Frida Kahlo Timeline

Confined to bed for months after her accident, Kahlo began painting using a special easel and a mirror placed above her bed. Her first self-portrait, 'Self-Portrait in a Velvet Dress,' was completed in 1926 and marked the beginning of her artistic career.

Image source: Self-Portrait in a Velvet Dress

Kahlo accompanied Rivera to San Francisco while he worked on murals commissioned for the San Francisco Stock Exchange and the California School of Fine Arts. There she socialized with American artists and painted 'Frieda and Diego Rivera.'

During her stay in San Francisco, Kahlo painted this large portrait depicting herself and Diego Rivera holding hands. It was exhibited at the Sixth Annual Exhibition of the San Francisco Society of Women Artists, marking her first public showing in the United States.

While living in New York as Rivera worked on his Rockefeller Center mural, Kahlo grew disillusioned with industrialized America. She painted 'My Dress Hangs There,' one of her few works combining satire and social commentary rather than self-portraiture.

Kahlo held her first major solo exhibition at the Julien Levy Gallery in New York, featuring around 25 paintings. Half of the works sold, and she impressed critics and celebrities alike, including Georgia O'Keeffe and Clare Boothe Luce.

Created during her divorce, 'The Two Fridas' is a monumental double self-portrait depicting two versions of Kahlo seated side by side, connected by a shared vein. It is considered one of her most iconic and emotionally raw masterpieces.

Image source: The Two Fridas

Invited by André Breton, Kahlo traveled to Paris for an exhibition of her work. Though the show was disorganized, the Louvre purchased her painting 'The Frame,' making it the first work by a Mexican artist acquired by the museum.

In 1943 Kahlo painted 'Roots,' a self-portrait showing her reclining with vines growing from her body, symbolizing fertility and her connection to the earth. It reflects her longing for motherhood and her deep ties to Mexican soil.

Image source: Tree Roots

Kahlo accepted a teaching position at the National School of Painting and Sculpture (La Esmeralda) in Mexico City, teaching a small group of students who became known as 'Los Fridos.' She taught them unconventional methods rooted in Mexican culture and personal expression.

Kahlo won the National Prize of Arts and Sciences from the Ministry of Public Education for her painting 'Moses,' a rare formal recognition during her lifetime. The work depicted the third great moment of human history through her imaginative lens.

Despite being too ill to attend, Kahlo arrived at her first solo exhibition in Mexico by ambulance, lying on a four-poster bed installed in the gallery. She greeted guests from the bed, creating an unforgettable theatrical moment that cemented her legendary status.

Kahlo reconnected with muralist Diego Rivera through mutual friends and showed him some of her paintings. He praised her work enthusiastically and encouraged her artistic development, beginning one of the most famous artistic partnerships of the 20th century.

Image source: Diego Rivera

Kahlo married Diego Rivera, who was twenty years her senior, in a civil ceremony in Coyoacán. Their mother described the union as 'the marriage between an elephant and a dove.' The couple's turbulent relationship would include separations and infidelities on both sides.

After the exiled Soviet revolutionary Leon Trotsky and his wife took refuge in the Kahlo-Rivera household in Coyoacán, Kahlo began an affair with him. She later gifted him a self-portrait dedicated 'to Leon Trotsky with all my love.'

Image source: Leon Trotsky

Following Rivera's affair with Kahlo's younger sister Cristina, Kahlo divorced him. Devastated but artistically productive, she cut her hair and painted some of her most powerful works, including 'The Two Fridas.'

Kahlo and Rivera remarried in San Francisco, agreeing to separate finances and live largely independent lives. The second marriage proved more stable, though their relationship remained passionate and complicated until Kahlo's death.

Kahlo died at age 47 at her beloved Casa Azul in Coyoacán. Officially attributed to a pulmonary embolism, her death followed years of declining health. In her diary, her final words were: 'I hope the exit is joyful — and I hope never to return — Frida.'

Four years after Rivera's death, La Casa Azul was transformed into the Frida Kahlo Museum, preserving her belongings, artworks, and personal effects. It has since become one of Mexico City's most visited cultural attractions.

A major retrospective of Kahlo's work at the Whitechapel Gallery in London sparked renewed international interest in her art, helping transform her from a figure known mainly as Rivera's wife into a globally celebrated icon of feminism and Mexican identity.

The biographical film 'Frida,' directed by Julie Taymor and starring Salma Hayek, dramatized Kahlo's life and relationship with Rivera. The film earned six Academy Award nominations and won for Best Original Score and Best Makeup, introducing Kahlo's story to millions worldwide.

Image source: Frida (2002 film)