Frida Kahlo de Rivera was born in a town outside Mexico City in 1907. She was born in her parents’ home that is now called Casa Azul, or Blue house, owing to its color. She had three sisters and two half-sisters from her father’s first marriage. Her father was from Germany and her mother was Mexican, indigenous and Spanish in origin.

At the age of 18, Frida was a passenger on a bus involved in a serious accident. She suffered injuries to her back, her right leg and her uterus. For the rest of her life Frida was in pain and had many operations. Also, she could never have a baby. All this caused her to suffer serious episodes of depression.

Frida first began painting during her recovery from the accident. She painted many self-portraits in bed. Her paintings show the influence of the indigenous culture of Mexico. In 1929 Kahlo married Diego Rivera, another famous artist. Their marriage was tumultuous. For example, they divorced and married again the next year! They were active communists and knew many famous  people of the time such as Leon Trotsky.

Kahlo produced at least 140 portraits before her death at the age of 47 in 1954. While not famous in her lifetime, Kahlo’s works have gained in popularity over the past three decades both in Mexico and abroad. A film of her life, Frida, was produced in 2002 with Salma Hayek in the main role.

During the 1910s Rivera was in Paris witnessing the emergence of a new art form called Cubism. Painters such as Pablo Picasso influenced his early work. Rivera returned to Mexico in 1921 and began a period of drawing large murals along with other notable artists such as José Orozco. Some of his murals depict scenes from Mexico’s 1910 revolution. They include simple figures combined with bold colors. Rivera also included Mayan and Aztec influences in his art. A number of his murals portray life in Mexico in the pre-Columbian era. Other works are more abstract and show urban landscapes, portraits and nature.

In 1929, Rivera married fellow artist and former student Frida Kahlo. Together they lived and worked in a house called “La casa azul” owing to its blue color. They were well known on the Mexican art scene and had many influential friends both in Mexico and abroad. Although their marriage was not always happy, Rivero was devastated when Frida Kahlo passed away. Rivera’s legacy is still felt today and many of his works can be found in Mexican and American museums today.