Frida Kahlo by Meagan Hale

Frida Kahlo is one of the most important artists of the twentieth century. Frida Kahlo was a Mexican artist who is remembered for her self-portraits, pain and passion, and bold, vibrant colors. She was born on July 6, 1907 in Coyoacan, Mexico City, Mexico and died July 13, 1954 due to a pulmonary embolism, also known as a PE, lung blood clot in Coyoacan, Mexico City, Mexico. As a child, Kahlo suffered from polio at the age of 6 and and had to be bedridden for nine months, which means that she had to be confined to bed by sickness or old age. This disease had caused her right leg and foot to grow thinner than her left leg and foot. In her teenage years, Frida nearly died in a bus accident. She suffered with multiple fractures of her spine, collarbone, and rib. She also suffered with a shattered pelvis, broken foot and dislocated shoulder. That is when she began to focus heavily on painting while also recovering in a body cast. Frida had once said, “ I paint myself because I am often alone and I am the subject I know best". Even though Frida was in a full body cast, just to kill time, she started painting and finished her very first self-portrait the following year. Frida attended high school at Escuela Nacional Preparatoria and attended college at Colegio Alemán Alexander von Humboldt. While in school, there were only thirty-five women enrolled in the school and Frida became known for her outspokenness and bravery. She was an artist who painted surrealism, cubism, symbolism, modern art, and magical realism. Some of her paintings include The Two Fridas, The Broken Column, The Wounded Deer, Henry Ford Hospital, My Birth, ect. Her paintings were worth millions of dollars and in all she sold around 100 to 200 paintings. Even though she was born in 1907, and died at the age of 47, Frida Kahlo achieved fame even in her brief lifetime that extended far beyond Mexico’s borders, her indelible image recognizable everywhere. Some fun facts about her are that she wanted the birth of her child to coincide with the beginning of the Mexican Revolution, and that she won tequila challenges with hefty men. Another fact about her that I’ve already mentioned is that she became a painter near a fatal accident and that she is known as the master of self-portraits. Frida married a famous painter Diego Rivera and she was attracted to men and women and she didn’t become famous until a couple years after her death. Two famous movies have been made about her life and one of her paintings ‘ Roots’, set the record for a Latin American piece of art.

Cite this page