Frida Kahlo was a Mexican painter who is widely regarded as one of the most influential and original artists of the 20th century. She is best known for her self-portraits that reflect her personal struggles, identity, and culture. She also explored themes such as gender, class, race, and postcolonialism in her paintings. Kahlo’s life was marked by physical and emotional pain, but also by passion and creativity. She had a tumultuous relationship with fellow artist Diego Rivera, whom she married twice. She was also involved in the Mexican Communist Party and befriended many prominent figures in the art and political world. Kahlo’s work has been celebrated internationally and has inspired many artists, feminists, and activists.
Early Years and Bus Accident
Frida Kahlo was born on July 6, 1907, in Coyoacán, a suburb of Mexico City. Her father was Guillermo Kahlo, a German photographer of Hungarian descent, and her mother was Matilde Calderón y González, a mestiza woman of Spanish and Native American ancestry. Frida had three sisters and two half-sisters from her father’s previous marriage. She was especially close to her father, who taught her photography and encouraged her artistic interests.
Kahlo suffered from polio when she was six years old, which left her with a limp in her right leg. She also had a congenital spinal deformity that affected her posture. Despite these challenges, she was an active and intelligent child who excelled in school. She attended the National Preparatory School in Mexico City, where she was one of the few female students. She planned to study medicine, but her life changed dramatically when she was 18 years old.
On September 17, 1925, Kahlo was involved in a bus accident that left her with severe injuries. She fractured her spine, pelvis, ribs, collarbone, and leg. She also suffered internal bleeding and a punctured uterus. She had to undergo several surgeries and spent months in bed wearing a plaster corset. During this time, she started painting as a way of coping with her pain and boredom. She used a mirror above her bed to paint self-portraits that expressed her physical and emotional state.
Marriage to Diego Rivera and Artistic Development
In 1927, Kahlo joined the Mexican Communist Party, where she met Diego Rivera, a famous muralist and fellow communist. Rivera was impressed by Kahlo’s paintings and encouraged her to pursue an artistic career. The two fell in love despite their age difference (Rivera was 20 years older than Kahlo) and their contrasting personalities (Rivera was outgoing and charismatic, while Kahlo was introverted and reserved). They married in 1929 and moved to Cuernavaca, where Rivera was commissioned to paint a mural for the Palace of Cortés.
Kahlo accompanied Rivera on his travels to paint murals in different cities in Mexico and the United States. She also developed her own artistic style, influenced by Mexican folk art, surrealism, and magic realism. She painted mostly small canvases that depicted her personal experiences, such as her marriage, her miscarriages, her surgeries, and her cultural identity. She used vivid colors and symbolic elements to create powerful images that challenged conventional notions of beauty, femininity, and art.
Some of Kahlo’s most famous paintings from this period are:
- Frieda and Diego Rivera (1931), a double portrait that shows the couple’s contrasting roles: Rivera holding a palette and brush as a successful artist, while Kahlo holding his hand as a supportive wife.
- Henry Ford Hospital (1932), a self-portrait that depicts Kahlo lying on a hospital bed after a miscarriage. She is surrounded by six objects that represent her loss: a fetus, an orchid, a snail, an anatomical model of a female torso, a machine part, and a pelvic bone.
- The Two Fridas (1939), a double self-portrait that shows two versions of Kahlo: one dressed in a European-style white dress, representing her divorced self; and the other dressed in a traditional Tehuana costume, representing her Mexican self. The two Fridas are connected by their hands and by a vein that runs from their hearts to a portrait of Rivera.
- Self-Portrait with Thorn Necklace and Hummingbird (1940), a self-portrait that shows Kahlo wearing a necklace of thorns that pierces her neck and draws blood. A dead hummingbird hangs from the necklace as a symbol of love and luck. Behind her are two animals: a black cat that represents bad luck and death; and a monkey that represents mischief and sexuality.
Political Involvement and International Recognition
Kahlo was not only an artist, but also a political activist. She supported the Mexican Revolution, the Spanish Civil War, and the Mexican muralism movement. She was a member of the Mexican Communist Party and a friend of Leon Trotsky, who lived in her house in Coyoacán for a while. She also had contacts with other prominent figures, such as André Breton, Pablo Picasso, Marcel Duchamp, and Nelson Rockefeller.
Kahlo’s work gained international recognition in the late 1930s and early 1940s. She had her first solo exhibition in New York in 1938, organized by Breton, who considered her a surrealist. The exhibition was a success and Kahlo sold half of her paintings. She also received positive reviews from critics and the public. She had another solo exhibition in Paris in 1939, where she met Picasso and Duchamp. The Louvre bought one of her paintings, The Frame, making her the first Mexican artist to be featured in their collection.
Kahlo also participated in group exhibitions in Mexico and the United States, such as Twenty Centuries of Mexican Art (1940) at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and International Exhibition of Surrealism (1940) at the Galería de Arte Mexicano in Mexico City. She also worked as an art teacher at the Escuela Nacional de Pintura, Escultura y Grabado “La Esmeralda” in Mexico City, where she influenced a generation of young artists.
Final Years and Legacy
Kahlo’s health deteriorated in the last years of her life. She suffered from chronic pain, infections, and gangrene that led to the amputation of her right leg below the knee in 1953. She also became addicted to alcohol and painkillers. She continued painting until her death on July 13, 1954, at the age of 47. The official cause of death was pulmonary embolism, but some suspect that she committed suicide by overdosing on pills.
Kahlo’s death was mourned by many people in Mexico and abroad. Her funeral was attended by thousands of admirers who carried her coffin to the Palacio de Bellas Artes, where a ceremony was held in her honor. Her ashes were placed in an urn in her house in Coyoacán, which was turned into a museum in 1958.
Kahlo’s legacy lives on through her paintings, which are displayed in many museums around the world, such as the Frida Kahlo Museum in Mexico City, the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and the Tate Modern in London. Her life and work have also inspired many books, films, documentaries, songs, and fashion trends. She has become an icon of Mexican culture, feminism, and LGBTQ+ rights. She is widely admired for her courage, creativity, and authenticity.