Magdalena Carmen #FridaKahlo y Calderón was a #mixed #Mexican artist known for her portraits,

Magdalena Carmen #FridaKahlo y Calderón was a #mixed #Mexican artist known for her portraits, self-portraits & works inspired by the nature & artifacts of Mexico. She employed a naïve folk art style to explore questions of identity, postcolonialism, gender, class & race in Mexican society. Her paintings often had strong autobiographical elements & mixed realism with fantasy. In addition to belonging to the post-revolutionary #Mexicayotl movement, which sought to define Mexican identity, shes been described as a surrealist or magical realist. She is also known for painting about her lifelong experience of chronic pain.

Born to a #German father & a #mestiza (#Spanish & #Indigenous) mother, she spent most of her childhood & adult life at La Casa Azul, her family home, which is now the Frida Kahlo Museum. She was #disabled by polio as a child, she had been a promising student headed for med school until being in a bus accident at 18, which caused her lifelong pain & medical problems. During her recovery, she returned to her childhood interest in art & became a painter.

Her interests in politics & art led her to join the Mexican Communist Party in 1927, where she met Mexican artist Diego Rivera. The couple married in 1929 & spent the late 1920s & early 30s travelling in Mexico & the US. Their marriage was turbulent with both having affairs & Frida being #bisexual. During this time, she developed her artistic style, drawing her main inspiration from Mexican folk culture & painted mostly small self-portraits that mixed elements from pre-Columbian & Catholic beliefs. Her paintings were noticed by Surrealist artist André Breton, who arranged for her first solo exhibition at the Julien Levy Gallery in New York in 1938; the exhibition was a success & was followed by another in Paris in 1939. At the French exhibition, the Louvre purchased a painting from her, The Frame, making her the first Mexican artist to be featured in their collection.

In the 40s, she was in exhibitions in Mexico, the US & was an art teacher but her fragile health began to decline further. Her first solo exhibition in Mexico in 1953 was her last. She passed in 1954 at 47. ️‍♿️ #whm (at Mexico)
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