Frida history

Although Kahlo took some drawing classes, she was more interested in science, and in 1922 she entered the National Preparatory School in Mexico City with an interest in eventually studying medicine.

In 1925 Kahlo was involved in a bus accident, which so seriously injured her that she had to undergo more than 30 medical operations in her lifetime.

In one of her early paintings, Self-Portrait Wearing a Velvet Dress (1926), Kahlo painted a regal waist-length portrait of herself against a dark background with roiling stylized waves.

By 1927, Kahlo was well enough to leave her bedroom and thus re-kindled her relationship with the Cachuchas group, which was by this point all the more political.

Kahlo painted that work while traveling in the United States (1930–33) with Rivera, who had received commissions for murals from several cities.

Her painting Frieda and Diego Rivera (1931) shows not only her new attire but also her new interest in Mexican folk art.

In Henry Ford Hospital (1932) Kahlo depicted herself hemorrhaging on a hospital bed amid a barren landscape, and in My Birth (1932) she painted a rather taboo scene of a shrouded woman giving birth.

In 1936, Kahlo joined the Fourth International (a Communist organization) and often used La Casa Azul as a meeting point for international intellectuals, artists, and activists.

In 1937, as well as helping Trotsky, Kahlo and the political icon embarked on a short love affair.

1938), making her the first 20th-century Mexican artist to be included in the museum’s collection.

Trotsky and his wife remained in La Casa Azul until mid-1939.

In a later version in 1945, Kahlo paints her monkey and also her dog, Xolotl.

The 1946 painting, The Wounded Deer, further extends both the notion of chingada and the Saint Sebastian motif already explored in The Broken Column.

She first depicted the motif in 1947 as an abstracted series of forms, barely distinguishable as a human figure; drawn using watercolor and pencil on pink paper, but then later made obvious pink fabric sculptures of the saint, stuck with arrows, she like Kahlo feeling under attack and afraid.

In 1953, when Frida had her first solo exhibition in Mexico, a local critic explained why she was so different from her contemporaries:

July 13, 1954 (aged 47) Mexico (Anniversary in 2 days)

The Frida Kahlo Museum opened to the public in 1958, a year after Rivera’s death.

The painting also likely inspired a performance and sculptural piece made by Rebecca Horn in 1970 called Unicorn.

In likely homage to Kahlo's painting, Finnish photographer Elina Brotherus photographed Wedding Portraits in 1997.