Fiona Rose

Mexican artist Frida Kahlo (1907-54) was queen of the selfies long before Kim Kardashian but instead of using Instagram Frida used a brush and oils to paint her own reality.  Often associated with the Surrealist movement, Frida denied this insisting she painted life exactly as she had experienced it.  Frida’s personal life was tumultuous. Horrifically injured in an accident as a teenager she was dogged by physical pain and suffering for the rest of her life. She married, divorced, and remarried the painter Diego Rivera her artistic and political soulmate though an unfaithful husband. 

This illustrated lecture explores Frida’s life through her most iconic paintings. Some of her paintings examined in this lecture are graphic and unflinching with subjects including murder, suicide, marital infidelity, miscarriage, revolution, living with a disability and death. Recognised as one of the greatest female artists of the 20th century, Frida is acknowledged as being the first female artist to express experiences about being a woman not been seen before in Western art. She is known for her originality, bold use of colour, passion, courage and as someone who created life and beauty in the face of great personal suffering and adversity.

Fiona Rose has been lecturing about topics she feels passionately about since 2010 including William Morris and his circle, the Arts & Crafts Movement, Frida Kahlo and Frank Lloyd Wright. She has a BA in Social Psychology and aims to include the human story behind the artistic endeavours of her subjects. After an early career in public health Fiona founded and runs a home interiors business featuring the work of the great C19th designers such as Morris, Voysey and Mackintosh. She is a volunteer with and former Trustee of The William Morris Society and a contributor to the Journal of William Morris Studies.