On July 6th, 1907, Mexican portrait artist, Frida Kahlo was born in Coyoacan, Mexico.
Kahlo started her artistic journey after a near-fatal bus accident that led her to have roughly 30 surgeries over the rest of her life. During her recovery, Kahlo began painting and made some of her most well-known, earliest paintings, like Self-Portrait Wearing a Velvet Dress (1926.)
Her paintings can be characterized by the bold colors she utilizes, as well as her incorporation of Mexican folklore elements and culture. Painting herself in traditional Mexican garments, Kahlo’s paintings were also distinct because of her stoic stare that was in most of her self-portraits.
She was well known for her portrait and self-reflective paintings that tackled subjects like the human body, death, Mexican culture, and gender.
Kahlo’s art is often categorized as surrealism, although Kahlo was a firm denier that her art was surrealist. Many of her real-life events can be seen in her paintings, such as her health struggles or her turbulent marriage to muralist Diego Rivera.