In our ongoing series #WomenThatDid, ENTITY profiles inspirational and famous women in history whose impact on our world can still be felt today. If you have a suggestion for a historical powerhouse you would like to see featured, tweet us with the hashtag #WomenThatDid.
Frida Kahlo
July 6, 1907 – July 13, 1954
Frida Kahlo was a Mexican painter, most well known for her self portraits. She infused elements of Mexican culture and tradition into her paintings and fashion style.
Kahlo’s early life was plagued by illness and injury. At six she contracted Polio, which left her right leg weak. To strengthen it, she joined many sports teams that were generally reserved for boys.
When Kahlo turned 18, she was riding a bus that collided with a trolley car. She suffered from a broken spinal column, other injuries, and was impaled by an iron handrail that made it impossible for her to carry a pregnancy to term.
Throughout her recovery, Kahlo required 35 separate surgeries that allowed her to walk gain, but left her in pain for the rest of her life. While confined to a hospital bed, she began painting, and decided she was good enough that she no longer needed to study medicine.
Throughout her career, Kahlo produced 140 paintings, 55 of which were self portraits. She was the first 20th-century Mexican painter to have a painting purchased by the Louvre.
Kahlo’s work was largely unappreciated during her lifetime, and it wasn’t until biographers began reporting about her life that her work was being featured in galleries. She set an auction record for a sale price of $5.6 million, the most ever spent on a Latin American work.
Kahlo was unapologetic about her self-portraits, saying, “I paint myself because I am so often alone and because I am the subject I know best.”
