Frida Kahlo de Rivera was a Mexican painter who is best known for her self-portraits.
Kahlo's life began and ended in Mexico City, in her home known as the Blue House. Her work has been celebrated in Mexico as emblematic of national and indigenous tradition and by feminists for its uncompromising depiction of the female experience and form.
Mexican culture and Amerindian cultural tradition are important in her work, which has been sometimes characterized as naïve art or folk art. Her work has also been described as surrealist, and in 1938 André Breton, principal initiator of the surrealist movement, described Kahlo's art as a "ribbon around a bomb". Frida rejected the "surrealist" label; she believed that her work reflected more of her reality than her dreams.
Kahlo had a volatile marriage with the famous Mexican artist Diego Rivera. She suffered lifelong health problems, many caused by a traffic accident she survived as a teenager. Recovering from her injuries isolated her from other people, and this isolation influenced her works, many of which are self-portraits of one sort or another.
I love you more than my own skin. love
There have been two great accidents in my life. One was the trolley, and the other was Diego. Diego was by far the worst. great
I never paint dreams or nightmares. I paint my own reality. dreams
I tried to drown my sorrows, but the bastards learned how to swim, and now I am overwhelmed by this decent and good feeling. good
I paint self-portraits because I am so often alone, because I am the person I know best. alone & best