“I am my own muse, the subject I know best.” -Frida Kahlo./span>

muralism

Although Kahlo took some drawing classes, she was more interested in science, and in 1922 she entered the National Preparatory School in Mexico City with an interest in eventually studying medicine. During her slow recovery, Kahlo taught herself to paint, and she read frequently, studying the art of the Old Masters.

Despite the harsh gender equality of the 1900s, Kahlo was honest about being a woman. And that is what that puts her, even now, at the forefront of being a feminist. Never once did she hide, cower or expect to be shielded from the harsh realities of her life. She refused to alter her features./span>

‘I paint self-portraits because I am so often alone, because I am the person I know best. Within a year of her accident, Frida had painted her first mature painting, Self-Portrait in a Velvet Dress. Painting became a way to communicate her pain – both physical and emotional – as well as her joy./span>

She was an early pioneer of the feminist exploration into sexuality and the gray area between what constitutes “maleness” as opposed to “femaleness”. Throughout her work and life, Frida Kahlo cemented herself as a feminist icon, forged in the unlikely crucible of Mexican culture, with its rigid marianismo expectations.

Frida Kahlo has become an icon of the people because of her unique personality and her multifaceted life. She has become a standard-bearer for women’s inner strength, for a love of Mexico and its culture, and for courage in the face of adversity. Above all, she was a genuine woman who was true to her convictions.

Who Was Frida Kahlo? Artist Frida Kahlo was considered one of Mexico’s greatest artists who began painting mostly self-portraits after she was severely injured in a bus accident. Kahlo later became politically active and married fellow communist artist Diego Rivera in 1929.

As Kahlo’s birthplace, childhood residence, and place of death, La Casa Azul played a prominent role in the artist’s life. Today, it is known as the Frida Kahlo Museum, an institution that proudly “preserves the personal objects that reveal the private universe of Latin America’s most celebrated woman artist.”/span>

In Mexico City lay a bright blue house that physically displays the colorful life Frida Kahlo left behind. The blue color of the house was later known to represent her admiration for the indigenous people of Mexico. It had a surface area of 800 square meters and sits on a 1,200 square meter lot.

Arturo Lomelí

Day Bedroom Frida actually had two different bedrooms built for her in this space. A daytime bed and a night time bed. As the names suggest, one was made for sleeping, the other, for her to lie in while she convalesced. Frida’s bedroom was left much as it was the day she died./span>

This wing’s walls which face the courtyard are decorated with marine shells and mirrors. There are also sculptures by Mexican artist MardonioMagaña. One side of the courtyard is the following inscription “Frida y Diego / vivieron en / esta casa / 1929-1954” (Frida and Diego lived in this house – 1929-1954).

The Casa Azul – or Blue House – at 247 Calle de Londres has opened its doors for all to roam on a 360-degree virtual tour that lets you explore both her preserved living quarters and the galleries that make up the Frida Kahlo Museum./span>

At the age of 18, Frida Kahlo was injured in a bus accident which sent a handrail through her back and out of her pelvis. The crash crushed her foot and dislocated her shoulder. Her collarbone, two ribs, and one leg were broken.

She is so passionate about her culture that her main goal in her life was to have an exhibition of her art in Mexico. She had traveled to other countries displaying her art, but it is Mexico when she receives all the gratification for her work and this makes her very happy.