Frida Kahlo (1939, printed 1941) by Nickolas MurayGeorge Eastman Museum
Frida Kahlo de Rivera (July 6, 1907 - July 13, 1954), born Magdalena Carmen Frieda Kahlo y Calderón, was a Mexican painter who is best known for her self-portraits.
Kahlo's life began and ended in Mexico City, in her home known as the Blue House. Her work has been celebrated in Mexico as emblematic of national and indigenous tradition, and by feminists for its uncompromising depiction of the female experience and form. Mexican culture and Amerindian cultural tradition are important in her work, which has been sometimes characterized as naïve art or folk art. Her work has also been described as surrealist, and in 1938 André Breton, principal initiator of the surrealist movement, described Kahlo's art as a "ribbon around a bomb". Frida rejected the "surrealist" label; she believed that her work reflected more of her reality than her dreams.
Frida and Diego Rivera at the house of the sculptor Ralph Stockpole. In the background is one of Stockpole's works. (1931) by Peter JuleyMuseo Casa Estudio Diego Rivera y Frida Kahlo
Kahlo had a volatile marriage with the famous Mexican artist Diego Rivera. She suffered lifelong health problems, many caused by a traffic accident she survived as a teenager. Recovering from her injuries isolated her from other people, and this isolation influenced her works, many of which are self-portraits of one sort or another.
Marxism Will Give Health to the Ill (1954) by Frida KahloMuseo Frida Kahlo
3. "Feet, what do I need you for when I have wings to fly?"
Diego Rivera (in his studio at San Angel) (1940) by UnknownMuseo Frida Kahlo
5. "I love you more than my own skin."
Frida Kahlo (1939, printed 1941) by Nickolas MurayGeorge Eastman Museum
6. "I leave you my portrait so that you will have my presence all the days and nights that I am away from you."
Explore Frida Kahlo's life and work here.
