Magdalena Carmen FRIDA KAHLO y Calderón

A Brief GenealogyGuillermo Kahlo

Father, born Carl Wilhelm Kahlo in Pforzheim,

Germany. Ancestry debated between Jewish/Hungarian

and German Lutheran. Sailed to Mexico in 1891

and changed his name to its Spanish equivalent. He later married Frida’s mother after

the death of his first wife. She is his Third daughter.

A Brief GenealogyMatilde Calderon y GonzalezMother, devout catholic of

indigenous Mexican and Spanish descent. She was born in Mexico

city to her Mother Isabel Gonzalez y Gonzalez from the family of a Spanish General and Her father, Antonio Gonzalez of Indigenous “Indian” descent. She shortly

married Guillermo Kahlo after the death of his first wife in childbirth. The unhappy marriage provided fuel behind Frida’s “coming into”

art.

Frida’s Childhood- Born in 1907, Frida Kahlo was 3

years old at the beginning of the Mexican Revolution.

- At age 6, She contracted Polio.- In 1922, she enrolled at the

Preparatoria (Mexico’s Premiere school)

- She boxed and other sports during her childhood

- At the Preparatoria, she joined a gang and fell in love with the leader: Alejandro Gomez Arias

The Accident & The BeginningIn 1925, Frida Kahlo was in a bus

accident that put a pole through her spine. This resulted in long term

hospitalization and numerous major surgeries. As a way to display her pain,

she began to paint.

“Two Fridas”

Facts

Two Fridas (1939)Oil on Canvas, 68 ¼ x 68 in1. This painting was completed shortly after her divorce.2. One is the traditional Frida in Tehuana costume, with a broken heart, sitting next to an independent, modern dressed Frida3. The stormy sky filled with agitated clouds reflect Frida's inner turmoil

“The Bus”

FactsThe Bus (1929)Oil on Canvas, 21 x 10 in1. This painting is a depiction of the scene

minutes prior to Frida’s horrifying bus accident.

2. In the painting, people from different classes are painted as passengers to represent the class differences at that time.

3. The boy is looking out the window at a shop called “La Risa” (the laugh) as a part of Frida’s dark sense of humor.

“Without Hope”

Facts

Without Hope (1945)Oil on Canvas, 11 x 14 in1. The painting represents being force fed as prescribed by her doctor in the hospital.2. The wooden structure used to hold her canvas but now holds her pain.3. The sun and the moon in the background represents the Mexican landscape

Personal Life

Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera were married in 1929, divorced in 1940, and then married again that same year. They had a very strange relationship and at one point during Frida’s life Diego slept with her sister. Both Frida and Diego had numerous affairs through their marriage but held a strange respect and understanding with each other. They were often referred as the beauty and the beast.

“Nothing is worth more than laughter. It is strength to laugh and to abandon oneself, to be light. Tragedy is the most ridiculous thing.”- Frida Kahlo