Frida Kahlo

The Tate Modern (famed modern and contemporary gallery in London) considers Frida Kahlo one of the most important artists of the 20th Century.

Ms. Kahlo’s broad following developed posthumously. She gained wide recognition during the 1970s resulting from the feminist movement, Mexican Nationalism, and the LGBTQ community.

Ms. Kahlo’s paintings reflect her essence. Her love of nature, chronic health issues, physical pain, love for Rivera and political leanings are evident in her work. She survived a severe bus accident at the age of 18. The accident changed the direction of her life’s vocation from medicine to art.

During her lifetime she married the muralist Diego Rivera twice. In a Detroit News’ article she referred to herself as “the wife of the master muralist that dabbles in art.” (Kahlo supported/assisted Rivera with his master installation at the Detroit Institute of Arts.)

Biographical information about Frida Kahlo is extremely important to understanding what she painted and why. Members of the surrealist movement (including Andre Breton, the movements founder) felt her work included surrealist themes.

Little known fact: Kahlo was the first Mexican artist featured in the collection of the Louvre with the museum’s purchase of the “Frame.”

There are many books, YouTube videos, articles, and scholarly studies about Frida. Salma Hayek starred in and produced Frida, a biopic that chronicled the difficult life of Kahlo.

Official Trailer for Frida, starring Salma Hayek, Antonio Banderas, and Alfred Molina.

Frida chronicles the life Frida Kahlo shared unflinchingly and openly with Diego Rivera, as the young couple took the art world by storm. From her complex and enduring relationship with her mentor and husband to her illicit and controversial affair with Leon Trotsky, to her provocative and romantic entanglements with women, Frida Kahlo lived a bold and uncompromising life as a political, artistic, and sexual revolutionary.