July 6, 1907. The great surrealist painter was born Magdalena Carmen Frida Kahlo Caldern at Coyoacn, Mexico. In 1925 she endured severe injuries in a bus accident that would plague her for the rest of her life (and become artistic subject matter). She turned to art at about this time, encouraged by the master muralist Diego Rivera, whom she married in 1929 (and 1941).
She is known almost as much for her tumultuous life (she had an affair with Soviet exile Leon Trotsky and was active in leftist politics) as for her vibrant art works filled with symbols and the flora and fauna of her beloved Mexico. She was one of the first women painters to sell a work to the Louvre. She died at her Casa Azul family home in Coyoacn on July13, 1954.
Image Credit: Martinica.ferrara, CC by-SA 4.0
