BY: Genell Davis

Childhood  Birthname: Magdalena Carmen Frieda Kahlo y Calderón  Born: July 6, 1907, in Coyoacan, Mexico Died: July 13, 1954, in Coyoacan, Mexico at the age of 47  At the age of six, Frida Kahlo was stricken with polio. It affected her right leg. She spent nine months in bed.  Once she was out of bed, her doctor insisted that Frida exercise to build up her weaker leg. Her father got her involved in all kinds of sports. However, Frida played soccer, boxed, wrestled, and became a champion swimmer. She climbed trees, rowed on the lakes of Chapultepec Park, and played ball.  On September 17, 1925, Kahlo was riding in a bus that collided with a trolley car. She suffered serious injuries as a result of the accident, including a broken spinal column, a broken collarbone, broken ribs, a broken pelvis, eleven fractures in her right leg, a crushed and dislocated right foot, and a dislocated shoulder. Also, an iron handrail pierced her abdomen and her uterus, which caused her to be able to conceive but couldn’t carry the child.

Career  Because of her accident, Kahlo decided that practicing medicine wasn’t for her. Instead she turned to painting.  Her paintings often reflected her pain, such as, her marriage, her miscarriages, and her operations.  Of her 143 paintings 55 were self portraits.

Marriage to Diego Rivera  They were married in 1929, despite the disapproval of Frida's mother.  Their marriage was often troubled.  Kahlo and Rivera both had irritable temperaments and numerous extramarital affairs.  The bisexual Kahlo had affairs with both men and women, including Isamu Noguchi and Josephine Baker; Rivera knew of and tolerated her relationships with women, but her relationships with men made him jealous.  For her part, Kahlo was furious when she learned that Rivera had an affair with her younger sister, Cristina.  The couple divorced in November 1939, but remarried in December  Their second marriage was as troubled as the first.

Last years  Active communists, Kahlo and Rivera befriended Leon Trotsky after he received political asylum in Mexico from Joseph Stalin's regime in the Soviet Union during the late 1930s.  During 1937, Trotsky lived initially with Rivera and then at Kahlo's home (where he had an affair with Kahlo).  Trotsky and his wife then relocated to another house in Coyoacán where, in 1940, he was assassinated.

The death of Frida Kahlo  Frida Kahlo died on July 13, 1954, soon after turning 47.  A few days before her death she 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 a pulmonary embolism, although some suspected that she died from an overdose that may or may not have been accidental.  An autopsy was never performed. She had been very ill throughout the previous year and her right leg had been amputated at the knee, owing to gangrene. She had a bout of bronchopneumonia about that time, which had left her quite frail.

A few of her paintings

Paintings cont.

Paintings!

Paintings of Frida by Diego

La Casa Azul (The Blue House)  Casa Azul ("Blue House") in Coyoacán, Mexico City is the family home where Frida Kahlo grew up and to which she returned in her final years.  Frida's father, Guillermo Kahlo, built the house in 1907 as the Kahlo family home.  The home was donated by Diego Rivera upon his death in 1957, which occurred three years after the death of Frida, and the house is now a museum housing artifacts of her life. Her former home is a popular destination for tourists.

Casa Azul

Casa Azul cont.

Casa Azul!

Official Website of Frida Kahlo