Frida Kahlo

And other surrealist art

Frida Kahlo was born in Coyoacan, Mexico in 1907.

Her father was an artist, and he taught Frida how to paint when she was a little girl. Her father was German, her mother of native descent.

When she was 7 years old, she was stricken with polio and had to stay in bed for 9 months. That’s when Frida taught herself how to draw.

The Accident, 17 September 1926

When Frida was only 18 years old, she was in a terrible bus accident which left her in constant pain

for the rest of her life.

                                                                                     

                                       

                                                                             

                                        

After the accident, Frida found the courage to live by painting.

She painted the things that were important to her - special days, dreams, and the world of her imagination.

When she was in pain and couldn’t leave her bed, she painted in bed.

Frida’s personality originated from putting together fragments of self (multi-personality) like putting together a piece of puzzle; which is like the combination of her body parts reattached after the accidents and various surgeries

Las dos Fridas (1939)

“Moses”

Diego Rivera, a famous muralist, met Frida when he visited her school. Their marriage consisted of love, affairs with other people, creative bonding, hate, and a divorce in 1940 that lasted only for one year. Their marriage has been called the union between an elephant and a dove, because Diego was huge and very fat, and Frida was small (a little over 5 feet) and slender. Despite Diego's affairs with other women (one was with Frida's sister), he helped in many ways. He suggested to Frida that she should begin wearing the traditional Mexican clothing, which consisted of long, colorful dresses and exotic jewelry. This, along with Frida's thick, connecting eyebrows, became her trademark. He also loved her work and was her greatest admirer. Frida, in turn, was Diego's most trusted critic, and the love of his life.

Frida and Diego Rivera

Diego Rivera’s Art

More Rivera Art

Frida often painted self-portraits.

"I paint self portraits because I am so often alone. Because I am the subject

I know best."

Salvador Dali “Persistence of Memory”