Humanities 200: Comparing Frida Kahlo and Vivaldi on Emotional Themes

This essay provides a comparative analysis of Frida Kahlo's 'Self-Portrait with Thorn Necklace and Hummingbird' and Vivaldi's 'La Primavera,' exploring how each artist uses their respective medium—painting and music—to express emotion. The essay contrasts Kahlo's depiction of sorrow and suffering through symbolic imagery with Vivaldi's portrayal of joy and happiness through harmonious musical composition. It discusses the artists' choices of medium, the symbolic elements within each work, and how these elements contribute to the overall themes. The analysis aims to highlight how different artistic approaches can convey profound emotional experiences, appealing to those interested in art forms, culture, and the psychological processes behind artistic creation. Desklib offers access to this essay and a wealth of study resources for students.

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Introduction
La Primavera by Vivaldi and Frida Kahlo’s self portrait with thorn necklace and
hummingbird are two of the most iconic pieces of art of the eighteenth century. Two of the
artistic works are completely different from each other in the form of art, which has been
adopted by either of the artists, and also the theme which has been portrayed through their
work in both of their respective auteurs. The purpose of this essay is to analyze the various
ways in which both of these works portray different meanings in their work of art, and how
each of them covey a different feeling to their respective audiences.
The medium
The medium, which has been adopted by both of the artists, as discussed above, are
different. While Vivaldi expresses his thoughts and feelings through the medium of music,
Kahlo on the other hand expresses thoughts and feelings through the work of a painting
masterpiece. While elements of music like pace, tone, rhythm and harmony manipulate
feelings and emotions in the minds of the audience, painting on the other hand serves the
same purpose with the use of symbolic objects (Rothenberg, 2017), colors and balance
between the elements of the work. The only way in which the two works have taken a similar
approach in their expression, is by adopting the form of art to express emotions in life.
The use of the medium
Both of the artists have successfully expressed their feelings and thoughts through the
use of their chosen mediums. Kahlo uses symbolic representations in her work to serve the
purpose of conveying her feelings through her work of art (Block, 2018). In her painting,
Kahlo uses a thorn necklace wrapped around her own self portrait, which is seen to be
piercing her skin (Kahlo, 1940). According to Helland (1990), there are hummingbirds
around the necklace, which represent the inevitable death which awaits her, and a black cat

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by the side, which represents the bad luck which she has gone through in her life. This wholly
represents the sorrow which the painter has gone through in her life.
On the other hand, Vivaldi has used the medium of music, in which he has composed
a melodious piece of work, comprised of sound from numerous violins (Kamien, 2014). The
notes of the violins are all so smooth, stable and harmonious, that they sound close to what
people visualize as spring, according to Vivaldi and Selfridge-Field (1999). In fact, the title
of the musical work is itself synonymous with spring. This work of the artist represents joy
and happiness in life (Talbot, 2017).
The thesis
From the above discussion, taking the view and opinions of other authors who have
felt their own experiences from trying out the artistic pieces, it can be said that both of the
themes, which have been adopted by the respective artists, are absolutely contradictory to one
another. This is because it is clear from the study that while Kahlo has expressed her sorrow
through the symbolic representations in her self portrait, Vivaldi has expressed happiness and
joy through the work of his musical composition. The common theme used here is emotion.
However, the ultimate depiction of the theme has been vastly different from one another,
since each of the works represent opposite emotions to each other.
The ideal audience for this presentation would be people who take interest in art
forms and culture. This is because the presentation would be highly revolving around
demonstration and explanation of how and why the symbolic representations used in both of
the art works, through each of the mediums depict an aspect of life.
This section of the audience would benefit from the presentation since the works are
considered to be iconic in their own ways, in a historical context. Apart from that, symbolic
representations in art are the base for learning fine arts and humanities. These representations

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constitute and provide the main meaning behind a work of art. Without these elements, fine
arts end up being vague and appear irrelevant. This is the reason why people who do take
interest in art forms and culture will be swayed by the presentation.
Tailoring the presentation
The presentation will be tailored by synthesizing the pieces of art, breaking them
down and analyzing each element regarding the importance they add in both of the works.
The idea is to make sure that the audiences are able to value the little and negligible elements
in the art works by understanding the significance which they add on to the art work. Each
element will be broken down from the painting, to obtain the self portrait of the painter, the
thorn necklace, the hummingbirds, the black cat, the expressions on the face of Kahlo, and
also the background, explaining the symbolic significance of each of the elements in
determining the message of the artist from the art form.
Followed by that, musical elements like the harmony, the rhythm, the pace of the
music and the notes of the strings used to compose the music will be synthesized and
presented to the audience to make them understand how musical strings and composition can
add up to the whole meaning and theme of a music.
Some specific information like assuming the psychologies that went behind the
respective pieces of art works will be added on purpose, by relating them to the life story of
the auteurs. This would be helpful to the audience in determining the psychological processes
that go behind creating a work of art, while also being able to understand the link between an
aspect of life and work of art.
Conclusion
La Primavera and self portrait with thorn necklace and hummingbird are two of the
most iconic pieces of art, created by Frida Kahlo and Vivaldi respectively. The works of art

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differ in the medium which has been used to express the meaning of the art, with one being a
painting and the other being a musical composition, and also in the themes they portray with
one depicting sorrow while the other has depicted happiness and joy. These elements of work
should be synthesized and broken down in a way in which the audiences would be able to
identify the significance of each element, big or small, that have the potential of adding value
and meaning to the work of art, if used in an appropriate manner.

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References
Block, F. L. (2018). The Thorn Necklace: Healing Through Writing and the Creative
Process. California: Seal Press.
Helland, J. (1990). Culture, politics, and identity in the paintings of Frida Kahlo. Woman’s
Art Journal, 11, 8-13.
Kahlo, F. (1940). Self-portrait with Thorn Necklace and Hummingbird. Pomegranate.
Kamien, R. (2014). Music: An Appreciation. McGraw-Hill Higher Education.
Rothenberg, D. J. (2017). Anthology to Accompany Douglass Seaton's Ideas and Styles in the
Western Musical Tradition. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Talbot, M. (2017). Vivaldi's music for flute and recorder. New York: Routledge.
Vivaldi, A., & Selfridge-Field, E. (1999). " The four seasons": op. 8 (No. 1-4). Courier
Corporation.