Happy Birthday Dear Frida Kahlo! Feliz Cumpleanos!

frida kahlo 1943 the monkeys become a talisman for the artist

It’s Mexican painter Frida Kahlo’s birthday today (b. 1907 – 1954)   This celebrated artist contracted polio when she was 6 years old, which left her with a limp.  A horrific  bus accident  in 1925 left the young girl with serious injuries, including a fractured pelvis and spine.  It was whilst recuperating  that she began to paint. She completed her first self portrait the following year.

Henry-Ford-Hospital. The artist's exeriences form a major part of her art

Encouraged by fellow student, political artist Diego Rivera, they married in 1929.   Read Kahlo’s biography here

kahlo roots

Kahlo’s art is a mixture of Realism, symbolism with  surrealist elements.  She incorporated her own (often sad) experiences into her art and was also politically involved and sympathetic to the communist cause.

Diego Rivera and his wife Frida Kahlo

  Although Rivera recognised and encouraged Kahlo’s work, theirs was not a happy marriage.  They divorced, remarried yet lived seperately.  The story of Kahlo’s art,  Frida the woman and her tumultuous life reads like a Greek tragedy.  She was wonderfully portrayed by Selma Hayek in the film ‘Frida’ 2002

Salma Hayek in the film 'Frida'

There is a gallery of Kahlo’s paintings here.

kahlo symbolism

And lots of images from the Frida Kahlo Foundation here

Interesting  short article by Tracy Emin about Kahlo here

Here is a list of links to post I have made so far concerning artist’s birthday.  I have tried to make it a rule that I actually LIKE the artists’ work!   Some artists I do like, I have not included so far, as their birthdays have clashed with something else I was writing about. Some birthdays I have only found out about when it was too late to include them , I mean to rectify this at a later date.

Rubens

Gauguin

Dali

Leonardo da Vinci

Hart Benton

Turner

Van Gogh

Morris

Pollock

Chagall

Modigliani

Degas

Hopper

Duchamp