Kahlo-Isms

A collection of compelling quotations from iconic painter Frida Kahlo

Frida Kahlo (1907–1954) has achieved a legendary status in the visual world. A master of the self-portrait, she celebrated Mexican culture and heritage in her work while also intimately and poignantly exploring identity, gender, sexuality, disability, race, and the body. Drawn from Kahlo’s diaries, letters, interviews, and other sources, Kahlo-isms is a powerful, revealing, and memorable collection of quotations from throughout her life. Fierce, individual, and introspective, Kahlo’s words offer a vivid, immediate window into the life, mind, and spirit of one of the most influential artists of the twentieth century.

• “I drank to drown my pain, but the damned pain learned how to swim.”
• “There have been two great accidents in my life. One was the trolley, and the other was Diego. Diego was by far the worst.”
• “Feet, what do I need you for when I have wings to fly?”
• “I paint self-portraits because I am so often alone, because I am the person I know best.”
• “Nothing is worth more than laughter. It is strength to laugh and to abandon oneself, to be light.”