Frida Khalo- The Woman She Was

Magdalena Carmen Frida Kahlo y Calderón, known as only Frida Khalo was born on the 6th of July 1907. 

Her father was a German photographer and painter, and her mother was a mix of European and non-European ancestry (Purépecha lineage), and she lived with her parents until her adult life in La Casa Azul, in Coyocán, which now can be visited as the Frida Khalo Museum.  

She was especially close to her father. They spent a lot of time bonding together and her father would teach her about photography, literature, nature, philosophy and even encouraged her to try out new things. 

Although Khalo was disabled by polio, having her right leg shorter and thinner than her left, she was devoted to her studies and was dedicated to go to medical school. 

In 1925, Khalo started to work as a stenographer so she could help her family, and worked as an engraving trainee for  a printmaker named Fernando Fernandéz, her father’s friend. 

However, unfortunately, at the age of 18,  on the 17th of September, she was gravely injured in a bus accident, being impaled by an iron handrail in her pelvic area, which caused her to have long-lasting pains and medical problems and also being bullied in her daily life by people from her neighbourhood because her appearence.  

Since she couldn’t do much while in recovery, Khalo decided to return to her childhood hobby, art.  

Khalo had a passion for art since her youth. She was a talented child, having notebooks full of sketches, and even receiving drawing instructions from Fernando Fernandéz.  

But even so, she did not wish to leave her medical studies behind, considering having a career as a medical illustrator  

Her parents were supportive of her idea. Khalos mother even put an easel in her room and her father gave her the oil paints he had, enabling her to paint in bed peacefully.  

Self portrait made by Frida Khalo during 1925 

Khalo explains that painting was a way for her to explore the meaning of existence and make further questions about it, she was very isolated during her recovery period, which made her desire even more to paint things just as she saw with her own eyes only. 

Most of Khalos paintings at the time were of her sister, her friends and herself.  

In 1921 she met a man named  Diego Rivera at a party, who she married later in 1929.  

Her mother did not accept this marrige because of the couples physical differences, since Frida was frail and Rivero was larger compared to her. 

But, her father approved of Rivera, since he was wealthy and he could support his daughter who was unable to work and needed medical treatments. 

In their year of marriage, Khalo and Rivera moved to Cuernavaca, where Khalo was comissioned to paint murals for the Palace of Cortés, and Rivera had to go away for some time, to support his leftist opposition with the Third International, a political organization which existed from 1919 to 1943. 

During that time, there was a civil war occuring, which shaprened Khalo’s sense of Mexican identity and history.  

Khalo was proud of her culture, like many other women, and so she began wearing traditional Indigenous Mexican peasant clothing to resemble her Mestiza ancestry  

Rivera returned from Third International in 1930, and they both moved to San Francisco, where Rivera painted on the the San Francisco Stock Exchange and the California School of Fine Arts.  

The couple was living well, being recognized by the public, and getting spoiled by clients during their stay in the city. 

Not long after, Khalo began having an affair with a Hungarian-American photographer, Nickolas Muray. 

Khalo and Rivera continued travelling around various parts of America, and getting more noticed as the time passed.  

By the 1930s, Khalo was already being interviewed by the press, impressing journalists with her fluency in English and stating that she was the greater artist of the two of them:  

"Of course he [Rivera] does well for a little boy, but it is I who am the big artist" 

— Frida Kahlo in interview with the Detroit News, 2 February 1933 

Eventually the couple moved to Detroit in 1933, which was a difficult time for Khalo. 

 She despised the way American society lived and found them “boring”, specifically disliking speaking to capialists, since she did not like the idea of having individuals with their own firms and performing industrial and mechanical developements, while there were thousands of people who were suffering and barely surviving.   

“My Dress Hangs There” (1933) 

Frida made this to represent how she portrayed America and it’s capitalism. The dress shows how she longed to go back to her homeland of Mexico. 

During 1933, Khalo was also complicated by a pregnancy. She tried to preform an abortion with a doctor, but it failed, eventually having a miscarrige in July. And three months later, Khalo’s mother had died from complications from surgery.  

In the same year, although Rivera wished to continue staying in the U.S, Khalo wanted to return to Mexico, and so they did. 

Rivera’s and Khalo’s marrige was starting to fall apart. Rivera blamed Khalo for their return to Mexico, and at the time he was cheating on her with Cristina, Khalo’s younger sister, which deeply hurt her.  

she discovered the affair in 1935, she no longer lived with Rivera and started to consider divorcing him, and while doing so, she was also having an affair with an American artist, Isamu Noguchi. 

In 1935 Rivera and Khalo re-united, despite both continuing their infidelities. 

“The two Fridas” (1939)  

Completed shortly after her divorce with Diego Rivera. This painting shows two versions of Khalo, both having exposed hearts, which symbolize vulnerability and emotional pain, reflecting on her desperation and loneliness from her separation with Rivera  

Khalo resumed her political activities, even joining the Fourth International in 1936, another political organization, and helped republicans in the Spanish Civil War. 

She also ended up opening an exhibition in Paris and then travelled back to Mexico City, where Rivera asked her to file for divorce in November 1939, but they remained close friends. 

Khalo continued working on her art, improving her techniques and performed more exhibitions. 

On August 21, 1940, Leon Trotsky, a Russian revolutionary, Soviet politician and political theorist, was killed in Coyoacán. Frida Kahlo, who in 1937 had a short affair with him, was detained alongside her sister for a short time, but freed after only 2 days. The following month, she traveled to San Francisco for medical care because her health had worsened after her divorce and had been aggravated by her alcoholism.  

Diego Rivera was in San Francisco as well, having escaped Mexico after Trotsky's death. Although Kahlo had another short affair with a different man, she and Rivera made amends and remarried on December 8, 1940. They once again moved to La Casa Azul, although Rivera maintained his studio apartment. Their relationship grew more stable, yet both still engaged in affairs.  

Kahlo’s health was fragile during the 1940s. She needed various kinds of corsets for back support and managed infections and syphilis. The passing of her father in 1941 intensified her depression. Primarily within La Casa Azul, she sought comfort in nurturing her home and enjoying moments with pets and guests. Her condition deteriorated to the extent that she was unable to sit or stand for an extended period. Her artwork created during this period conveys her suffering and emotional challenges.  

Khalo’s hand painted plaster casts used to treat her back issues. She would draw tigers, monkeys, revolutionary symbols and even the car that collided with her when she was 18. 

“Tree of Hope Remain Strong” (1946) 

Between 1950 and 1954, Kahlo had additional surgeries and spent most of her time in bed. She reentered the Communist Party and stayed politically engaged as long as her health permitted. In 1953, gangrene caused the amputation of her right leg, resulting in severe depression and an attempt at suicide. In her journal, she conveyed persistent anguish and hopelessness. 

Kahlo passed away on July 13, 1954, at the age of 47. While it is officially stated that the cause was a pulmonary embolism, some suspect that it was suicide resulting from an overdose of painkillers. She talked about death, created sketches of skeletons, and wrote a concluding note: “I eagerly anticipate the departure – and I wish never to come back.”  

Her remains rested beneath a Communist flag at the Palacio de Bellas Artes and were cremated the following day. Rivera, heartbroken by her passing, passed away three years afterward. Kahlo’s ashes currently lie in a pre-Columbian urn at La Casa Azul, transformed into a museum in 1958 

Frida Kahlo is known today as one of the most important artists of the 20th century. Her art started standing out more after her death, in the 1970s, influenced by feminist and Chicano movements. Significant occurrences such as exhibitions and the popular 1983 biography by Hayden Herrera boosted her international recognition.  

In 1984, Mexico proclaimed her artworks as national heritage, and her paintings started setting auction records. Her likeness and life narrative is referred to as "Fridamania”, and influenced fashion, cinema (such as the 2002 movie Frida), and various products. She turned into an icon for feminists, the LGBTQ+ community, and underrepresented groups. Researchers observe that her fame frequently eclipses her true artistic creations, reducing her intricate legacy to mere personal suffering and hardship.  

Her life has been extensively honored through museums (such as La Casa Azul), parks, stamps, and cultural recognitions including ballets, operas, novels, and visual artwork. Although her narrative has motivated numerous individuals, critics warn about the excessive commercialization and mythologizing of her character, cautioning that it may warp public perception of her genuine artistic and historical importance. 

“La Casa Azul” was the house where Frida and Rivera lived while they were together from 1929-1954. Now it has become a museum. 

One of the documentaries made about Frida Khalo. 

“The Last Dream of Frida and Diego.” 

A visually rich opera and ballet about Frida Khalo and Diego Rivera 2023, L.A. 

Sources:  

1. Wikipedia contributors. (2025, March 29). Frida Kahlo. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frida_Kahlo#1934%E2%80%931949:_La_Casa_Azul_and_declining_health 

2. Frida Kahlo: Her iconic life and artwork in Mexico. (2025, March 18). Sonya Winner Vibrant Contemporary Rugs. https://sonyawinner.com/blog/frida-kahlo-her-iconic-life-and-artwork-in-mexico/ 

3. Miranda, C. A. (2023, December 9). An opera about Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera is visually rich - Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles Times. https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/newsletter/2023-12-09/l-a-operas-el-ultimo-sueno-de-frida-y-diego-revisits-the-story-of-arts-viral-power-couple-essential-arts-arts-culture