Nichols Artpiece

8/19/2019 Nichols Artpiece

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Erica NicholsWRIT 205

To Look Death in the Face

I stand eye level with a girl wearing a death mask, a setting that would naturally

summon an uncomfortable air, but is emphasized in such a personal painting—as if

reading a friend’s diary, racing to get the details before you’re caught. A feeling creeps

inside, whispering that it is time to walk away, but the girl’s eyes—shining through the

mask—beg me to stay. It is only at this moment, when my eyes move down to the violent

mask at her feet that I decide to stay longer, as if I could help.

The shocking relationship between the girl and the masks in this Frida Kahlo

painting (Girl with a Death Mask ) seems a direct parallel to Kahlo’s personal life—a

warning to her younger self of the misfortune she’d face. It can perhaps be seen as a

burial of her innocence, of the goodness in her life, and simultaneously the birth of

something much more tragic.

Kahlo’s story began and ended in Mexico City. After a trolley accident that left

her immobile for months, she turned to painting as an expression of happier days of the

past, along with the darker days in her present. Because of her injuries, she spent quite a

lengthy part of her life alone, and delved into exploration of self-portraits, which would

become her most identifiable and poignant works. These portraits voiced the physical and

psychological wounds of the accident, her reoccurring health problems, and a tumultuous,

empty marriage that would affect the greater part of her adulthood. As she gained

recognition, she fought against the surrealist label so many critics rushed to give her

work, instead emphasizing the very real purpose to her portraits. Her work reflected her

reality, despite its harshness, as opposed to her dreams.


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Riddled with dreary blues and grays, this painting in particular is small, only

about seven inches by five inches, and could be easily overlooked if it weren’t for the

vibrant yellow flower in the girl’s hands, placed center and defiant amongst its dismal

company. This flower and the little, worried hands that desperately fiddle at its petals for

safety, speak for the uncertainty of the girl’s future, but also the persistent response of

hope Kahlo emphasized in her self-portraits.

Although this flower is the first to grab my focus, it is the disturbing mask that

sits beside the girl’s feet that then steals my attention. The mask, violent with its jagged

teeth, bloody smile, and fat tongue sticking out, sits upright and out to the viewer—

taunting anyone who dare look its way. I glance at the girl, then the mask, and then back

to the girl as if attempting to resolve the serious trouble she finds herself in. Eyes wildly

vacant, the mask waits patiently for the inevitable moment she will take on its form, and

serves as more of a villain to the girl than the skull mask that already wraps tenderly

around her head—the skull mask, touched with feminine eyelashes and delicate features,

almost seems apologetic and useless in comparison to its violent sibling. I hopelessly

relate.

The girl, the death mask she adorns, and the mask at her feet all stand together in

the forefront, as if chained together walking through the storm. It is the desolate, gloomy

ground on which they stand that adds the depth and sense of lost time in this

painstakingly honest portrait. The mountains in the background stand far in the past and

unreachable to the girl; they also happen to stand conveniently bright and clear of the

stormy, muddled cloud of brush strokes that surround her in the forefront of the painting.


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The darkness at the bottom of the canvas, however, seems to creep slowly toward her

feet, closing in.

Kahlo’s self-portraits are an honest reflection of the endless hurdles she faced in

her life. Girl with a Death Mask relates her future to the death of her younger self. It

stands as an apology for the inability to change the past or shield herself from what the

future would bring. All Kahlo offers herself in this painting is a yellow flower to continue

on. And she did. I am reminded of this as I finally break away to take in the other bold,

colorful portraits that surround me. She moved forward.

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Nichols Artpiece