The life and loves of Frida Kahlo

On what would’ve been Frida Kahlo’s 116th birthday, we celebrate the visionary Mexican bisexual who remains a global LGBTQ+ icon almost years after her death.

The life of Frida Kahlo has become stuff of legend. Born in 1907, the inspiring painter is often described as a surrealist or magical realist, a force of nature. She used her art and style to pursue questions of identity, post-colonialism, gender, race and class well ahead of her time.

Her legacy is long and complex, but in today’s popular culture she’s best known for her fierce pride in her Mexican heritage, her distinctive self-portraits, her trailblazing gender non-conformity and her passionate love affairs.

Throughout her artistic career Frida Kahlo expertly wove her sexuality into her work as she explored themes of infertility and sexual pleasure, as well as her tumultuous relationship with her husband, the celebrated muralist Diego Rivera.

But Diego was far from her only romantic interest. In her short but eventful 47 years of life, Frida Kahlo would have a number of colourful affairs with men and women, including the movie stars Dolores del Rio, Paulette Goddard and Maria Felix, among others.