'Artist, activist, inspiration': Your birthday messages for Frida Kahlo (2024)

'Artist, activist, inspiration': Your birthday messages for Frida Kahlo (1)

Ashitha Nagesh

  • Published

We asked people to tell us what the Mexican artist means to them

Frida badges, Frida pillows, Frida Barbie dolls…

Yes, everyone is in love with Frida Kahlo – and today would have been her birthday. Frida was born on 6 July, 1907, which means that she would been 111 years young.

But we get to have a two-day party – as she later changed her birthday, external to 7 July, 1910, which was the first day of the Mexican Revolution.

Frida-mania has really blown up in recent decades, particularly among young women (and, bemusingly, Theresa May, external). Her monobrow and flower crowns have, for better or for worse, become the most recognisable things about her.

In fact, plastering Frida’s face all over merch' is so common that there’s even a name for it: “Fridolatry, external”.

Many people consider this pretty ironic, given that she was a lifelong communist activist who would probably balk at the widespread commercialisation of her image (she's also said to have had a hot affair with Leon Trotsky, external, and one of her final paintings was a portrait of Stalin, external, in case there was any doubt about her political leanings).

But beyond her face being printed on T-shirts, Frida has become an icon in a lot of different ways.

She was a feminist who was fiercely proud of her Mexican culture. And when André Breton, the founder of the Surrealist movement in Europe, declared her a “Natural Surrealist”, she rejected the term.

Surrealism was, at the time, seen as predominantly a male, European movement –and applying the label of Surrealism to Frida's work was Breton's way of legitimising her art. This was something Frida –who was proud of both her womanhood and her Mexican identity –didn't want. She didn't want to be characterised as an artist on terms that would make her more palatable to a European audience.

Frida was also a disability pioneer. She survived polio as a child, an illness that left her permanently disabled. It resulted in her having one leg significantly smaller than the other, and also meant that she wore what might be the most baller prosthetic leg we’ve ever seen.

Then she was also involved in a bus crash in Mexico City when she was 18, an accident that almost killed her. But it was during her recovery period that she picked up her father’s paintbrushes and started making art.

Frida was also proudly bisexual. She had an affair with the French artist and performer Josephine Baker while in Paris for an exhibition of her work at the Louvre, and the couple made no secret of their relationship, external – despite the world being hostile to bisexual and gay people in the early 20th century.

So it’s no surprise that she’s such an inspiration to so many people – and not just those who think her exotic pets and monobrow look cool on tote bags.

We asked people who’ve been inspired in some way by Frida to send in their birthday messages for her.

Laura Bates, founder of Everyday Sexism

“Happy birthday, Frida. Thank you for your voice, your bravery, your legacy. Thank you for refusing to accept the stereotypes society attempted to force upon you. Thank you for showing us what female rage, talent, self-insight, and wisdom look like. Thank you for inspiring millions of us to find our own voices and to speak out, too.”

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Will Gompertz, BBC Arts and Entertainment Editor

“It’s a good day to celebrate marvellous Frida: artist, activist, inspiration.”

In a BBC Arts review, Willexplained the significance of her as an artist: "So here we are, more than 60 years after her death aged 47, totally fixated by the cult of Kahlo: a packaged personality that all but obscures what we should really care about, which is her work...

"The image we have of her, the public image she developed (even when pictured in 'private')... is as much an artwork by her as one of her paintings. The traditional Mexican clothes she wore, the indigenous jewellery she collected, the photographs for which she posed, the monobrow, the moustache, her attitude: every detail was meticulously considered and curated by the artist to communicate to us her ideas, ideals, and feelings."

Scottee, artist and writer

"I think the thing I love the most about Frida's work is the fact she created 55 self-portraits (out of 143 total artworks) in her lifetime. That's 55 pieces to remember her by. They demonstrate how your identity changes over a lifetime, be it a short one like her's. Like Frida, I often centre my experiences in my work; without artists like her, we would still be painting posh people."

Chardine Taylor Stone, award-winning writer and LGBTQ+ activist

“My birthday is 5 July, a day before Frida’s,” (happy birthday, Chardine!)

"As an artist, activist, and socialist queer woman of colour, her work and political vision inspire me. She was a blessing. I’m actually going to the V&A exhibition on my birthday and I couldn’t think of a better way to celebrate not just my own achievements, but the sisters that came before and those who will follow us after. May the fight for liberation continue.”

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Elise Bell, Chloe Esslemont and Mayanne Soret- the women behind @TabloidArtHistory, external

"Frida is undeniably an icon for many people around the world. Yet, this makes it difficult to write about the significance of her work, especially this year after so many derivative products hit the market, from Barbie Dolls to Frida Kahlo pocket wisdom books. These just capitalise on her legacy and starkly oppose her anti-capitalist values.

"Not only is her presence in art history radical and important, but it’s even more so because every aspect of her life, self and work threatens the pale, male, and stale western tradition: she was a woman of colour, a disabled woman, openly bisexual, politically engaged, painting mostly self-portraits that united all aspects of her heritage (German, Mexican, and Catholicism). None of these aspects of her identity should be erased.

"As we celebrate her 111th birthday, we can use our craving for more Frida to learn more about other female Mexican artists — one who existed in the same era and circles, who we believe should be brought (back) into the spotlight, is María Izquierdo, external."

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Frida has left her mark on so much of society, and it's not hard to see why. It's clear that her life and work will continue to be relevant for years to come.

Happy birthday, Frida!

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'Artist, activist, inspiration': Your birthday messages for Frida Kahlo (2024)

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