Frida Kahlo was born on 6 July 1907 and spent most of her life at La Casa Azul, her family home in Coyoacán, now the Frida Kahlo Museum. She contracted polio as a child, and at 18 was injured in a bus accident that caused her lifelong pain; during her recovery she returned to her childhood interest in art.
She is known for her portraits, self-portraits and works inspired by the nature and artefacts of Mexico, often painting about her own chronic pain. Her work remained relatively unknown until the late 1970s and is now recognised around the world. She had her first solo exhibition in Mexico in 1953 and died in 1954, aged 47.