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Key facts about Frida Kahlo

A cartoon portrait of Frida Kahlo. She is wearing black and has pink flowers in her hair.

Frida Kahlo was a Mexican artist. She was born in 1907 in Mexico City and died in 1954.

She created many in her lifetime and they are some of her most famous artworks. They often tell us something about what she was feeling and what was happening in her life at that time.

Frida Kahlo had a lot of illnesses in her lifetime. When she was six years old, she found out she had an illness called polio.

A cartoon portrait of Frida Kahlo. She is wearing black and has pink flowers in her hair.
Pink and yellow cartoon roses.

When she was 18 years old she was injured when a bus that she was travelling on crashed.

Frida had to stay in bed to heal, and her mother brought her an which allowed her to paint in bed.

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Watch: Who was Frida Kahlo?

Learn more about the life and work of Frida Kahlo

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Frida Kahlo's life

A photo of the front of Kahlo's house, which is a bright blue with a bright green door and windows and a small tree in front of it.
Image caption,
The Frida Kahlo Museum

Frida Kahlo was born and grew up in The Blue House, in Mexico City. It is now the Frida Kahlo Museum.

Frida loved this house and made each part look like a work of art, with colours, objects and patterns.

A cartoon portrait of Frida Kahlo. She is wearing bright blue and has pink flowers in her hair.

Frida is also well-known for having a bright and colourful sense of fashion.

She loved to wear traditional Mexican clothes and big colourful jewellery. Her hair was often decorated with scarves and ribbons.

Maybe you could make a self-portrait wearing your favourite outfit?

A cartoon portrait of Frida Kahlo. She is wearing bright blue and has pink flowers in her hair.
A photo showing four very colourful cushions with Kahlo's face on them, and cushion covers lined up in front of them.

Frida Kahlo, her style and art are so popular that it is possible to buy all sorts of products with her face on them. Socks, bags, cushions, notepads and many more items can be seen in shops around the world.

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Activity

Frida loved her home country of Mexico. Día de Muertos, also known as Day of the Dead is a big celebration in Mexico. It happens in November and is a joyful time to remember people that are no longer with us. During the festivities, skeletons are decorated and paraded as part of the celebrations.

Twelve different skeleton heads decorated in bright colours and patterns for Dia de Muertos.

You could have a go at drawing and decorating skeletons like the ones below, using bright colours and patterns. You could even make a mask by cutting out eye holes.

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Did you know?

A photo of the Mexican 500 peso note, with Kahlo's portrait printed on it.
Image caption,
A photo of the Mexican 500 peso note, with Kahlo's portrait printed on it
  • Frida Kahlo and one of her artworks - called The Love Embrace of the Universe, the Earth (Mexico), Myself, Diego, and Señor Xolotl - appears on one side of the 500 peso (Mexican currency) note.
  • In her lifetime, Frida painted around 142 paintings, and 55 were self-portraits.
  • Frida Kahlo is considered to be one of the surrealist painters, in the same group as artists like Salvador Dali and Rene Magritte. She did not think of herself as one though.
A photo of the Mexican 500 peso note, with Kahlo's portrait printed on it.
Image caption,
A photo of the Mexican 500 peso note, with Kahlo's portrait printed on it
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Frida Kahlo factfile

Date of birth 6 July 1907. Place of birth Mexico City, Mexico. Type of art surrealism. Known for self-portraits.
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Quiz

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