Diego.[3] Pairing Frida and Cristina and her children showed the contradictions between the two. Frida appears statuesque while Cristina appears "lively." Another contradiction was the aspect of Cristina being his lover and Frida his wife; and in addition Cristina had children and Frida did not.[6]

Cristina also appears in Rivera's Figure of Knowledge, in the Ministry of Health. Depicted in the nude, she holds a yonic shaped flower as a symbol of her femininity.[4] Diego depicted her in the nude in another mural in the same building, although neither of the nude depictions were meant to be erotic but represented a vision of health and purity.[3]

## Death

[edit]

Cristina and her children lived with Diego and Frida as a family. Towards the end of Frida's life, Cristina looked after her and made her as comfortable as possible.[4] After Frida's death, Cristina lived her life separate from Diego. Diego turned Cristina and Frida's childhood house La Casa Azul in Coyoacán into a museum of Frida's work, though this didn't please Cristina.[7]

Cristina Kahlo died in 1964.

The novel Frida (2001) by Bárbara Mujica is narrated from the point of view of Cristina Kahlo.[8]

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b Morrison, John (2003). Frida Kahlo. Kahlo, Frida. Philadelphia: Chelsea House Publishers. ISBN 9781438106786. OCLC 228430205.
2. ^ Collins, Amy Fine (4 September 2013). "Frida Kahlo's Diary: A Glimpse Inside Her Tortured, Scribble-Happy World". Vanity Fair. Retrieved 2020-12-22.
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Tibol, Raquel (1993). Frida Kahlo : an open life. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press. ISBN 0826321887. OCLC 44965043.
4. ^ a b c d e f g Herrera, Hayden (1983). Frida, a biography of Frida Kahlo (1st ed.). New York: Harper & Row. ISBN 0060085894. OCLC 8281462.
5. ^ Torton Beck, Evelyn (2006). "Kahlo's World Spilt Open". Feminist Studies. 32 (1): 54–hi81. doi:10.2307/20459065. JSTOR 20459065.
6. ^ Comisarenco, Dina (1996). "Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera, and Tlazolteotl". Woman's Art Journal. 17 (1): 14–21. doi:10.2307/1358524. JSTOR 1358524.
7. ^ Ankori, Gannit (2002). Imaging her selves : Frida Kahlo's poetics of identity and fragmentation. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press. ISBN 0313315655. OCLC 46785322.
8. ^ White, Emily (2001-01-28). "Books in Brief: Fiction & Poetry (Published 2001)". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2021-03-04.

* v
* t
* e

Frida Kahlo

Paintings|

* Self-portrait in a Velvet Dress (1926)
* Frieda and Diego Rivera (1931)
* Henry Ford Hospital (1932)
* My Dress Hangs There (1933)
* Memory, the Heart (1937)
* Self-Portrait Dedicated to Leon Trotsky (1937)
* The Frame (1938)
* Self-Portrait with Monkey (1938)
* The Suicide of Dorothy Hale (1938)
* What the Water Gave Me (1938)
* The Two Fridas (1939)
* Two Nudes in a Forest (1939)
* Self-Portrait with Thorn Necklace and Hummingbird (1940)
* The Wounded Table (1940)
* The Broken Column (1944)
* The Wounded Deer (1946)
* Self Portrait with Loose Hair (1947)
* Diego and I (1949)
* The Love Embrace of the Universe, the Earth (Mexico), Myself, Diego, and Señor Xolotl (1949)

Works about Kahlo|

* Frida Still Life (1983 film)
* Frida: A Biography of Frida Kahlo (1983)
* Frida (1991 opera)
* Diego et Frida (1993 biography)
* Frida (2002 film)
* Broken Wings (2016 ballet)
* Frida (2024 film)

Other depictions|

* The History of Mexico (1935 mural)
* Pan American Unity (1940 mural)
* Dream of a Sunday Afternoon in the Alameda Central (1947 mural)
* Cradle Will Rock (1999 film)
* Coco (2017 animated film)

Related|

* Frida Kahlo Home and Museum
* Diego Rivera (husband)
* Cristina Kahlo (sister)
* Guillermo Kahlo (father)
* Museo Dolores Olmedo

* v
* t
* e

Diego Rivera

List of works

Murals|

* History of Morelos, Conquest and Revolution (1929–1930)
* The History of Mexico (1929–1935)
* Pan American Unity (1940)
* Sueño de una Tarde Dominical en la Alameda Central (1946–1947)

Frescoes|

* Detroit Industry Murals (1932–1933)
* Man at the Crossroads (1933, 1934)

Other paintings|

* The Rivals (1931)
* Zapata (1932)
* Glorious Victory (1954)

Museums|

* Anahuacalli Museum
* Frida Kahlo Museum
* Museo Dolores Olmedo
* Museo Mural Diego Rivera
* Pinacoteca Diego Rivera

Cultural
depictions|

* Frieda and Diego Rivera (1931 painting)
* The Two Fridas (1939 painting)
* Diego and I (1949 painting)
* The Love Embrace (1949 painting)
* Frida Still Life (1983 film)
* Frida (1991 opera)
* Diego et Frida (1993 book)
* Cradle Will Rock (1999 film)
* Frida (2002 film)
* Broken Wings (2016 ballet)
* Frida (2024 film)

Related|

* Angelina Beloff  (1st wife)
* Guadalupe Marín (2nd wife)
* Frida Kahlo (3rd wife)
* Marie Vorobieff (conjugal partner)
* Marika Rivera (daughter)
* Ruth Rivera Marín (daughter)
* Cristina Kahlo (model and sister-in-law)
* Tina Modotti (model)
* Diego Rivera Gallery

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