Frida Kahlo Research Paper

Hispanic Heritage Month
Frida Kahlo - Artist Frida Kahlo was born on July 6, 1907 in Coyoacán, Mexico. Her birth name is Magdalena Carmen Frieda Kahlo Y Caldrón. Frida is best known for her self-portraits. Frida's art work has been celebrated in Mexico as an emblem of native tradition, and also for feminists for its vivid detail of female life & form. Her work features Mexican tradition and is often described as folk art. Frida had an unpredictable marriage with another Mexican artist, Diego Rivera. All her life she has suffered through health problems, which were mostly caused by a traffic accident she survived as a teenager. As a child, Frida lived in, what is now known as, La Casa Azul. Frida lived there with her father, mother and
3 sisters. While the Mexican revolution began in 1910 whilst Frida was 3, she declared that 1910 was her birth year. Mainly so people would relate her with the revolution. At age 6, Frida contracted polio. It left her right leg thinner than her left, which she would cover with long colorful skirts. She also may have had been born with spina bifida. Frida's father, Guillermo Kahlo was born in Germany and was jewish. At 19 he traveled to Mexico. Frid'as parents had four daughters, Frida being the third. Frida participated in boxing and other sports. In 1922 she enrolled in a premier school where she was 1 of thirty-five girls. She later married another famous artist, Diego Rivera.
They married in 1929, even though Frida's mother disapproved it. Frida, being bisexual, ended up having affairs with both men and women. While Diego did not mind her female relationships, Diego became extremely jealous of her male relationships. Frida was furious after finding out that Diego had an affair with Frida's younger sister, Christina. They divorced in November 1939, but remarried in December, 1940. the marriage was just as troubled as the first. Both being commmunists, Frida and Diego befriended Leon Trotsky, after he had recieved political asylum in Mexico from regime in the Soviet Union. Leon lived with Rivera, and then with Kahlo (where he and Frida had an affair) and then Trotsky moved into his own home with his wife, where he was later assassinated in 1940. Frida Kahlo died on July 13, 1954, soon after turning 47. a few days before her death, Frida wrote in her diary: "I hope the exit is joyful— and I hope never to return— Frida". The official cause of death was given as pulmonary embolism, although others suspected she died from an overdose that may or may not have been accidental. An autopsy was never performed. Her right leg had been amputated at the knee. There is a pre-Columbian urn holding her ashes on display in her former home, La Casa Azul, which is a museum displaying various artworks and mementos of
Frida's. While Frida became famous for her beautifully done paintings and self-portraits, she lead a very interesting life. She lived difficultly due to polio, gangrene, broncho pneumonia, and other diseases. Frida Kahlo will forever be remembered as an artist of amazing talents.