I used to think I was the strangest person in the world but then I thought there are so many people in the world, there must be someone just like me who feels bizarre and flawed in the same ways I do. I would imagine her, and imagine that she must be out there thinking of me, too. Well, I hope that if you are out there and read this and know that, yes, it’s true I’m here, and I’m just as strange as you.
This is a quote usually attributed to Frida Kahlo, although it was probably not hers, as explained on this interesting site - https://quoteinvestigator.com/2016/01/28/flawed/
But it is a great introduction to what I wanted to write about in this article.
To me, it is extremely fascinating how many simillarities there are between the two famous artists – Frida Kahlo and Milena Pavlović Barilli. I’m not sure if they knew about each other, but in some ways, those words about a distant double/soulmate, may be applied to them.
They lived at about same period of time, in the first half of 20th century and both died young. They were quite unconventional regarding their way of life, their style, behavior, art. They suffered since their childhood, especially because of many health problems. They were both madly in love with an artist, and in both cases, the love was source of their inspiration, happiness, but also a huge sorrow. Frida and Milena were known as painters, but they were also great poetesses. For me, it is interesting how they expressed their sexuality, this is the point in which they don’t resemble on the surface, but essentialy, we can say that in this sphere they share something as well – they were authentic and brave. As for their paintings, there are numerous self-portraits in their opus. Also, painting a double self is a noticable trait of their work, and I will try to illustrate here and say a few more words about it. And finally, they both died under some circumstances which are not completely clear (there are assumptions that they commited suicide, but those assumptions are vague to the same extent as other versions of their death).
Milena Pavlović Barilli (1909-1945) was born in a small town in Serbia named Požarevac („Požar“ means „fire“ in Serbian, I mention this because of an interesting connection with her poetry, the motif of fire is present in the majority of poems). The house were she was born is now a museum thanks to her mother, Danica. Danica was a relative of the ruling dynasty and her father was a famous Italian composer, Bruno Barilli. Milena had problems with hearth since her childhood. That’s one of the reasons why she travelled a lot – her mother tried her best to offer her the adequate treatment. Thus, Milena learned few languages – Italian, Spanish, French. She wrote her poems in all of them. The first poem she wrote at the age of 6-7. Those lines show the melanholic atmosphere, unusual conscience of such a small child, the anticipation of her short life: „When the sun is rising and the birdies are singing, that means the summer has come. But I will never, I will never be it’s part in this world. This world – a little, beautiful dream.“ (my attempt to translate the poem)
She was not accepted in her surrounding, so she went to Europe, where she made a great success. She had exhibitions in London, Paris, Rome... Jean Cocteau, Musсolini and Paul Valéry admired her work. Regarding her art, she was inspired by renneisance, and her style is usually described as symbolistic and surrealistic.
During the World War II she was in New York. In her letters to her mother she mentioned famous Serbian scientist Nikola Tesla, who was living in a hotel in New York not so far from Milena. In those letters she referred to herself as of male sex, as if she were Danica's son. She started working for magazines like Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, Town and Conutry, Glamour. She did illustrations for fashion advertisements, she made costumes for theatre plays, and she had exhibitions in New York too.
Milena's illustrations for Vogue
She met her future husband in New York. Before him, she was in a passionate relationship with one Cuban pianist, but their love didn't last. In New York, Milena had a major injury after she fell of the horse - her spine was hurt so she was in pain and her movements were limited. Shortly after that she died, she was 36 years old. As if she lived two lives in one. Almost everything about her had two sides. She was always tear appart between Serbia and other countries where she lived, between her Serbian and Italian origins, between har anima and her animus... In this painting "Self-portrait with the archer" we see that both the painter and the archer have the same androgene face. About the symbolic meaning of this painting I will try to say more in one of my future texts about Milena.
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Self-portrait with the Archer
And one of my favourites - Self-portrait with the Shield and the Eagle
Frida Kahlo (born Magdalena Carmen Frida Kahlo y Calderon, 1907-1954) was a Mexican painter. She was born in Coyoacán, Mexico City, and same as with Milena, her family home is now a museum. She had three sisters and two half-sisters. When she was a child she caught polio. This illness had a huge impact on Frida, she was isolated from her peers, her right leg got thinner and shorter than left. She was 19 years old when she was returning home with her boyfriend and when she was seriously injured in a bus accident. The consequences of fractures remained even after recovering and she suffered from pain untill her death.
Her life changed crucially when she met Diego Rivera, famous Mexican painter, whose work Frida loved. Once she asked him for his opinion on her paintings and he was fascinated by her too. They started a relationship and they married in 1929. He was 20 years older than her, and they were described as "The elephant and the dove" and later as "The beauty and the beast".
Their love was unconventional as both of them were. They had a turbulent relationship which caused ambivalent feelings - they were madly in love, but they also hurt each other. They divorced in 1939 and remarried a year later. It is known that Diego was cheating on her and that Frida had an affair with Lev Trocky. She said that Diego wasn't her husband, that it is absurd to talk about him in terms of marriage. But he was the biggest love of her life. In her diary, her poems and letters to Diego we can se how much she loved him and we can catch a glimpse of the nature of that love.
Your word travels the entirety of space and reaches my cells
which are my stars
then goes to yours
which are my light.
A part of Frida's poem, you can read it in whole on this page - https://www.elephantjournal.com/2016/10/to-my-diego-4-poems-by-frida-kahlo-that-demonstrate-the-exquisite-nature-of-love/
Frida's art was influenced my Mexican traditional culture, by renaissance, realism and surrealism. It is also decsribed as symbolistic. She explained why she painted mainly herself - because she was lonely and she was the subject she knew best. A year before Milena's exhibition in New York, Frida had her own exhibition thanks to André Breton.
Self-Portrait with Thorn Necklace and Hummingbird,
She had a few misbirths. There are few works of art in which she painted her agony caused by those tragedies. In 1953 her leg was amputed because of the gangrene. She was politically active and few days after one protest in which she took part despite her difficult health condition, she died. She will remain an intriguing and authentic female symbol of 20th century.
I wanted to show the lives of Milena and Frida in short, to point out some simillarities between them and to inspire others to search for more of their art. Also, I wanted to present Milena more, because she is less known worldwide and because I think she is worth the attention. I especially want to underline the richness of their inner life, the wideness of their experience, their exceptional love, the talents they had besides painting...