Magdalena Carmen Frieda Kahlo de Rivera, most commonly known as Frida Kahlo, was a 20th-century, Mexican, surrealist painter who inspired the imagination of various artists around the world. Frieda was known for being the first female artist to rebel against the principles of art to explore her psyche, as well as for her tumultuous marriage with the muralist, Diego Rivera.
Kahlo was first born in 1907 in Coyoacán, Mexico, to a German father and a Mexican mother. As a child, she suffered from Polio, leaving her with a limp. The painter was incredibly close to her father, a photographer, whom she frequently assisted in the studio – the place where she acquired a sharp eye for detail. However, Kahlo was especially interested in science and set out to become a doctor at the National Preparatory School in Mexico City, where she met Rivera, who was working on a mural for the school's auditorium.
In 1925, she was involved in a bus accident, resulting in multiple fractures in her body. While in recovery, Kahlo taught herself to paint, where she created "Self-Portrait Wearing a Velvet Dress", depicting herself in a fairly abstract manner, while adding concepts of realism. This painting was believed to have been her first professional painting and also the starting point of her career as an artist.
After her recovery, she would meet Rivera once more, and the couple would marry in 1929. Despite their mutual opinions, their marriage would be one of infidelity, which would result in the couple's divorce in 1939. Nonetheless, they would later remarry and would move into Frida's childhood home La Casa Azul, which is now a museum dedicated to her life.
The artist died in 1954, at the age of 47; the official explanation being due to an embolism of the lung, yet many believe it was a consequence of a painkiller overdose.
Nowadays, Frieda's works are displayed all over the world. As of the 1st of February until the 30th of April, the exhibition "Frida Kahlo - A Vida de um Ícone" is available in São Paulo, an immersive biography that offers visitors a journey through the life of one of the most influential artists of all time.
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