Frida Kahlo

She was exceptionally striking; her long dark hair and distinctive bird-wing brows arching over magnetic black eyes reflected her vibrant and adventurous nature. Most of Kahlo's work—painted on canvas, wooden boards, and tin—depicts her personal story; perhaps most riveting are the artist's many self-portraits. In them, Kahlo often portrays herself in native Mexican dress, surrounded by her many pets and the lush vegetation of her homeland, her forehead or body imprinted with the people and events central to her life. Kahlo's paintings also have the strong silhouettes, insistent detail, overall equality of focus, and bold colours often associated with folk art. Always intense and sometimes realistic or fantastic, her works show that her art and life were inseparable, fierce, timeless, and tragic. Kahlo loved everything Mexican—the countries saturated colours, folk art, and native dress as well as its commitment to faith and family. Kahlo was also a dedicated Communist. When she married the famed muralist and social activist Diego Rivera, the couple became well known for their dedication to Mexico's populist causes and pride in their country's native culture. They shared this commitment to Mexican dad with many artists and intellectuals of the first several decades of the twentieth century—a time known as the Mexican Renaissance. Their visibility attracted famous artists and political figures, many of whom became close friends. One of them as Leon Trotsky, the exiled Russian revolutionary leader, who lived in Kahlo's blue house as a political refugee. Frida Kahlo is one of Mexico's most famous artists and also something of a feminist icon, celebrated for her passionate indomitability in the face of life's trials. She's best known for her daring self-portraits depicting the suffering she experienced in her personal life. Frida Kahlo had polio as a child; at the age of 18 she broke her right leg and pelvis in a horrific bus accident, leading to a lifetime of chronic...