Beloved monster”

A narrative inquiry into autobiographical writings of Frida Kahlo

Bibliographic Data

ID12625947
AuthorsAthena Androutsopoulou (0000-0002-5338-834X, ‘Logo Psychis’- Training and Research Institute for Systemic Psychotherapy, corresponding author), Ioannis Kalyvopoulos (‘Logo Psychis’- Training and Research Institute for Systemic Psychotherapy), Emmanuel Koukidis (‘Logo Psychis’- Training and Research Institute for Systemic Psychotherapy), Georgia Koutsavgousti (‘Logo Psychis’- Training and Research Institute for Systemic Psychotherapy), Ioanna Passa (‘Logo Psychis’- Training and Research Institute for Systemic Psychotherapy), Eleni Tarnara (‘Logo Psychis’- Training and Research Institute for Systemic Psychotherapy), Charikleia Tsatsaroni (‘Logo Psychis’- Training and Research Institute for Systemic Psychotherapy)
Year2021
Volume32
Issue2
Pages270-288
Publication date2021-03-03
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueNarrative Inquiry (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1387-6740 • E-ISSN: 1569-9935
PublisherJohn Benjamins Publishing Company (PUBLISHER • NL)
DOI10.1075/ni.20134.and
OpenAlexW3133645540
LanguageEN
References cited41

This psychobiography study looks into one aspect of Frida Kahlo’s life, her relationship with Diego Rivera. It attempts to solve the puzzle of how Frida managed to reconcile her dedication to Diego, whose behavior was hurtful, with her rebellious character and ideology. Adopting a narrative/dialogical theoretical lens and employing the narrative inquiry method of languages of the unsayable that analyses narrative form, we examined her essay Portrait of Diego . We triangulated findings with letters, diary and paintings. We found that Frida used languages of the unsayable as narrative strategies to manage inner conflict and reconcile dedication with character and ideology. She kept voices of anger and resentment from gaining strength, and downplayed their emotional impact in favor of voices of devotion and despair. The findings point to the importance of looking into both the form and content of autobiographical narratives. Limitations and clinical implications of the study are discussed

Aesthetics · Anger · Art · Art history · Character (mathematics · Dialogical self · Humanities · Ideology · Literature · Monster · Narrative · Persona · Portrait · Psychoanalysis · Resentment · Sociology · Art Therapy and Mental Health · Autobiographical and Biographical Writing · Law · Participatory Visual Research Methods · Psychology · Social Psychology

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