Frida Kahlo - Artist Biography

Frida Kahlo was among the last century's most important and controversial artists. Kahlo is often held up as one of the most important women in art, as well as a political, social, and feminist icon. In fact, many people lose site of the art that Kahlo produced amidst the commentary on her social importance and a sometimes prurient interest in the details of her rather public "private" life.

Kahlo was born in 1907 in Mexico, and her early life was haunted by disease and pain. At the age of 18, Kahlo was in a trolley accident that left her immobilized for months. This is when Kahlo began painting, including several of what were to become her trademark self portraits. (Most of her over 150 known canvases are, in fact, images of Kahlo herself.) When she met political muralist Diego Rivera, Kahl
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