Frida Kahlo was a Mexican painter born in Coyoacán, Mexico City, in 1907.
Frida Kahlo at a glance
- Born: 6 July 1907, Coyoacán, Mexico City
- Died: 13 July 1954, Coyoacán, Mexico City
- Nationality: Mexican
- Known for: Bold, personal self-portraits
- Medium: Oil painting
- Style or Movement: Mexican folk art, realism mixed with fantasy
- Notable works: The Two Fridas, Self-Portrait with Thorn Necklace and Hummingbird, The Broken Column
- Spouse: Muralist Diego Rivera
She contracted polio at age six and survived a near-fatal bus accident at eighteen, which left her with lifelong pain and over thirty operations. During her long recovery, she taught herself to paint using a special easel attached to her bed. She married muralist Diego Rivera in 1929, and their tumultuous relationship profoundly influenced her work. She is best known for her self-portraits, which explore identity, pain, gender, and death with uncompromising honesty and brilliant color,
Her style blended realism with fantasy and drew heavily from Mexican folk art and indigenous culture.
Although French poet André Breton declared her a Surrealist, she rejected the label, insisting she painted her own reality. Her work is now celebrated internationally as an icon of Mexican tradition and feminist art, and she is one of the most recognized artists of the 20th century.
“I paint self-portraits because I am so often alone, because I am the person I know best.”
