Artwork Title: Viva la Vida

Viva la Vida, 1954

Frida Kahlo

Most all Kahlo books agree that this is Frida's last painting and that 8 days before her death she added the inscription "Viva la Vida - Coyoacán 1954 Mexico". However, because of the quality of this still life, I was never convinced that it was painted in 1954. At the end of her life, Frida was heavily dependent on injections of Demerol and Morphine which weaken her and left her in a "semi-sleep" state. This seriously affected the quality of her work. If you compare this still life with another still life painted in 1954, Still Life with Flag for example, you will see the difference. The brush strokes and application of paint are much better and closer to the still life paintings she produced a couple of years earlier, i.e., Still Life Dedicatated to Dr. Fastlicht - 1952. In the book "Frida Kahlo - The Still Lifes", the author, Salomon Grimberg, suggests that Viva la Vida could not have been painted in 1954 and was probably painted in... [http://www.fridakahlofans.com/c0680.html]
23 x 20 in
Uploaded on Apr 3, 2017 by Suzan Hamer

Arthur is a
Digital Museum