FELIZ CUPLIANOS, FRIDA

Today is Frida Kahlo's birthday. She would have been 102 years old. She remains one of the greatest painters of all time by any measure: She changed painting as a Mexican, as a woman, and as a Modernist. She was famously married, divorced, and married to the great muralist, Diego Rivera. She was also noted for being the lover of men and women alike. including Leon Trotsky.

She was forced to spend most of her life in a body cast or corset due to a trolley accident she suffered in her teens years in Mexico City. She endured multiple painful surgeries on her spine, and suffered miscarriage.

Her painting endure as masterpieces in museums around the world surpassed only perhaps by the vitality and spirit that was her actual person.

Her last painting, Viva la Vida! Long live life.

Te amo, Frido.


Here she is, lovely, brave, and baring her body and soul, as photographed by New York art dealer, Julien Levy (1938):