By: Anabelle Obermaier
September 15th- October 15th is recognized as Hispanic Heritage Month, a month focused on bringing light to hispanic cultures, histories, and peoples. In light of this month, I am going to be talking about the artist Frida Kahlo, a famous Mexican artist, mostly known for her painted self portraits.
She was born in 1907 in Mexico City. At age 6 she became ill with polio and was bedridden for 9 months until she recovered. Kahlo was encouraged by her dad to play sports, even though during that time it was rare for a girl to do so. Later on in her schooling she was one of the only girls admitted into National Preparatory School, a very prestigious school for young students. Even though she was always good at art, her dream of becoming a doctor led her to this school.
When she was 18, Kahlo tragically got in a bus accident. This accident injured her spine and pelvis, causing her to be bedridden once again for months. She began painting more and more since there was not much to do. She expressed her pain through her paintings while she recovered.
She was very expressive with her emotions and didn’t try to hide them, instead she used her art to communicate them through painting. In order to paint her self portraits, she had a mirror above her bed in order to see herself. During the years following her recovery, she began to pursue her career in painting, and no longer went to school to become a doctor. She eventually married a famous muralist, Diego Rivera.
Kahlo traveled to show her work in big cities like New York, San Francisco, and even Paris. Some of her most famous paintings I suggest you look up are “The Two Fridas”, “Self-Portraits on the borderline between Mexico and the United States”, and “Self-Portrait with thorn necklace and hummingbird”.