Frida Kahlo and Solidarity of the Strange

Frida Kahlo (1907-1954) was a Mexican painter best known for her self-portraits and her distinctive surrealist style. Kahlo had a rocky marriage with the artist Diego Rivera, who shared her communist politics. She is said to have had an affair with Leon Trotsky during his time in Mexico. Kahlo’s legacy is one that flourished in the decades following her death; her paintings are a staple of the Mexican artistic canon.

The following quote comes from Kahlo’s diary. The victim of a debilitating bus accident during her youth, Kahlo’s lifelong poor health often plunged her into isolation. She felt a kindred solidarity with the “strange” of the world:

“I used to think I was the strangest person in the world but then I thought there are so many people in the world, there must be someone just like me who feels bizarre and flawed in the same ways I do. I would imagine her, and imagine that she must be out there thinking of me too. Well, I hope that if you are out there and read this and know that, yes, it’s true I’m here, and I’m just as strange as you.” [Wikiquote]