How did Georgia O' Keeffe and Frida Kahlo's relationships with their partners affect their subject matter?Georgia O' Keefe was married to Alfred...

Georgia O’Keeffe’s sexually charged flower paintings in
the Jack-in-the-Pulpit series could have been a reaction to her
husband’s explicit photographic images.  Georgia was the subject of many of these
photographs, and it is possible that her Jack-in-the-Pulpit
paintings were her way of dealing with having herself exposed in such a way in the
Stieglitz gallery for all to see.

Georgia O’Keeffe moved to
New York City because of the encouragement of Alfred Stieglitz.  At first, this was the
inspiration for O’Keeffe’s cityscapes.  O’Keeffe soon got tired of living in New York
and of living with Alfred.  This led her on a search for new surroundings which
ultimately culminated in her discovery of the beauty of the deserts of New Mexico. This
became both an escape for Georgia as well as the subject matter of many of her later
paintings.

The subject matter of Frida Kahlo’s work often
directly dealt with what was going on in her relationship to Diego Rivera.  Frida would
often turn a blind eye to Diego’s womanizing tendencies, but it is clear that it
affected her state of mind and her feelings about herself.  Most of Frida’s work is
about pain and anguish of a physical and emotional nature.  The physical pain came from
a trolley accident when she was young that severely damaged her body; but the emotional
pain came from having to deal with the exploits of her husband, who she really loved
dearly.

Paintings such as The Two
Fridas express this pain on very surreal terms.  Two Fridas are indeed
depicted here, connected by a single vein flowing to two exposed hearts.  The figure on
the right is holding an object. Gardners Art Through the Ages (10th
edition) says on page 1077 that this object is a small portrait of Diego. The other
figure is grasping a set of forceps after having cut one of the veins, in an attempt to
sever herself from the other.