Frida Kahlo: Background and history
Frida was born in 1907, in a Mexican village just outside the city. As a child, she
spent a lot of time alone, drawing, whilst her siblings played amongst each other.
Her mother was Mexican, of Native American and Spanish descent, and her father
was of Hungarian descent. Throughout her career in art, Frida Kahlo often
explored this background and her own identity. She liked to depict her heredity as
binary opposites, being the indigenous Mexican side and the colonial European
side.
At six years old, Frida spent some time recovering from polio, which caused her to
be left with a leg support for walking due to the damage. During this period of
illness, her father educated her on photography.
Frida was then involved in a traffic accident at eighteen years old, which left her
with further injuries such as broken ribs, collarbone, leg, pelvis, shoulder, foot, and
spine. After many operations and three months in a full-body cast, she used
drawing as her main pastime.
Frida’s scope of vision was limited from where she lay in bed, so she requested a
mirror be placed on the ceiling over her. This way, she could see herself and draw
and paint lots of self-portraits.