Happy Birthday to Frida Kahlo 1907
Frida Kahlo began her wildly imaginative, tragic, ingenious life on July 6, 1907 in Coyoacán, Mexico. Kahlo’s grandfather was a Hungarian Jewish immigrant and her mother was Hispanic-Native American. Her father recognized and encouraged her iconoclastic nature and intellectual curiosity. Kahlo suffered terribly from physical ailments: polio as a child, a horrific streetcar accident in 1922 that forced her to be bed ridden for months at a time, and several miscarriages during her marriage to Diego Rivera. During these dark times she began to paint, producing dazzling and sometimes disturbing portraits of herself and her friends, hued in mythology and allegory. Friend of the famous, her admirers were legion, and she was the “It” girl of the early 20th century, persisting through a difficult life with humor, intelligence and brilliance.
Frida Kahlo comenzó su vida tremendamente imaginativa, trágica e ingeniosa el 6 de julio de 1907 en Coyoacán, México. El abuelo de Kahlo era un inmigrante judío húngaro y su madre era hispanoamericana. Su padre reconoció y alentó su carácter iconoclasta y su curiosidad intelectual. Kahlo sufría terriblemente de dolencias físicas: polio cuando era niña, un terrible accidente de tranvía en 1922 que la obligó a permanecer en cama durante meses seguidos y varios abortos espontáneos durante su matrimonio con Diego Rivera. Durante estos tiempos oscuros comenzó a pintar, produciendo retratos deslumbrantes y a veces inquietantes de ella y sus amigos, matizados en mitología y alegoría. Amiga de los famosos, sus admiradores eran legión, y ella era “La Chica It” de principios del siglo XX, persistiendo en una vida difícil con humor, inteligencia y brillantez.