Magdalena Carmen Frieda Kahlo y Calder�n de Rivera
(born July 6, 1907, Coyoco�n, Mexico, died July 13, 1954, Coyoco�n),
Mexican painter. The daughter of a German Jewish photographer, she had
polio as a child and at 18 suffered a serious bus accident. She subsequently
underwent some 35 operations; during her recovery, she taught herself to
paint. She is noted for her intense self-portraits, many reflecting her
physical ordeal.
Like many artists working in post-revolutionary Mexico,
Kahlo was influenced by Mexican folk art; this is apparent in her use of
fantastical elements and bold use of color, and in her depictions of
herself wearing traditional Mexican, rather than European-style, dress.
Her marriage to painter
Diego Rivera
(from 1929) was tumultuous, but artistically rewarding.
The
Surrealists
Andr� Breton and
Marcel Duchamp
helped arrange exhibits of her work in the U.S. and Europe, and though
she denied the connection, the dreamlike quality of her work has often
led historians to identify her as a Surrealist. She died at 47. Her house
in Coyoco�n is now the Frida Kahlo Museum.