Frida Kahlo, one of the best-known women in the world who turned her suffering into art

It is impossible to confuse the unique paintings of the Mexican artist Frida Kahlo with the works of other artists. In many ways, her works are autobiographical, since, as the artist herself said: “I do self-portraits because I am lonely. I paint myself, because that’s who I know best”. However, many people are drawn not only to Frida’s paintings, but also to her life full of infinite pain and love, deep despair and very little hope.

At the awesome.club, We’ve carefully studied the history and career of this incredibly strong woman and want to share some facts from her life with you.

From the moment of her birth, Frida Kahlo’s life can be considered a complete mystery. She was born in 1907, although in her identity document, the artist, as an adult, changed the year of birth to 1910, as she wanted to honor the Mexican Revolution, which began in 1910 and lasted until 1920.

As a young girl, she had several health problems. At the age of 6, she was diagnosed with polio, which caused her to have significant sequelae: Frida was lame and had disproportionate legs (the right one was a few centimeters thinner than the left). The girl carefully hid the defect with the help of long skirts, but, despite this, she could not avoid the mockery of other children.

Perhaps because of her health problems, she decided to become a doctor and entered the preparatory school, where she studied with 35 girls and 1,965 boys.

At the age of 18, a decisive event occurred in the life of the future artist: she had a terrible accident. Frida suffered numerous injuries, which, according to doctors, would prevent her from continuing to live.

Frida was unconscious for several weeks, but when she recovered, she asked her father to buy art supplies, which he did immediately. Her father also built a unique device so that the girl could paint lying down and even placed a large mirror directly over the girl.

The artist’s first work after the tragedy was a pencil drawing Accident. Frida confessed more than once that painting gave her strength and it was thanks to this activity and her relatives that she was able to recover.

“There were 2 accidents in my life: one, when the bus hit the tram and the other was Diego”, he once said. Frida met Diego Rivera a few years after the accident. The novice artist decided to show him her works, which were highly praised by the famous painter.

The 2 soon fell in love and were married in 1929. She was 22 years old and he was 43. Diego was an unattractive man, rather corpulent, but very charming. The couple was nicknamed “the elephant and the dove”.

Diego was never a faithful husband. The artist’s 2 previous marriages had ended due to his numerous betrayals. The relationship with Frida was no exception. She knew about her husband’s love affairs, but she didn’t say a word to him about it.

Apparently, to get revenge, she had an affair with the former Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky, who stayed at her house. According to some rumors, Frida also had a romantic relationship with Russian poet Vladimir Mayakovski and Mexican singer Chavela Vargas.

Frida tried several times to have a baby with her beloved, but all of her pregnancies ended in miscarriages, due to the consequences of the accident. So, the artist overflowed all her worries to the canvases. Her most emblematic work on this subject that made her suffer so much was Henry Ford Hospital🇧🇷

After 10 years of marriage, she learned of her husband’s betrayal with her sister Cristina and filed for divorce. This event contributed to the creation of the painting Unos cuantos piquetitos🇧🇷 At the time, Frida cut her long hair and started wearing a suit.

After the painful break with her husband, Frida began to paint portraits of herself surrounded by animals. Among her pets were dogs, monkeys, parrots and pigeons.

In 1940, the artist was hospitalized because of serious health problems. Diego immediately came to see his beloved and again proposed to her. Frida accepted without thinking twice.

With age, Frida’s health deteriorated. She underwent several major surgeries that failed to improve her condition. In 1953, due to gangrene, doctors had to amputate his leg. In the same year, her personal exhibition was opened in Mexico, from where the artist was taken directly from bed.

Anticipating her death, the artist wrote in her diary: “I hope the departure is successful and that I don’t come back”. Frida Kahlo’s last work was the uplifting and upbeat painting Viva la vida🇧🇷 The artist died in July 1954 of pneumonia. In 1955, a museum was opened in the house where she lived, which attracts many admirers of her works.

The artistic heritage of the Mexican painter includes more than 150 works. Frida placed great importance on her self-portraits, many of which describe her life better than any complicated word. For example, painting The broken columnwhich, by the way, inspired Jean-Paul Gaultier to create the costumes for the character of Mila Jovovich for the film The fifth Element.

Many films have already been produced about her and one of the best known is frida🇧🇷 The role of the painter went to Salma Hayek. Several books were also written and even a song was dedicated to her. The multilateral personality of this artist does not leave anyone indifferent, even in our days.

Did you discover anything new about Frida Kahlo? Maybe you know some other interesting facts about her biography. Tell us in the comments.