Frida Kahlo Life & Career Timeline

6 July 1907Coyoacán, Mexico City

Born at Casa Azul

Magdalena Carmen Frida Kahlo y Calderón was born in the family home later known as the Blue House.

1913Mexico City

Contracts polio

The illness left her right leg thinner and contributed to years of social isolation and physical challenge.

1922Mexico City

Enters National Preparatory School

Kahlo was among a small group of female students and hoped to study medicine.

17 September 1925Mexico City

Bus collision causes severe injuries

A streetcar struck the bus carrying Kahlo, producing spinal, pelvic and leg injuries that required lifelong treatment.

1926Mexico City

Paints first self-portrait

During prolonged recovery, a mirror and adapted easel enabled her to paint from bed.

1928Mexico City

Reconnects with Diego Rivera

Kahlo asked the established muralist to assess her work and entered artistic and political circles.

21 August 1929Coyoacán, Mexico City

Marries Diego Rivera

Their turbulent partnership joined two distinctive careers and extended artistic networks across the Americas.

1930California, United States

Moves to San Francisco

Rivera’s commissions brought the couple to the United States and exposed Kahlo to new patrons.

1932Detroit, Michigan

Works through loss in Detroit

A miscarriage and her mother’s death entered an increasingly direct visual language of body and grief.

1933Mexico City

Returns to Mexico

After Rivera’s Rockefeller Center controversy, the couple returned to a house-and-studio complex in San Ángel.

1937Casa Azul, Coyoacán

Shelters Leon Trotsky

Kahlo and Rivera helped the exiled revolutionary obtain refuge in Mexico.

Connected: Vladimir Lenin

November 1938New York City, United States

First solo New York exhibition

Julien Levy presented Kahlo’s work, securing sales and critical attention.

March 1939Paris, France

Exhibits in Paris

Kahlo joined a Mexican art exhibition organised with André Breton and gained a Louvre acquisition.

6 November 1939Mexico City

Divorces Rivera

The divorce followed years of separations and mutual affairs.

8 December 1940San Francisco, California

Remarries Rivera

They reunited under an agreement emphasising financial independence.

1943Mexico City

Teaches at La Esmeralda

Kahlo encouraged students known as Los Fridos to work from Mexican life beyond the academy.

April 1953Mexico City

First solo exhibition in Mexico

Despite severe illness, Kahlo attended the opening in a bed transported into the gallery.

13 July 1954Coyoacán, Mexico City

Dies at Casa Azul

Kahlo died aged forty-seven; Casa Azul opened as a museum in 1958.