Frida Kahlo (1907-1954) Mexican Painter

Magdalena Carmen Frida Kahlo y Calderon was a Mexican painter known for her many portraits, 55 were self portraits and the other 88 works inspired by nature and artifacts of Mexico. She used a naive folk art style to explore questions of identity, postcolonialism, gender, class and race in Mexican Society. Her paintings often had strong autobiographical elements and mixed realism with fantasy.

Aged 6 she got polio- afterwards she walked with a limp. Her father encouraged her to play football swim and wrestle to strengthen her body.

Aged 18 Frida was very seriously injured. She nearly died when a bus crashed into a tram and a metal smashed right through her body…
Bored after months recovering she began to paint again. Her father helped by hanging a mirror over her bed so she could paint a portrait of herself of while lying down…

She loved animals and she had many pets who brightened her life.

She married Diego Rivera a famous Mexican artist. Her injuries meant they were unable to have children. Many of her painting were inspired by her sadness about it.
Diego became jealous when Frida also became famous. They divorced in 1939 and got married again in 1940

As she grew in fame and popularity her health grew worse. She had over 30 operations in her lifetime and lived in constant pain. She lost the battle with pneumonia and died at the age of 47.

She has become more popular than her paintings. She is admired for her creativity, her bravery and for following her heart.

55 self portraits -I paint myself because I am so often alone, and because I am the subject I know best - Frida Kahl
(She often painted herself as harsh and unattractive with heavy eyebrows and a moustache).

Sources used Wikipedia
Herstory ** by Katherine Halligan