Compare and Contrast Essay Art History Professor Sarah Hollenberg Frida Khalo once said “I paint my own reality. The only thing I know is that I paint because I need to, and I paint whatever passes through my head without any other consideration. ” Unlike Khalo, Madame de Pompadour who was not an artist followed another vision in her head. A vision to make France the social, artistic, and political center-piece of the world. In a time dominated by powerful male figures these women stood out in. In Pompadour’s case she became the chief mistress to King Louis XV.
In Kahlo’s case the Mexican Revolution inspired her to “repaint” the way Mexico was to be looked at from the inside and outside. The many self-portraits of both of these women only helped add to their influence over their respective countries. Although women in a time of gender inequality, both took powerful positions to impact their country’s art and political history. Madame de Pompadour was born as Jeanne Antoinette Poisson to a working class family in 1721. Her family could not support to pay for extensive education so instead Pompadour educated herself.
She impressed french men with her amazing knowledge of art, history, and culture, along with her beauty. Pompadour, in a sense educated herself to be the wife of a rich man. The self portrait by Francois Boucher, Madame De Pompadour, 1750 showed the class elegance, and style Pompadour had. Pompadour is sitting at her dressing table looking very beautiful and natural. Everything is of the highest quality from the powder box to the gold chair she is sitting on. She is dressed in a very beautiful gown and her hair is perfectly styled.
Pompadour in some eyes was the epitome of class and style in France. Others saw her as using sex and influence to gain power. Added in 1758 to the painting, on her wrist you can see a portrait of Louis XV. In 1754 Madame de Pompadour became the chief mistress of Louis XV. Louis XV was physically estranged from his wife at the time and although he had mistresses before Pompadour, he was closer to her than he was with any other women. Many historians believe that Pompadour had complete ascendancy over Louis XV. She became a patron of art for the King, royal establishment, and the French court.
Pompadour appointed her brother as director of the King’s building and was responsible for the creation of many famous buildings and art. Pompadour is responsible for the creation of The Ecole Militaire and the Place Louis XV (now the Place de la Concorde) in Paris, most of the palace of Compiegne, the Petit Trianon Palace at Versailles, a new wing at the palace of Fontainebleau, and the exquisite Chateau de Bellevue, as well as many pavilions and summer houses. She hired many sculptors, painters, cabinet makers, and craftsmen who worked under the royal family.
Pompadour was also in charge of building a famous porcelain factory located in Sevres. Pompadour helped characterize Enlightenment not only in France but around the world. She was a patron of art of French courts abroad as well. Pompadour had numerous self portraits of herself done as well, only showing the importance she had among french society. By the time Pompadour had died she had helped France be one of the greatest places in the world for the arts. Pompadour’s political influence on France did not turn out as well as her artistic influence.
The duc de Choiseul a minister in France was Pompadours protege. Choiseul implemented the Reversal of Alliances to align with Austria, leading to the disastrous Seven Year War. This war destroyed France and at the same time England was kicking the French out of Canada. The British used her as propaganda by putting her face on clubs and showing these clubs beating up Louis XV. All of these political and military disasters were blamed on Pompadour. The artistic and political influence that Madame de Pompadour had on France cannot be denied.
No matter your opinion of Madame de Pompadour she changed France without having a royal name, or coming from a successful family. That is something no one should take for granted. Like Madame de Pompadour, Frida Khalo changed Mexico’s artistic and political history. Unlike Pompadour, Kahlo was an artist who made very powerful self portraits about political, social, and emotional issues. Born in 1907 to a German immigrant and his Mexican wife, Kahlo developed polio when she was 6. However, this was not the last of her health problems.
She was thrown out of a moving bus in her 20’s which severely injured her and dealt with other health problems throughout her entire life. These extensive health problems may explain why she passed away at such a young age of 47. In 1922 Kahlo was one of the few female students to attend The National Preparatory School in Mexico City. It was there that she was inspired by her teachers to help change the course of Mexico. This was during the time of the Mexican Revolution and many artists were inspired to reshape how Mexico was portrayed from outsiders and to it’s people.
At preparatory school she met Diego Rivera who was one of the most influential Mexican artists of all time. They eventually married but later divorced and remained on and off for the rest of their lives, partly because of Rivera’s affairs with other women. While Khalo was injured in 1925 she became a communist and painted her first self portrait. It is apparent that she was a member of “The Young Communist League” and “The Mexican Communist Party”. Khalo was also an avid supporter of socialism and was also a member of a group called the Cachacas.
In 1940 Kahlo painted “Tehuna Self Portrait”. It is a self-portrait of Kahlo with her ex-husband Diego Rivera on her forehead. On the outside it is meant to symbolize how Kahlo is still thinking of Diego, how she wants to posses him but can’t, that Kahlo still loves him even though he keeps having affairs. The lines going across the canvas may signify a spider web of her thoughts about him that Kahlo cannot get rid of. Unlike Pompadour’s self portrait, Kahlo is not as sexualized with the canvas only showing her face with her having almost an angry expression.
If you look a little deeper you will find like many of Kahlo’s self-portraits uses contradictory, divided, problematic, dual, compelling, complex, and impossible to simplify messages. This was very similar to how Mexico was at the time through all the change it was going through because of the Mexican Revolution. In this self-portrait the Tehuana costume colors show mexican landscape, resistance to Aztec encroachment, and refers to women as having power, suggesting a matriarchal society. In Kahlo’s other self-portraits you see many other political messages.
In 1932 Kahlo painted “Self Portrait of the Border” where she shows her disdain for the United States. She portrays the US as very masculine and portrays Mexico as very feminine. Kahlo projects the United States as industry who is polluting, alarming and a threat to its own self. Unlike the evil machine maker the Kahlo claims the US is, she portrays Mexico as being enduring of tradition, shows support for nature over technology, and a place where vegetation can be produced. In Kahlo’s self-portrait “My Dress Hangs There” 1933 Kahlo shows that capitalism is a corrupted American value.
Kahlo also shows in this self-portrait that women experience inequality to men in both the US and Mexico. It seems as if Kahlo shows very complex themes between wanting Mexico to be “Mexican” or “European”. As many men wrote their version of the Mexican Revolution Kahlo wrote her own. The Mexican Government took notice and commissioned her to make self-portraits in 1941 but she was unable to complete them due to her health. Before her death she protested against the US backed overthrow of Guatemalan President Jacob Arbenz on July 2nd. Kahlo stood out in a time of change and gender inequality in Mexico.
She used her self-portraits to send political messages in a time in the art world where males dominated the scene. Until her dying days she was politically active, whether it be protesting or making art. Kahlo’s influence and impact over Mexico’s political and artistic world is second to none, and will always be remembered. Whether it was Kahlo’s work influenced the Chicano Cultural Renaissance in the mid-1970’s or the fact that Madame de Pompadour’s apartment in the palace of Versailles is an exhibition today, it is clear to see the impact these women had on their countries.
One a mi one an artist both Pompadour and Kahlo helped shaped their country’s artistic and political history in the way they saw fit. “Tehuna Self Portrait” and “Madame De Pompadour” are two very different portraits that were made in two different times, but they both show women who had a bigger influence on their country’s history then one may ever know by merely glancing at the self-portraits.
