Frida Kahlo's bus accident - September 17, 1925

On this day in 1925, Mexican artist Frida Kahlo was seriously injured in a bus accident that altered the course of her life. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
This Day in History Class is a production of I
Heart Radio. Welcome to This Day in History Class, where
History waits for no One. Today is September. The day

(00:24):
was September. Mexican artist Frieda Callo was involved in a
bus accident that she survived with major injuries. The accident
changed the course of her life and deeply affected her artwork.
Frieda was born in Goyakon, Mexico in nineteen o seven.

(00:46):
Her mother was relatively conventional in her worldview, while her
father supported her curiosity. Frieda was super close to her father,
but she was more distant from her mother, who dealt
with depression. When she was young, she had polio, which
affected her right leg and gave her a limp. She

(01:07):
also developed an interest in art and began sketching. In
ninet Frieda began attending the National Preparatory School in Mexico City.
Her goal was to study medicine at a university. There,
she encountered progressive thought and people in the literary community.
She became known as a prankster and she wore indigenous

(01:29):
jury and clothing. It was at this school where she
met artist Diego Rivera. But on September sev She was
headed back home from school on a bus with her
boyfriend Alejandro Gomez Audius when the bus ran into a
trolley car. Several people were killed immediately in the accident,

(01:51):
and Moore died later from their injuries. Adds only had
minor injuries, but a piece of iron went through Freda's
pelvis and back that had to be pulled out of
her body. Her shoulder was dislocated, her collar bone was broken,
her right leg was broken in eleven places, and her
spine was also broken in several places. She had surgery

(02:15):
and stayed in the hospital for a month, then spent
several months at home in bed. Over the course of
her life, she underwent as many as thirty five operations.
Though she aimed to become a medical illustrator, she was
in a lot of pain and decided to drop out
of school. While she was in recovery, she spent a

(02:37):
lot of time painting. Her mother even bought her an
easel that helped her paint in bed. She used an
overhead mirror to paint self portraits. During this time, her
relationship with Audius ended, but photographer Tina Modote introduced her
to a community of people involved in art and leftist politics.

(02:57):
She soon became reacquainted with Diego Ribera and she joined
the Young Communist League, which Rivera founded in nineteen nine.
Carlo married Rivera when she was twenty two years old
and he was forty two, but their marriage was rocky.
They both had affairs, many of Carlos with other women.
Frieda and Diego separated, divorced, and remarried. She also had

(03:22):
a miscarriage and several pregnancies that were medically terminated. But
throughout their turbulent relationship, they continued their artistic practice and
continued to express their political views. Frieda's self portraits viscerally
depict her pain Her art is known for being dark, emotional,
and symbolic. She made most of her artwork in the

(03:44):
nineteen thirties and nineteen forties, but she didn't get her
first solo show in Mexico until nineteen fifty three. That
was years after her first ever solo exhibition in New
York City in nineteen thirty eight. She had to be
in bed on the opening night of her exhibition in
Mexico City, so she went to the show in an

(04:05):
ambulance and stayed there in a bed that was set
up for her. A few months after this, Frieda's right
leg had to be amputated because it was infected with
gang green. She died on July thirt nineteen fifty four,
officially of pulmonary embolism, though there has been speculation that
she died by suicide. There is now a museum in

(04:28):
Costa A Sul Frieda's home and goy Ghan. I'm Eve
Jeff Coote and hopefully you know a little more about
history today than you did yesterday. If there are any
upcoming days in history that you'd really like me to
cover on the show, give us a shout on social
media at t D I h C podcast. Thanks for

(04:50):
joining me on this trip through time. See you here
in the exact same spot tomorrow. Yeah. For more podcasts
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