Frida Kahlo (de Rivera) was the famous Mexican artist who is known as much for her association with Diego Rivera as for her own paintings, most notably her self-portraits. Born of a German Jewish father and a Mexican mother, Frida was early on moved to study medicine. The victim of a devastating bus accident when she was a teenager, Frida took to painting during her long convalescence. The resulting injuries would plague her all her life, leaving her wounded, in pain and in need of multiple surgeries, all of which conditions seeped into her paintings. Her volatile relationship with Rivera, whom she married, divorced, remarried and lived within an uncomfortable form of “open marriageâ€, was another overwhelming inspiration for her suffering-infused artwork. She died at the young age of forty-seven, and in spite of some significant recognition of her work during her lifetime, it was not until the 1980’s that she achieved the cult status she enjoys today. Embraced by feminists and art lovers alike, perhaps the best assessment of her legacy was uttered in 1938 by fellow artist Andre Breton, who called her work “a ribbon around a bombâ€.
