I’ve been intrigued by Frida’s artwork and life since my late twenties. She was a Mexican painter who was mostly known for her self portraits. At the age of 18, she was injured in a bus accident that sent a handrail through her back and out of her pelvis. The crash crushed her foot and dislocated her shoulder. This unfortunate event changed her life forever. Although it was a large cross to bear her condition became her inspiration. She used pain and suffering as fuel to paint morbid and macabre paintings, she was her own muse. Her works focused on death, decay, and the human body.

Frida painted what was real to her, experiences, pain, inner turmoil, she was completely raw and unapologetic. She once said “They thought I was a Surrealist, but I wasn’t. I never painted dreams. I painted my own reality”. Nothing stopped her from expressing herself. In constant pain, unable to carry a child, problems with her leg and having to live with a corset so that she could sit and stand straight didn't stop her.

Her paintings say it all! She got deep and personal, you could see what she was experiencing through her paintings. When her marriage fell apart she painted herself with the Cropped Hair title of her work from 1940. You can say that her paintings were also her diary. If you look at her work in date order you can start to understand the events that changed her life. Besides writing you’ll find paintings that were very personal to her. If you want a peek into her soul, read her diary. She painted because she was lonely and was the subject she knew best.

I believe that so many artists and people relate to Frida today because she was a fighter. Life is a battle, and Frida fought and lived her life as she wanted to live it. She left behind a huge legacy.

If you would like to know more about my inspiration for Frida Kahlo, and how her exhibition in Nashville inspired my art, click here