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Childhood
Artist Frida Kahlo was born Magdalena Carmen Frieda Kahlo y Calderón on July 6, 1907, in Coyocoán, Mexico City, Mexico.Kahlo grew up in the family’s home where she was born -- later referred as the Blue House or Casa Azul. Around the age of 6, she contracted polio, which caused her to be bedridden for nine months. -
Studies and Injury
In 1922, Kahlo enrolled at the renowned National Preparatory School. She was one of the few female students to attend the school, and she became known for her jovial spirit and her love of traditional and colorful clothes and jewelry. Kahlo often watched as Rivera created a mural called The Creation in the school’s lecture hall. According to some reports, she told a friend that she would someday have Rivera’s baby. -
Sep/17
On September 17, 1925, Kahlo and Gómez Arias were traveling together on a bus when the vehicle collided with a streetcar. As a result of the collision, Kahlo was impaled by a steel handrail, which went into her hip and came out the other side. She suffered several serious injuries as a result, including fractures in her spine and pelvis. -
Tumultuous Marriage
Kahlo reconnected with Rivera in 1928. He encouraged her artwork, and the two began a relationship. The couple married the next year.Never a traditional union, Kahlo and Rivera kept separate, but adjoining homes and studios in San Angel. She was saddened by his many infidelities. In response to this familial betrayal, Kahlo cut off most of her trademark long dark hair. Desperately wanting to have a child, she again experienced heartbreak when she miscarried in 1934. -
Art and Self-Portraits
Kahlo created at least 140 paintings, along with dozens of drawings and studies. Of her paintings, 55 are self-portraits which often incorporate symbolic portrayals of physical and psychological wounds. She insisted, "I never painted dreams. I painted my own reality.". Her nude self-portraits are surrealistic depictions of specifically female biologically based sufferings and unlike most renditions of the female nude, hers refer to direct personal experience -
Deteriorating Health and Death
Her health issues became nearly all-consuming in 1950. After being diagnosed with gangrene in her right foot, Kahlo spent nine months in the hospital and had several operations during this time.Deeply depressed, Kahlo was hospitalized again in April 1954 because of poor health, or, as some reports indicated, a suicide attempt.About a week after her 47th birthday, Kahlo died on July 13 at her beloved Blue House. -
Museum of Frida Kahlo
Kahlo's legacy has been commemorated in several ways.La Casa Azul, her home in Coyoacán, was opened as a museum in 1958, and has become one of the most popular museums in Mexico City, with approximately 25,000 visitors monthly.The city also dedicated a park, Parque Frida Kahlo, to her in Coyoacán in 1985. The park also features a bronze statue of Kahlo. -
Artistic Legacy
In addition to other tributes, Kahlo's life and art have inspired artists in various fields.In 1984, Paul Leduc released a biopic, titled Frida, naturaleza viva and starring Ofelia Medina as Kahlo.In 1994, American jazz flautist and composer James Newton released an album inspired by Kahlo, titled Suite for Frida Kahlo -
Meaning about Frida`s death
There has been some speculation regarding the nature of her death. It was reported to be caused by a pulmonary embolism, but there have also been stories about a possible suicide.
