Frida Kahlo: Biography Of A Woman In Love

A painting by Frida Kahlo currently holds the record as the most expensive ever sold by a Latin American artist. This is the work Raíces , which was purchased for more than $5 million in 2006. Frida Kahlo was also the first Mexican artist to sell one of her works at the Louvre Museum.

André Breton, the father of surrealism and one of Frida’s greatest admirers, classified his work as a surrealist. Frida Kahlo, however, claimed that she painted her life, not her dreams, and therefore could not be considered a surrealist. When Breton visited her in Mexico, he admitted he was wrong. The surrealist was not Frida, but her whole country.

The life and works of Frida Kahlo are inseparable. One cannot be understood without the other. This wonderful Mexican painter was in her time an interesting artist, but above all the wife of Diego Rivera, the famous Mexican painter.

Over the years, the situation reversed. Rivera is often remembered as the husband of Frida Kahlo, the great painter.

A life marked by bad luck

Frida Kahlo was the daughter of a German photographer and a Mexican woman. She was born in Mexico City on July 6, 1907, although she later tried to make people believe she was born in 1910, the year of the Mexican Revolution. When she was only 6, she contracted polio, which caused her walking problems.

To facilitate her rehabilitation, her father encouraged her to engage in vigorous physical activities such as soccer and boxing. She recovered only partially and the illness made her a lonely child, who spent many days of convalescence closed in her room.

He had a very close bond with his father. The beloved parent suffered from frequent fainting that the doctors could not explain. Later it was discovered that he suffered from epilepsy due to an old brain injury.

Frida learned to assist him during his crises. At the same time, his father was his great advisor and support during the critical passages of his health.

Frida Kahlo’s accident

At school they called her “Frida’s wooden leg” because she had one leg thinner and weaker than the other. He signed many of his paintings with this nickname. Later, he entered medical school and had an affair with a classmate named Alejandro Gómez Arias.

It is said that after leaving school she found that she had forgotten her umbrella in class, so the two went to retrieve it. Then they took a bus that had a serious collision with a tram; Frida was seriously injured.

His spine and pelvis broke in three places. The accident also caused 11 fractures in her right leg, two in her ribs and one in her collarbone, as well as a dislocated shoulder and foot.

A handrail ran through her body, from her hip to her vagina. It is also said that there was a man on the bus carrying gold dust and that Frida’s body was immersed in it after the accident.

A great love

After the accident, Frida Kahlo’s life changed forever. She began to paint while she was bedridden and never stopped. A mutual friend introduced her to Diego Rivera and their love blossomed almost immediately.

He was 43 and she was 22 . Frida Kahlo’s father warned her that she was becoming “a demon”. His mother said it looked like the union of an elephant and a dove.

The two artists lived a passionate relationship, marked by mutual infidelity and the physical suffering of Frida. She longed to be a mother, but had three miscarriages.

The accident prevented her from becoming pregnant. In addition to this, Diego Rivera was unfaithful to her many times and she was no less. Rumor has it that she sought out her husband’s mistresses and convinced them to be his mistresses too.

Meanwhile, his work grew and became more and more interesting. He exhibited in various art centers in the United States and Europe. A very painful episode was the discovery of the relationship between Rivera and Frida’s younger sister, who had been his great confidant. This resulted in a divorce between the two, but a year later they remarried.

Frida Kahlo’s state of health became complicated and she had to undergo the amputation of a leg from the knee. He spent a year in the hospital. Meanwhile, her first solo exhibition in Mexico was organized and she attended from the hospital bed.

On July 13, 1954 he died at the age of 47. Two years later Diego died and asked to be buried next to her. However, his last wish was not granted.