Though famed Mexican artist-turned-icon with a disability, Frida Kahlo, was overshadowed by her husband Diego Rivera in her lifetime, her unusual, colorful, and confessional paintings seem to be everywhere today.

Appearing on museum walls and in books as well as videos and documentaries, many of her tormented self portraits reflect the chronic physical pain she lived with - the result of childhood polio and a streetcar accident that shattered her adolescent hip and spine. (Some historians also claim Kahlo was born with a spinal disability, possibly spina bifida.)

Self Portraits Depict Disability
Most of the 150 or so of her works still in rotation are self portraits, though only the later ones depict her in a wheelchair. Even so, Frida Kahlo’s disability was a major factor in her decision to become an artist - she spent much of life bedridden, on crutches, or in a wheelchair recovering from over 30 operations. It was during one such recovery period that she began painting with the help of a special easel.

Many people believe that Kahlo’s obsession with self portraits was a form of therapy. It seems quite plausible that her body and all that it had survived were central to many of her thoughts and experiences. But Kahlo’s fans aren’t just drawn to her art - the sum total of her controversial and torrential life is what many find so fascinating.

Love Affairs
In addition to her physical suffering, Frida Kahlo’s 25-year marriage to muralist Rivera was a stormy one (she was the third of his four wives). His womanizing led to her own numerous affairs (both with men and women); and Frida Kahlo, who was active in Mexican political causes, was in and out of the Communist Party. Noted photographer and Soviet spy Tina Modotti and Leon Trotsky were among her most infamous brood of friends and lovers.

The Dark Side of the Artist with a Disability
But, like so many disability stories that, with time, become tales of heroics instead of real reflections of a life lived hard, the dark side of Kahlo often goes missing from her biographies (and even from films about her).

For instance, some close to Kahlo speculate that many of her surgeries may not have been medically mandated and were instead attention-getting attempts, especially where Rivera was concerned. Kahlo also counted addiction to drugs and alcohol among her vices and even attempted suicide several times. She was a devout Stalin supporter and despised the very gringos who now proudly tote her image on jewelry, handbags, and more.

Remembering Frida Kahlo
Frida Kahlo’s been the subject of major art shows in New York, Houston, Seattle, and London. And she has inspired many Frida-themed books, movies, calendars, posters, pins, refrigerator magnets, a Volvo commercial, a Time magazine cover and even a U.S. postage stamp.

On the anniversary of her death each year, special exhibits pop up across the world, including at Casa Azul (the Blue House) in Mexico City where she was born, lived, loved, worked and died in 1955 at the age of 47. July 14 will mark the anniversary of her death, and Frida Kahlo appears to be maintaining her status as one of the most widely known (and revered) people with a disability, living or dead.

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