Frida Kahlo

One of the most inspiring artwork (for me) is the art of Frida Kahlo.
Amazing and inspiring woman, after her accident, she turned her attention away from the study of medicine to begin a full-time painting career. Drawing on personal experiences including her troubled marriage, her painful miscarriages, and her numerous operations, Kahlo’s works are often characterized by their stark–and sometimes shocking–portrayals of pain.

Frida Kahlo (July 6, 1907 — July 13, 1954) was a Mexican painter who depicted the indigenous culture of her country in a style combining Realism, Symbolism and Surrealism. An active communist supporter, she was the wife of Mexican muralist and cubist painter Diego Rivera. Kahlo was noted for her unconventional appearance, declining to remove her facial hair (she had a small mustache and unibrow which she exaggerated in self portraits) and donning flamboyantly-styled clothing inspired by traditional Mexican dress.

On the afternoon of September 17, 1925, Frida and her friend Alex was involved in a severe Bus vs. Streetcar crash, and Frida was damaged very severely. A metal rod had made a very deep abdominal wound, and her third and fourth lumbar vertebrae were fractured. Frida had received many more wounds too, and she ended up trapped in a body cast for months.

Gallery

Online Galleries:

• Ten Dreams
• Artcyclopedia
• Online Exhibits

Books:

Ballinger, James K.Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera, and Twentieth Century Mexican Art: The Jacques and Natasha Gelman Collection . Museum of Contemporary Art, August 2000.
Hardin, Terri. Frida Kahlo: A modern Master (Art Series).
Tibol, Raquel. Frida Kahlo: Crónica, Testimonios y Aproximaciones. Mexico City: Ediciones de Cultura Popular, S.A.