24 astonishing (and little -known) facts about the Mexican painter Frida Kahlo de Rivera

Frida Kahlo de Rivera was not only an internationally known artist from Mexico, but also one of the few world -famous women of art. Revolutionary, non -conformist, lame, surrealist - she has many names, but above all she is unique.

Her life was by no means calm and it was already treated in several artist biographies and art films. But do you really know everything about your story?

In this article we reveal 12 important facts about this extraordinary artist, who may not yet know.

Some important events in Frida Kahlo's life in advance :

• 1907: Birth in Mexico
• 1913: Disease of paralysis
• 1922: Visiting the national preparatory school
• 1925: Serious
• 1926: At the age of 19 she paints her first self -portrait, the self -portrait with velvet dress
• 1929: Wedding with the artist Diego Rivera/Li>
• 1939: Rivera's divorce. In the same year she paints her famous painting the two Fridas
• 1940: New marriage to Diego Rivera
• 1941: The painting I and my parrots are created
• 1953: First solo exhibition in her home country Mexico, Kahlo is already bedridden at that time
• 1954: Kahlo dies - presumably from a pulmonary embolism

1. Your birthday was deliberately chosen

Frida Kahlo was actually born on July 6, 1907 as Magdalena Carmen Frida Kahlo y Calderón as the daughter of German and Spanish-Mexican parents.

However, she often claimed that her birthday was July 7, 1910. The artist should not make this appear younger, but the Mexican revolution , which began in 1910. Kahlo was a political activist throughout her career and she reflected her beliefs in a variety of ways.

2. It was not completely Mexican descent

Kahlo became an embodiment of Mexican culture, especially indigenous culture, but she was not completely Mexican.

Her father was born as Carl Wilhelm Kahlo in Germany, either Jewish and Hungarian descent, as Frida claimed, or from a long line of German Lutherans, like some new research results.

Frida's mother, Matilde Calderon, was an indigenous Mexican and Spanish descent.

3. Frida originally didn't want to become an artist

Frida's mother Matilde was a very religious woman and Frida's education was strict. Later she described her mother as "friendly, active and intelligent, but also calculating, cruel and fanatic religious".

Frida was particularly close to her father and helped him in his photo studio for days, where she got the taste of art. But even though she loved helping her father and even taking drawing lessons with a family of the family, she never really thought about striving for a career as an artist.

Instead, she was fascinated by natural sciences and biology and dreamed of becoming a doctor one day.

4. Frida was six when a polio disease led to a disability

When Frida grew up, polio epidemics were still relatively common. When she was six years old, she put on the virus. This led her right leg thinner and shorter than her left. To cover this up, Kahlo wore the long, colorful skirts for which she is now known.

Later she not only used the style of her skirts to hide her legs, but also to set a statement by turning herself into a living canvas and every outfit into a work of art. In addition, their skirts were often traditional Mexican robes who raised their legacy and love for their country.

Because of the illness, Frida had to stay away from school months. When she returned to class after such a long absence, the other children wanted nothing to do with her and harassed her for the lag that characterized her passage from then on.

But Frida's father was there to help her daughter get back up after the illness. Although many said at the time that physical movement was "unsuitable" for girls, her father urged her to go out and exercise what helped her get back her strength.

Despite setbacks, Frida was admitted to a renowned Mexican school at the age of 16. It was a 25 accepted students from 2,000 applicants.

5. A serious accident changed her life

When Frida was 18 years old, she drove her boyfriend in a wooden bus when he collided with a tram. In memory of the tragedy, her friend described the bus as "burst into a thousand pieces" .

Frida was almost killed in the accident when an iron handrail entered her hip and came out on the other side. In addition, she broke the spine, the collarbone, the ribs, the pelvis and the right leg and narrowed her shoulder.

Although she finally recovered, she had to undergo more than 30 operations in her life to alleviate her spine injuries, and she lived with chronic pain.

However, Frida's long recovery was the drastic time when she started painting. Her father borrowed his oil paints and brushes while her mother commissioned a special easel so that Kahlo could paint in her hospital bed, and had a mirror placed in the canopy, which enabled Kahlos self -portraits.

6. She made her injuries and disabilities on the subject of her works of art

In the course of her life, Frida created 143 paintings, including 55 self -portraits. Kahlo once said:

I paint myself because I am alone so often and because I am the topic that I know best. ”

Her raw and emotional self -portraits often showed both her physical and mental wounds from her life and accident with topics such as pain, disability, violation and fragility.

One of her most famous paintings, The Broken Column , shows her shattered spine, which looks like an earthquake gap.

Another, without hope , shows a time in her life when Frida had lost her appetite and her doctor prescribed her forced nutrition with a porridge every two hours.

She even showed one of the several miscarriages she had experienced - probably because of the accident that damaged her uterus and made pregnancy impossible.

7. She perfected the self -portrait

Frida Kahlos Disabilities forced her to give up her ambitions to become a doctor. Your rescue? Art. In order to help her daughter deal with her accident, her parents ordered a custom -made easel, which she could use while lying down. This contributed to protecting their fragile spine.

Self -portraits occupy a very important place in your work. They make up about 55 of the 150 works painted by them. By turning herself a topic, she expresses her suffering. Painting becomes a voice of her pain. For decades before the selfie, she revolutionized the self -portrait in a unique and intimate way.

It is out of the question for them to hide their fears, which are an integral part of their life. Other artists such as van Gogh or Rembrandt also presented themselves under fragile or extreme conditions and left no doubt about the fragility of their mental health.

Many of their self -portraits are raw representations of their lives, their thoughts, pain and their inheritance. They contain symbolism and deeper meanings that raise their art.

Frida Kahlos Self -portraits are among the most beautiful that have ever been created. Your most famous self -portrait is perhaps the self -portrait with a thorn chain and colibri .

8. She had two turbulent marriages with the famous Mexican painter Diego Rivera

In 1927, when Frida was 20 years old, she admired the work of the famous Mexican painter Diego Rivera for many years. When she finally got to know him despite an age difference of 20 years, the two quickly fell in love, which caused Diego to leave his second wife and marry Frida in 1929. It was already the third marriage of Rivera. Frida Kahlo now became Frida Kahlo de Rivera .

Due to the different sizes, people often referred to the couple as "the elephant and the pigeon" .

Frida's 10-year marriage to Diego was stormy because both had several affairs. Frida had affairs with men and women. Diego was chronically unfaithful even had an affair with Frida's younger favorite sister Cristina, which made her very angry and finally prompted her to separate from the busy painter.

Rivera was an artist colleague and communist, and they spent a large part of their marriage to travel together through Mexico and the United States.

They divorced in 1939, but married again a year later. Although her second marriage was just as difficult as the first, Frida remained married to Diego until her death.

She once described him bitterly as an artistic companion, friend in the spirit and sponsor, but made it clear that he was never a husband.

9. Frida was bisexual and had numerous affairs

Frida Kahlo was bisexual and had numerous affairs with men and women.

She also had an affair with the founder of the Red Army, the famous Russian revolutionary Leo Trotsky , who came to Mexico to get political asylum from the Soviet Union. He initially stayed with Rivera and later had an affair with Kahlo. Kahlo created a painting entitled Self-Portrait Dedicated to Leo Trotsky to remind you of her short affair.

But that's not all, she and the French artist Josephine Baker also had an affair.

In the mid -20th century, Frida was a polyamore pioneer , free of complexes.

10. Frida was a political woman and convinced communist

When her health gradually improved, Frida Kahlo the Mexican Communist Party . The policy of her country was unstable at that time and she decided to make her contribution. In 1937 she offered the communist revolutionary Leo Trotsky and his wife political asylum.

Her goals were clear: she wanted to improve the situation of Mexican women. She fought for her emancipation. In a patriarchal society, she tried to be the voice of the oppressed women.

She quickly took the role of a “modern woman” and was no longer ashamed of her bisexuality.

With painting as a means of transmitting her political messages, she brave her anti -American attitude courageously in her self -portrait on the border between Mexico and the United States.

11. Frida Kahlo was a close girlfriend of the American artist Georgia O'keeffe

The two painters met in December 1931 at the opening of Rivera's large solo exhibition in the New York Museum of Modern Art.

According to one of Rivera's assistant, the famous wall painter later brated that his wife had flirted with O'keeffe. Frida Kalo writes a few letters to Georgia O'keeffe - an artistic rock star, almost twice as old as she had made friends with when she lived in New York.

12. She rarely brought a smile on her lips

Frida Kahlo generally shows the same emotions in her self -portraits. Usually depicted from a distance, she never seems to smile.

The reason why? Apparently she hated her smile and teeth.

13. It was imprisoned for murder

In 1940 Frida Kahlo found himself in prison in Mexico City. Why?

Because she was suspected of murdering Leo Trotsky Trotsky was forced to exile by Joseph Stalin. Kahlo and her husband Diego Rivera were supporters of the Communist Party, and Rivera persuaded the Mexican President to grant asylum in Mexico in 1937.

During this time, Kahlo Trotsky gave a portrait of herself. She and Trotsky were supposedly also a couple of lovers, which fueled the controversy around them. Trotsky finally left Kahlos Haus in 1939 and was murdered the following year. Kahlo was briefly detained in connection with the assassination attempt before he was released and released. The real assassin was Ramón Mercader , a Spanish communist and agent of the Soviet Union.

14. It surrounded with exotic pets

Frida Kahlo suppressed her loneliness with a series of exotic animals that found their way into their paintings. She not only painted herself surrounded by monkeys , she also had numerous unusual furry friends, including clamps, a Kitz, an Amazon parrot , an eagle, aras, parasol, chickens, sparrows and a rare breed of hairless dogs called Mexican Ixquintle, whose ancestors could be traced back to the Aztecs.

She loved to surround herself with animals that reflected her Meso -American origin.

15. For her first solo exhibition in Mexico, she came in an ambulance and in the bedside

Over the years, Frida's state of health has become worse and has spent the past few years in the hospital and less and less time outside. She now mainly used a wheelchair or crutch to move away. Nevertheless, she continued.

1953, towards the end of her short life, Frida was looking forward to opening her first solo exhibition in Mexico.

At that time she was on a medical arrangement in bed rest and no one expected to make it. However, she made sure she was there.

She came to the gallery with an ambulance and arranged that she was brought on a stretcher and brought to a bed where she could enjoy the opening.

16. Her life was short, she died with 47

Just a few months after her gallery opening, Frida's health deteriorated and her right leg was finally amputated on the knee due to wound fire. It became depressed and anxious, and its dependence on pain relievers worsened.

In her last days, Kahlo had largely been bedridden due to bronchopneumonia. Nevertheless, she took part in a demonstration against the CIA invasion in Guatemala and spoke to her. After that, her illness worsened and that night she had a high fever and had extreme pain.

Frida Kahlo de Rivera died at the age of 47 that night in 1954. It is reported that she died of pulmonary embolism, but some suspect that she could have died through suicide or an overdose.

A few days before her death, she wrote in her diary:

I hope the departure is happy - and I hope to never return ” - Frida.

17. She was born in the parents' house Casa Azul and died in it

This blue house has become a must visit for all art lovers in Mexico. Frida Kahlo Museum "La Casa Azul" is located in the center of Coyocán . It is the place where she was born in 1910 (?) And left the world in 1954.

Her ashes rests on her bed in an urn that is shaped like her face.

18. She only appeared on the cover of the Vogue long after her death

In 1937 Frida Kahlo was interviewed and introduced for the American Vogue. However, she only appeared on the Vogue cover in a picture in 2012 that was taken by Nickolas Muray in 1939.

The picture shows them in her iconic flowing Mexican skirts and scarves, completely with her characteristic hairstyle, which is woven with metallic bouquets. The picture, which is simply placed in the middle of the frame, embodies Kahlos colorful, cultural creativity and its lasting legacy.

19. It was shown on a banknote

Apart from her self -portraits, Frida Kahlos also lasts decades after her death. Her face and that of her husband Diego Rivera appeared on the 500 Pesos note in 2010 .

The banknote marked the 100th anniversary of the Mexican Revolution .

It contained the Rivera quote:

"It was said that the revolution does not need art, but that art needs the revolution. This is not true. The revolution needs revolutionary art."

The peso notes remained in circulation until 2018.

20. Her work "Roots" set up the record for a Latin American work of art in 2006

Frida Kahlo was a central figure of the Neomexicanismo art movement in Mexico, which was created in the 1970s. Her art was called folk art due to traditional elements and some call them surrealistic, although Kahlo himself said:

"They thought I was a surreaist, but I wasn't. I never painted dreams. I painted my own reality."

In May 2006, her self-portrait Roots sold for $ 5.6 million and thus set up an auction record for a Latin American work of art.

21. Her fame came a few decades after her death

Kahlo was successful during his lifetime, but her work at that time was often dismissed as that of the "wife of Diego Rivera" .

Only a few years after her death, her work gained great recognition. Her reputation grew in the 1970s and achieved what some critics "Fridamania" .

Over the years, her work has continued to gain value, and her famous piece of Two Nudes in A Forest was sold in 2016 for $ 8 million.

Her life, including the bus accident, turbulent marriage, love relationships, their strong alcohol and drug use, has inspired many books and films over the years, including the biographical film "Frida" from 2002 with Salma Hayek .

22. Frida's painting is the first work of a Mexican artist of the 20th century, which is bought by an internationally renowned museum

In 1939 the Louvre bought Kahlos The Frame and was the first work of a Mexican artist of the 20th century, which was acquired by an internationally renowned museum. Despite such a performance, Kahlo was known most of her life and 20th century as a wife of Diego Rivera, whom she married in 1929.

However, Kahlo has been known for her own merits since the 1980s. Several biographies were written and films were made about their lives. Her former home, La Casa Azul , is a museum today.

The largest exhibition of her paintings , which took place last summer for her 100th birthday, broke all visitor records in the Mexican Museum of Fine Arts in Mexico City, although it was only open for two months.

23. Two famous films were made about their lives

Numerous articles, books and documentaries have been created through Kahlos Life and Art, including the bestseller Frida: The Biography of Frida Kahlo (1983) from Hayden Herrera .

The film "Frida, Naturaleza Viva" was released in 1983 and was a great success. In 2002 another biographical film, "Frida" , in which Salma Hayek plays her role, played over $ 50 million and won two Oscars.

24. It is a style icon and celebrated identification figure of feminism and the LGBTQ community

Anyone who sees Frida as a disabled, neglected, unattractive woman should think about it again. It was and is a beauty icon , especially in her time. A strong, avant -garde woman, a muse, a model and a leader , to which many women look up. No wonder that she became a source of inspiration for artists and stylists .

Your face is a masterpiece in itself. She designed her own hairstyles and adorned her with wool threads, colorful ribbons and flowers. Red lips, a unibrae / monobraue (emphasized in all their paintings) and a confident expression on her face, nobody can remain indifferent to your ultra-specific style.

The work of Frida Kahlo also questions the relationship between women and her body. First she was haunted by the disease. Then your abdominal muscles tore. This left her back sterile, unable to receive a child.

After her death, the rise of feminism in the 1970s led Frida becoming a feminist and LGBTQI icon.

Frida's work was widely praised that she is deeply personal and shows an insight into female experience. She was also praised for capturing her natural university and other facial hair that talk about gender roles and body positiveness for many.

Her openness with her sexuality-she was bisexual-and her gender-neutral clothing made her an icon in the LGBTQI community. She also made her passionate pride of her Mexican roots for many in her culture a source of pride.

Frida Kahlo: a lasting legacy

She accepted her feminism, herity and her sexuality, went to the limits of life and turned her pain into beautiful, poetic art.

Learn more about art history and movements and the lasting legacy of creativity by dealing with the biography of this fascinating artist and personality.

Sources:

books , documentaries and films already mentioned, there were also exhibitions on Frida Kahlo (such as Viva Frida Kahlo - an immersive art experience ) as well as the following other website helpful sources for this article:

• https://www.fridakahlo.org/

• At Frida Kahlo - the whole documentary - art.tv:

Joachim Rodriguez y Romero

Owner and managing director of Kunstplaza. Publicist, editor and passionate blogger in the field of art, design and creativity since 2011. Successful conclusion in web design as part of a university degree (2008). Further development of creativity techniques through courses in free drawing, expression painting and theatre/acting. Profound knowledge of the art market through many years of journalistic research and numerous collaborations with actors/institutions from art and culture.

www.kunstplaza.de/