Frida Kahlo (her life)

Born Magdalena Carmen Frieda Kahlo in 1907 and died 1954. To try and separate her life from her work would be extremely difficult. She lived with severe disabilities throughout her relatively short life and we can see her progression through her paintings, which were always direct and powerful. “I never painted dreams. I painted my own reality”. During my readings about her life one never gets the sense that she felt bitter about the hand that was dealt her but rather that she accepted it and got on with life.

Frida’s mother was a native Mexican of Spanish and Indian descent and her father a Hungarian-German Jewish immigrant. Kahlo was the third of four daughters- Matilde, Adriana and the youngest sister Cristina.

Frida was born in a time of change. Three years after her birth the Mexican revolution began and shortly after, WW1 would change the face of Europe. All these events influenced her art but in addition to these external influences was also the int...