Frida Kahlo was a Mexican painter known for her powerful self-portraits and exploration of Mexican identity and culture in her work. Though she is now considered one of Mexico’s greatest artists, during her lifetime she was overshadowed by her husband, muralist Diego Rivera.
Kahlo was born in 1907 in Coyoacán, Mexico. As a child, she contracted polio which left her right leg thinner than her left. Then, at age 18, she was in a terrible trolley accident that broke multiple bones including her spine, collarbone, ribs and pelvis. She spent months recovering and began painting during her convalescence.
Many of Kahlo’s paintings are symbolic self-portraits that incorporate Mexican folk art with surrealistic elements. They often depicted her physical and psychological wounds in innovative ways. In pieces like The Broken Column and The Wounded Deer, Kahlo paints herself with a broken column to represent her damaged spine or growing antlers to symbolize her resilience.
Kahlo married Rivera in 1929. Their passionate, tumultuous relationship was central to both their lives and art. Though Rivera had many affairs, Kahlo also had relationships with both men and women like Josephine Baker and Leon Trotsky. Rivera encouraged Kahlo’s art and she became part of the Mexican avant-garde in the 1930s.
In the late 1930s, Kahlo moved to New York and became acquainted with Marcel Duchamp and Andre Breton. The Louvre bought one of her paintings in 1939, making her the first Mexican artist featured there. By the 1940s, she had become an international success.
Though she endured great physical suffering throughout her life, Kahlo transformed it into art. She once said, “I paint myself because I am so often alone and because I am the subject I know best.” Kahlo died in 1954 but remains an iconic figure and cultural touchstone today. Her image and art have inspired artists and feminists for generations.
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