Self-Portrait In A Velvet Dress Analysis

A. Introduction:

Art and Literature for the longest have been the torchbearer for change in society. Both are synonymous to each other as they have long been mediums of expression. From the late 17th and early 18th Century saw the advent and use of the word ‘Autobiography’ with varied meanings such as self-justification, self critical analysis and evolving to the stage of self-documentation or memoir. Autobiographies are in their truest meaning ‘memoirs of a person’s life’.

Aesthetics is the language of an Art work. Artists have used these aesthetics on canvases to portray inner emotions, ideas, expressions. They portray not just what the naked eye can see, rather what the soul can feel and perceive. Each of these art works portrays a different story of the Artists. Each is like a page from the artists Autobiography.

These Autobiographical works are a therapeutic medium for the Artists. It helps one to vent out one’s emotions and is considered a healing mechanism for the soul. Just as ‘Sigmund Freud’s’ Theory of ‘Psycho-analysis’ (Strachey, James.1966) helped to explain the complex human nature,

On being married to famous Mexican painter Diego Riviera when she became a driving force of the ‘Mexicanidad’ movement, which aimed at increasing the eminence of Mexican culture and to lessen the Spanish influence from Europe. Her paintings saw her giving up the element of Surrealism and embracing Mexican culture. The colours, subjects and backgrounds in her paintings also evolved and reflected the change to her embracing her Mexican culture. (Arty Factory) Although Frida’s friend gave her the opportunity to put up her first exhibition, mostly people attended it out of loyalty to her and not in admiration of her work. This reality never deterred her from expressing herself on canvas. (Hayek, Salma; Herrera Hayden and