( 1907 - 1954 )
"FRIDA- a modern Mexican icon- was born in Mexico City in 1907, to a Hungarian-Jewish German father and a Spanish & Indigenous mother. Frida's life long battle with pain began at the age of six when she was stricken with polio that left her with a limp. In 1925 during her convalescence after a serious bus accident that nearly killed her, Frida painted her first self-portrait. It was the beginning of a long series in which she charted the events and emotions of her life. Frida's work had no precedent in the history of art - her paintings exalted the feminine quality of truth, reality, cruelty and suffering. What Frida described as her "second accident" was her marriage to famous Mexican Muralist Diego Rivera. Filled with love, betrayal and suffering due to Diego's endless womanizing affairs (one which included Frida's sister Christina), Frida began a series of love affairs-including one with exiled communist leader Leon Trotsky. It was only after their second marriage to eachother in San Francisco, Diego and Frida finally accepted eachother as soulmates.In 1953 when Frida Kahlo had her only solo exhibition in Mexico, a local critic wrote: 'It is impossible to separate the life and work of this extraordinary person. Her paintings are her biography.' This observation serves to explain both why her work is so different from that of her contemporaries, the Mexican Muralists, and why she has since become a feminist icon. A die hard communist-Frida's last public appearance was at a demonstration protesting the US led coup that overthrew the democratically elected Guatemalan president, Jacobo Arbenz. At her request-her coffin was drapped with the communist flag. Her last diary entry read: 'I hope the end is joyful - and I hope never to come back - Frida.'"