Frida Kahlo was a Mexican artist born three years before
the Mexican revolution. She wanted to be associated with the Mexican revolution
that is why she claimed to be born in 1910 - the year of the revolution.
Frida’s sufferings started from the age of six when she contracted polio which
left her right leg thinner than the left. Frida actually wanted to become a
doctor but a terrible accident gave her a new direction in life. At first,
Frida had no style of her own and she was greatly inspired by other artists.
Her paintings reflected the styles and designs of the artists she admired.
Later
she developed a keen interest in painting and developed her own artistic style
which was based mostly on the events taking place in her personal and social
life and also the psychological changes she was going through. She emerged as a
surrealist painter and her works were also driven by realism, symbolism and
sexual references. She often stated that she wasn’t sure whether she is a
surrealist or not but her paintings were the frankest expression of herself.
The entire collection of Frida’s paintings is actually the biography of her
life.
Frida married a well known Mexican artist, Diego Rivera,
whom she referred to as the ‘architect of life.’ Both Frida and Diego had a
radically different approach on life and were extremely proud of each other’s
creations. Many of Frida’s paintings depict her unstable relationship with
Diego. She painted her emotions and sorrows in her self-portraits and each of
her self-portrait has a story to tell. Frida lived a life full of traumas,
accidents, operations, miscarriages and immense sufferings. She died at the age
of 47 in 1954 leaving behind more than 200 paintings, sketches and drawings.
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