The Essay: Women of Substance

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The Essay: Women of Substance: Frida Kahlo

Frida Kahlo

Women of Substance

BBC Radio 3 - The Essay, Women of Substance, Frida Kahlo

What does the art of Frida Kahlo reveal about her addictions?

Addictions researcher Professor Sally Marlow asks what five women artists can tell us about addiction through their art, starting with how Frida Kahlo medicated her pain.

Professor Sally Marlow is a specialist in mental health and addiction, who as a young woman had struggles of her own. In this five-part series Sally looks at the work of five women artists and asks what their work can tell us about their addictions and the nature of addiction.

To do this Sally has chosen five iconic artists: Frida Kahlo, Billie Holliday, Anna Kavan, Andrea Dunbar and Nan Goldin. All five are celebrated for their daring, all were artistically progressive and they all remain highly relevant today. Whilst elements of their art reflect traumatic events in their lives, showing that addiction does not happen in a vacuum, their work is so much more than their addictions - startling, beautiful, innovative and enduring - evoking powerful emotions as well as critical acclaim. These artworks - books, music, plays and photographs resonated with Sally and allowed her to better understand her own struggle, eliciting empathy and facilitating healing.

In the first in the series, Sally looks at Frida Kahlo’s life and work. Scientists talk about biological, psychological and social causes of addiction and Frida painted all three. A collision between a bus and a tram when she was 18 caused horrific life-changing injuries and Frida spent long periods of time in hospital. Aged 22 she married the famous Mexican artist Diego Rivera who was 20 years her senior. Their relationship was fraught and Frida famously remarked “There have been two great accidents in my life. One was the tram and the other was Diego. Diego was by far the worst.” Her injuries, her miscarriages and the betrayal of Diego’s affair with her sister, Frida painted all these. She also wrote openly about the prescription drugs she took to control the pain.

Sally looks at her diaries and says that as an addiction researcher she is surprised Frida’s drug and alcohol use have not been more widely analysed but then with such a remarkable talent, her addictions quite rightly should be secondary to her art.

Presented by Professor Sally Marlow
Produced by Geraldine Fitzgerald
A TellTale Industries Ltd production

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Sally Marlow asks what five women artists can tell us about addiction through their art.

Professor Sally Marlow looks at the work of five women artists and asks what their work can tell us about their addictions and the nature of addiction.

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