Frida Kahlo

Frida Kahlo was born on July 6, 1907 in Coyoacan, Mexico, a village not far from Mexico City. She had three sisters. They grew up in the bright blue house her father had built. Everyone called it Casa Azul. That's Spanish for blue house. It is now a museum filled with Frida's things. Frida's father was a professional photographer and an amateur painter. He taught Frida to love art.

Frida developed polio when she was six. Polio made her right leg weaker and smaller than the left. Other children made fun of her. When she was 14 her school bus was hit by a streetcar. Doctors thought she would not live because she was hurt so badly. She was determined to live and went home from the hospital after only a month. Frida started to paint in 1925 while she was recovering. She had more than thirty operations in her life. The first things she painted were her friends, her family and herself. Many of her paintings directly related to her feelings. She married Diego Rivera, a famous Mexican painter in 1929. They also say that her relationship with Diego Rivera can also be seen in her painting.

Frida died on July 13, 1954 at Casa Azul just after her 47^th birthday. In 1984 the Mexican government declared her work part of the national heritage of Mexico.

2000, by Majella, fourth grade