January - Week 1
Written 02/01/2025, Updated 03/01/2025
Who am I studying?
So, for my first artist I decided to start... basic I guess and picked probably the most famous female painter in the world - Frida Khalo!
Short biography
Well, I don't really know where to begin tbh.
She was born in Coyoacán, Mexico in 1907. She had a very mixed heritage - her father was German with Hungarian descent and her mother had Spanish and indigenous heritage.
She was in a serious accident on a bus when she was a teenager that left her bed ridden for months and is why she became an artist (she learnt to paint during this time)
She was married (twice) to Diego Rivera but both had many affairs - some of Frida's lovers were actress Josephine Baker, actress Dolores del Rio and ummm, former Soviet leader Leon Trotsky
She was chronically ill and had chronic pain for most of her life and unfortunately that likely led to her early death in 1954 when she was only 47
Why I chose her
There are many reasons I decided to start with Frida.
The first being as I mentioned earlier, she is the MOST famous female painter in the WORLD. She is probably the first person someone would say if asked 'name a female painter'
That is NOT, however, the ONLY reason I decided to choose her. The second reason is due to her subject matter; she often focused on herself and not in a flattering way. I have pretty bad body dysmorphia and really hate looking at photos of myself so a big thing I wanted to do this year for myself was to really look at myself and embrace it.
Examples of her work
