Mexican artist Frida Kahlo

Mexican artist Frida Kahlo was very well known for her selfportraits. For her, painting was the best way she could express herself.

She was born in 1907 in Mexico and she had a challenging childhood. She was so young when she became ill. The disease called polio caused problems with her right leg and foot. Because of that she had to wear long skirts to hide her legs. Even in her paintings, she wears long skirts.

When she was a teenager, she had a serious bus accident. Because of her injuries, she had to stay in bed for months. The process was so long that she started painting from her bed. As everyone does, she also wanted to express her feelings and she did it with her paintings. She painted her very first self-portrait, “Self-Portrait in a Velvet Dress” at that time.

Some of Frida’s self-portraits are “Surrealist” which means an artwork that was realistic and fantastical at the same time. You can see it in her paintings. In one of her self-portraits two Fridas are sitting next to each other and their hearts can be seen through their bodies. In another painting, vines are growing out of her stomach.

Frida thought that her paintings were showing her truths. They were all the things that were troubling her or the things that were really significant for her. For these reasons, she never thought that her art was fantastical. In some of her works, she painted herself with animals, in others she is wearing traditional Mexican clothing which shows her connection to her country. During her life, she painted fifty-five self-portraits. She is remembered as a gifted artist and an important figure of art.

Adapted from Readworks’ website