Artist Frida Kahlo was born Magdalena Carmen Frida Kahlo y Calderón on July 6, 1907, in Coyocoán, Mexico, although in later years she claimed to have been born on July 7, 1910, to coincide with the start of the Mexican Revolution. Kahlo contracted polio at age six, which caused her right leg to grow much thinner than the left; she attempted to hide it by wearing pants and long skirts. Kahlo originally planned to become a doctor. She was one of the only girls to be admitted into Mexico’s prestigious National Preparatory School and was active in political and intellectual circles. However, her life changed drastically on September 17, 1925, when a bus she was riding on was struck by a trolley car. Kahlo suffered severe injuries that would affect her for the rest of her life. She was confined to bed for the next several months and spent most of this time painting. Kahlo met Mexican muralist Diego Rivera in 1928. Kahlo showed him her work and Rivera encouraged her to continue painting. They began to date, and even though Kahlo’s mother didn’t approve of the relationship, they wed in a civil ceremony at the town hall in Coyoacán on August 21, 1929. In 1930, Kahlo and Rivera left Mexico for a three-­‐year trip to the United States, visiting San Francisco, New York City and Detroit. Kahlo preferred the glamour of New York City and referred to Detroit as a “shabby old village.” She disliked the social divides in the United States and longed to be back in Mexico. Rivera and Kahlo lived in Detroit for just under a year from 1932 to 1933 while Rivera worked on the Detroit Industry murals. Kahlo painted sporadically with dramatic results and forged a new voice as an artist. In her lifetime, Kahlo experienced multiple pregnancy losses because of her injuries from the bus accident. However, out of these losses came inspiration. One of Kahlo’s most well-­‐known paintings, Henry Ford Hospital, was created after suffering a pregnancy loss in July 1932 during her time in Detroit. Kahlo and Rivera’s marriage was both passionate and intense. They supported each other as artists and intellectuals and they shared political beliefs. They were also strong-­‐minded and stubborn. They loved each other, but both had extramarital affairs throughout their relationship. In 1939, they divorced, but remarried a year later. In October 1938, Kahlo traveled to New York for her first solo exhibition at the Julien Levy Gallery. She put 25 of her paintings on exhibit and half of them sold. The highest price was set at $600. After that, Kahlo participated in several exhibitions that took place in Paris, New York and Mexico. She finally came into her own as an artist. In the last years of her life, Kahlo’s health declined drastically. She had spinal problems, pneumonia and gangrene in her right leg that led to an amputation. Kahlo died on July 13, 1954, in the same house that she was born in 47 years earlier. ###