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Birth
Magdalena Carmen Frida Kahlo y Calderón was born on July 6, 1907 in Coyoacán, then a village on the outskirts of Mexico City. -
Early Childhood
When Kahlo was six years old, she contracted polio, which made her right leg shorter and thinner than the left. The illness forced her to be isolated from her peers for months, and she became bullied. -
Education
Kahlo attended kindergarten and early grades in Coyoacan, was homeschooled from 5th through 6th grade, and was then enrolled in a German school. After being expelled for disobedience, she briefly attended a vocational teachers school.Her parents took her out of the school when she embarked on an affair with one of her teachers. -
Bus Accident
Kahlo and Gómez Arias were on their way home from school when the wooden bus they were riding collided with a streetcar. Several people were killed, and Kahlo suffered nearly fatal injuries—an iron handrail impaled her through her pelvis, fracturing the bone. She also fractured several ribs, her legs, and a collarbone.She spent a month in the hospital and two months recovering at home, before being able to return to work to cover her medical expenses. -
Frida Meets The Love of Her Life
in June 1928, Kahlo was introduced to Diego Rivera, one of Mexico's most successful artists. They had met briefly in 1922, when he was painting a mural at her school. Shortly after their introduction in 1928, Kahlo asked him to judge whether her paintings showed enough talent for her to pursue a career as an artist. -
Frida's New Style
Early in 1929, Kahlo changed her artistic style, beginning to draw inspiration increasingly from Mexican folk art. Kahlo also began wearing traditional indigenous Mexican peasant clothing to emphasize her mestiza ancestry: long and colorful skirts, elaborate headdresses and masses of jewelry. She especially favored the dress of women from the allegedly matriarchal society, who had come to represent "an authentic and indigenous Mexican cultural heritage" in post-revolutionary Mexico. -
1931-1933: Frida Travels to The U.S.
The time spent in San Francisco were a productive period for Kahlo, who further developed the folk art style she had adopted in Cuernavaca. In addition to painting portraits of several new acquaintances, she made Frida and Diego Rivera (1931), a double portrait based on their wedding photograph. -
1950–1954: Last years and death
Kahlo's right leg was amputated at the knee due to gangrene in August 1953. She became severely depressed, and after hearing that Rivera was having yet another affair, attempted suicide by overdose. On the night of July 12, 1954, Kahlo had high fever and was in pain. At approximately 6 a.m. on July 13, 1954, she was found dead in her bed by her nurse. Kahlo was 47 years old. Due to the lack of autopsy and her previous suicide attempt, it is argued that Kahlo in fact committed suicide.
