Magdalena Carmen Frieda Kahlo y Calderón was born in 1907 in Coyoacán, then a quiet town on the outskirts of Mexico City. Her father, Guillermo Kahlo, was a German photographer who had immigrated to Mexico, and her mother, Matilde Calderón y González, was of Spanish and Indigenous descent. This mixed heritage gave Frida a complex identity she would explore throughout her life and art.

Frida grew up in her family’s home, the Casa Azul (Blue House), a place that would become central to her world. It was there that she experienced a childhood marked by both warmth and hardship. At age six, she contracted polio, which left her right leg thinner than her left. This early experience with physical pain and isolation would be a recurring theme in her later life.

Frida's childhood unfolded against the backdrop of the Mexican Revolution, a decade-long civil war that began in 1910. The streets of Coyoacán were not immune to the conflict. Kahlo later recalled hearing gunfire and seeing soldiers, experiences that deeply imprinted on her. The revolution sparked a new wave of cultural pride in Mexico, known as Mexicanidad, which celebrated the nation's indigenous roots and folk traditions. This movement profoundly influenced Frida’s sense of self and her artistic sensibilities.

Bright and ambitious, a young Frida Kahlo had no plans to become an artist. She was one of the few women to attend the prestigious National Preparatory School in Mexico City, where she studied medicine. She was a lively student, known for her sharp wit and involvement in a political group called the "Cachuchas."

On September 17, 1925, that path changed forever. The bus Kahlo was riding home from school was struck by a streetcar. The accident was horrific. A steel handrail impaled her through the hip, and she suffered multiple fractures to her spine, collarbone, ribs, and leg. Her injuries were so severe that doctors doubted she would survive.

Frida spent months in a full body cast, confined to her bed at the Casa Azul. To pass the time and cope with the immense physical and emotional pain, she began to paint. Her parents fashioned a special easel that allowed her to work while lying down and placed a mirror above her bed. Her first subject was the one she knew best: herself. This tragic event ended her medical aspirations but marked the beginning of her journey as one of the most iconic artists of the 20th century.

How much do you remember about Frida's early years? Let's find out.

Confined by her injuries, Frida Kahlo discovered a new world within herself, one she would spend the rest of her life capturing on canvas.