Frida Kahlo - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Overview

Frida Kahlo de Rivera was a Mexican painter

Mexican art

Mexican art consists of the various visual and plastic arts which developed over the geographical area now known as Mexico. The development of these arts roughly follow the history of Mexico, divided into the Mesoamerican era, the colonial period, with the period after the gaining of Independence...

, born in Coyoacán

Coyoacán

Coyoacán refers to one of the sixteen boroughs of the Federal District of Mexico City as well as the former village which is now the borough’s “historic center.” The name comes from Nahuatl and most likely means “place of coyotes,” when the Aztecs named a pre-Hispanic village on the southern shore...

, and perhaps best known for her self-portraits.

Kahlo's life began and ended in Mexico City, in her home known as the Blue House. She gave her birth date as July 7, 1910, but her birth certificate shows July 6, 1907. Kahlo had allegedly wanted the year of her birth to coincide with the year of the beginning of the Mexican revolution so that her life would begin with the birth of modern Mexico.

Unanswered Questions

Why are Catrinas sometimes referred to as "Frida". I am trying to find out what the relationship is between Frida Kahlo and Catrinas.

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Quotations

I drank because I wanted to drown my sorrows, but now the damned things have learned to swim.

Letter to Ella Wolfe, "Wednesday 13," 1938, quoted in Frida: A Biography of Frida Kahlo by Hayden Herrera (1983) ISBN 0-06-091127-1 , p.197. In a footnote (p.467), Herrera writes that Kahlo had heard this joke from her friend, the poet José Frías.

I paint self-portraits because I am so often alone, because I am the person I know best.

Quoted in Antonio Rodríguez, "Una pintora extraordinaria," Así (1945-03-17)

I have suffered two grave accidents in my life, one in which a streetcar knocked me down... The other accident is Diego.

Quoted in Gisèle Freund, "Imagen de Frida Kahlo," Novedades (Mexico City) (1951-06-10)

They thought I was a Surrealist, but I wasn't. I never painted dreams. I painted my own reality.

Quoted in Time Magazine, "Mexican Autobiography" (1953-04-27)

I am not sick. I am broken. But I am happy to be alive as long as I can paint.

Quoted in Time Magazine, "Mexican Autobiography" (1953-04-27)

Pies, para qué los quieroSi tengo alas para volar.

Feet, what do I need them forIf I have wings to fly.

I hope the exit is joyful and I hope never to return.

Last words in her diary (July 1954)

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