Frida Kahlo Biography

Frida Kahlo, considered one of Mexico’s greatest artists, was born on July 6, 1907 in Coyocoan, Mexico City, Mexico. She grew up in her family’s home, which later became known as the Blue House or Casa Azul. Her father was of German descent and a photographer who emigrated to Mexico where he met and married her mother, Matilde, who was of mixed indigenous and Spanish heritage. Frida had two older sisters and a younger sister.

Frida had poor health in her childhood. She contracted polio at the age of 6 and had to remain bedridden for nine months. This illness made her right leg and foot much thinner than her left. She walked with a limp after recovering from polio. She wore long skirts to cover it for the rest of her life. Her father encouraged her to participate in many sports to help her recover. She played soccer, went swimming and even wrestled, which was very unusual for a girl at that time. She had a very close relationship with her father throughout her life.

Frida attended the prestigious National Preparatory School in Mexico City in 1922. There were only 35 girls enrolled in the school and she quickly became famous for her frankness and courage. At this school, she met the famous Mexican muralist Diego Rivera for the first time. Rivera was working on a mural called “The Creation” on the school’s campus at the time. Frida often saw him and told a friend she would marry him one day.

That same year, Kahlo joined a gang of students who shared similar political and intellectual views. She fell in love with the leader, Alejandro Gómez Arias. On a September afternoon, while traveling with Gómez Arias on a bus, the tragic accident occurred. The bus collided with a streetcar and Frida Kahlo was seriously injured. A steel rail impaled her through the hip. Her spine and pelvis were fractured, and the accident left her with great physical and emotional pain.

She was seriously injured and had to stay in the Red Cross Hospital in Mexico City for several weeks. After that, she returned home to recover further. She had to wear a full-body cast for three months. To pass the time and alleviate the pain, she began to paint and completed her first self-portrait the following year. Frida Kahlo once said, “I paint myself because I am often alone and I am the subject I know best.” Her parents encouraged her to paint and made her a special easel so she could paint in bed. They also gave her brushes and paint boxes.

Frida reconnected with Rivera in 1928. She asked him to evaluate her work and he encouraged her. The two soon began dating and married in 1929. Her injuries and pain from the accident continued to plague her for the rest of her life. She had several surgeries and spent a lot of time in hospitals. Despite her physical struggles, she continued to paint and produced many of her most famous works during this time. Her paintings, which were primarily self-portraits, depicted her pain, her love for Mexico and the Mexican people, and her feminist and political views. Frida Kahlo died on July 13, 1954. Her legacy lives on, and her work continues to be celebrated around the world.

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