As the greatest artist of her time Frida Kahlo triumphed over a life of personal tragedy, and political chaos. Frida Kahlo, now regarded as one of the greatest artists of all time was not always viewed as such. For many years after her early death, she was completely forgotten. Her husband Diego Rivera remained and continues to be a well-known figure in the art community and enjoyed great popularity throughout his career. As a male artist Diego would never have to face the kinds of personal scrutiny that Frida would. Even in death Frida continues to have her work viewed as a personal reflection when in fact it is exponentially more complex. Even now “myths about Frida Kahlo continue to be repeated and their use as points of departure for autobiographical readings of Kahlo’s visual imagery still seems to be the common way of framing the artist” (Zetterman 3). Frida’s life, always tumultuous laid a foundation for a mind alive with a fiery passion for artistic exploration and representation. She was a master of presentation, a master at remaking her broken body into something beautiful. Frida’s work is the epitome of keeping the viewer out while letting her in, a perfect avenue to be in two places at once, and to experience all things. We now realize that Frida was indeed a very important artist, but questions remain as to why we see her in such a way. Was she simply successful because of her life’s events or because of her own groundbreaking artistic accomplishments? How far have we come in our appreciation for what she has given us, are we even capable of truly understanding her art or do we still have only a surface level understanding of it?
Frida Kahlo remained largely ignored in the art world for decades after her death in 1954. She remained not only a casualty of her own tragic life but of the tragic circumstance of a male dominated art community. Her work was not seriously studied until the early 1980s when “years of quiet study, mainly by feminist writers, were suddenly boosted by Madonna’s interest in the painter, and a $1.5 million purchase” (Winterson 1). As 2002’s “Frida” movie hit theatres “Serious art critics feared that the movie would push appreciation of Kahlo’s work further into the frustrating territory of autobiography, and away from the achievement of her art” (Winterson 1). Indeed, this was a valid concern as people had come to recognize her mono-browed image, she had become famous. As a “society obsessed with celebrities” we show a tremendous thirst to delve into the “the personal lives of those who achieve something that affects both celebrated men and women alike” (Winterson 1). There exists a disconnect from the quality of Frida’s art and her personal life. The underlying theme of Frida’s life has become her shakey personal life and not her groundbreaking works of art.

As a young woman in 1925 Frida suffered a terrible accident. While riding on a tram she was severely injured when the vehicle she was in crashed and caused a flying metal rod to become lodged in her abdomen, destroying her ability to have children. In addition to irreversible damage to her womb this accident also broke her spine, causing her to suffer from intense back pain for the rest of her life. Ultimately “she had 32 operations during her lifetime, and had to wear a steel corset to stand upright” (Winterson 2). Frida, for the duration of her life would have difficulty walking and would remain unable to properly support her own body. Her physical appearance and indeed her internal appearance were drastically altered by this event. “When Kahlo looked into death’s dark mirror, she saw herself” (Udall 1). Frida “In the act of painting and in the resulting canvases” had “documented her own attempts to survive pain, to make sense of it, to act out through images layered with fantasy, irony, and allegory” Udall 1).