An earlier drawn portrait of Frida I modified several times because I felt the likeness was not striking enough. For inspiration, I used the world-famous portrait of Frida's lover American lover "Nickolas Muray. But despite the fact that the man apparently adored Frida -he even wanted to marry her-, he portrayed her according to the American beauty ideal of the time.
And this is even though Frida's self-portraits show that she was proud of her mustache, eyebrows, and her Mexican and Native American "roots. Her mother was of Indian descent.
Hence, I sat and sketched those 'two faces' of Frida and elaborated on them in the drawing below. Notice also the difference in skin color.
Karen Nijst has lived in and near her beloved hometown of Maastricht for many years. She currently works as a web developer (Kahlo Websites in Hapert, Brabant) and is responsible for both programming and graphic design . The latter has undoubtedly influenced some of the drawings you can see.. Read more…