How Frida Kahlo’s Experience With Disability, Culture and Political Unrest Made Her the Artist That She Was

In a biographical Ted Ed Lesson animated by Ivana Bošnjak and Thomas Johnson, educator Iseult Gillespie talks about the life of legendary Mexican artist Frida Kahlo. Gillespie specifically addresses how Kahlo’s experience with disability, a strong sense of culture and the pervasive feeling of political unrest all combined to make Kahlo the unusually talented artist that she was.

In 1925, Frida Kahlo was on her way home from school in Mexico City when the bus she was riding collided with a streetcar. She suffered near-fatal injuries and her disability became a major theme in her paintings. Over the course of her life, she would establish herself as the creator and muse behind extraordinary pieces of art. Iseult Gillespie dives into the life and work of Frida Kahlo.