Biography: Frida Kahlo

Part I - Frida Kahlo, one of Mexico's greatest artists, was born Magdalena Carmen Frieda Kahlo y Calderón on July 6, 1907, in Mexico City, Mexico. She began painting mostly self-portraits after she was severely injured in a bus accident.

Part II - On September 17, 1925, Kahlo and Alejandro Gómez Arias, a school friend with whom she was romantically involved, were traveling together on a bus when the vehicle collided with a streetcar. As a result of the collision, Kahlo suffered several serious injuries. After staying at the Red Cross Hospital in Mexico City for several weeks, Kahlo returned home to recover better. She began painting during her recovery and finished her first self-portrait the following year, which she gave to Gómez Arias.

Part III - In 1929, Frida Kahlo and famed Mexican artist Diego Rivera married. Kahlo and Rivera first met in 1922 when he went to work on a project at her high school. 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 marry Rivera. Kahlo reconnected with Rivera in 1928. He encouraged her artwork, and the two began a relationship and married in 1929. Their marriage lasted 10 years. After Rivera cheated her in 1939, Kahlo divorced him. They did not stay divorced for long, remarrying in 1940.

Part IV - Frida Kahlo’s life was the subject of a 2002 film entitled Frida, starring Salma Hayek as the artist and Alfred Molina as Diego Rivera. Directed by Julie Taymor, the film was nominated for six Academy Awards and won for Best Makeup and Original Score.

Part V - The family home where Frida Kahlo was born and grew up, later referred to as the Blue House or Casa Azul, was opened as a museum in 1958. Located in Mexico City, the Museo Frida Kahlo houses artefacts from the artist and important works including Viva la Vida (1954), Frida and Caesarean (1931) and Portrait of My Father Wilhelm Kahlo (1952).

Part VI - Frida Kahlo’s father, Wilhelm (also called Guillermo), was a German photographer who had immigrated to Mexico where he met and married her mother Matilde. She had two older sisters, Matilde and Adriana, and her younger sister, Cristina, was born the year after Frida. Around the age of six, Kahlo contracted polio (a highly infectious viral disease), which caused her to be bedridden for nine months. While she recovered from the illness, she limped when she walked because the disease had damaged her right leg and foot. Her father encouraged her to play soccer, go swimming, and even wrestle — highly unusual moves for a girl at the time — to help her recovery.

Part VII - Kahlo was hospitalized in April 1954 because of poor health. She stayed in hospital for weeks. Kahlo died on July 13, 1954, at her beloved Blue House.