Frida as a child
Frida was born at 8:30 in the morning on July 6, 1907 in Coyoacán. Her family registered her as Magdalena del Carmen Frida Kahlo Calderón. She was the daughter of Matilde Calderón and Guillermo Kahlo.
-
ANIMALARIUM
Animals are a fundamental part of Frida’s work.
The artist represents them with anthropomorphic characteristics.CHANGUITO (Little Monkey)
Frida had two spider monkeys as pets. They were called “Fulang Chang " and “Caimito de Guayabal ".
DEER
Frida had a deer as a pet, called "Granizo", which means “hail ".
PARROT
"Bonito" was the name of Frida's amazon parrot.
DOVE
When Frida married Diego Rivera, her family referred to it as the union between the dove and the elephant.
TOAD - FROG
One of Diego Rivera's nicknames was "Toad – frog", with which he used to sign his drawings and letters.
XOLOITZCUINTLE
Mr. Xolot was one of Frida's dogs, a Xoloitzcuintle, a hairless primitive dog worshipped by the Aztecs.
LIBÉLULA
Editaspis rerum ut fugiae volestiam aut ut optiate tusandit is explatur, cus esequam rae ni aut ad magnis apicae
Guillermo Kahlo
Carl Wilhelm Kahlo, Frida's father, was born in Germany on 26th October 1871. Once settled in Mexico, he changed his name to Guillermo and opened a photo studio. For Frida, her father's photographs were a great inspiration for her paintings.
Diego Rivera
Diego and Frida made an incomparable duo and their relationship was full of highs and lows. Diego Rivera was a driving force in Frida's rise as a painter, as well as in the creation of spaces such as The Blue House, now a museum, and an iconic place in Frida’s life and work.
Frida and Trotsky
Within the historical context in which artists and intellectuals were associated with the writings of Marx and Engels, Frida was a militant of the Communist Party and she had a strong political ideology. As a friend of Trotsky and his wife, Natalia Sedova, Frida hosted them at The Blue House when Diego Rivera granted them political asylum in Mexico.
Pablo Picasso
Frida Kahlo and Picasso met in Paris, where they shared everyday scenarios as contemporary artists. It is known that Frida fascinated Picasso, who usually showed no admiration for anyone. He mentioned his amazement at Frida's introspective capacity when painting the eyes of her subjects. The famous Spanish artist clearly expressed the great appreciation he had for the Mexican painter, with his words to Diego Rivera still well known: "Neither you nor I paint eyes as she does.""
-
Your Botticelli
"Self Portrait in a Velvet Dress" was one of the painter's first self-portraits and one of the few works in which Frida is not dressed in traditional Mexican clothing. The background, with sea waves and the details of the dress, suggests an Art Nouveau reference. Frida signed the artwork as "Your Botticelli", referring to the admiration she felt for the renaissance painter.
