A bus crash at eighteen broke Frida Kahlo's spine, pelvis and leg. Encased in plaster and unable to sit up, she had an easel built over her bed and a mirror set into the canopy — and painted the only subject in reach.

Frida Kahlo (1907–1954)

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Why it matters

The idea in context

She had wanted to be a doctor. The accident in 1925 left her with injuries that required around thirty operations over her lifetime and long stretches flat on her back. Her mother had the mirror installed so she could see something; what she saw was herself, and roughly a third of her two hundred paintings became self-portraits. She was direct about why: she painted herself because she was so often alone, and because she was the subject she knew best. Her last major work was finished eight days before she died.

Türkçe

Aynı kart, başka bir dilde.

On sekiz yaşındaki bir otobüs kazası Frida Kahlo'nun omurgasını, leğen kemiğini ve bacağını kırdı. Alçıya alınmış ve doğrulamaz hâldeyken yatağının üzerine bir şövale kuruldu ve tepeliğe bir ayna yerleştirildi — o da erişebildiği tek konuyu resmetti.
Frida Kahlo (1907-1954)

Doktor olmak istemişti. 1925'teki kaza, ömrü boyunca yaklaşık otuz ameliyat gerektiren yaralanmalar ve uzun süreler sırtüstü yatmak bıraktı. Annesi, bir şey görebilsin diye aynayı taktırdı; gördüğü şey kendisiydi ve iki yüz resminin kabaca üçte biri otoportre oldu. Nedeni konusunda açıktı: Kendini resmediyordu çünkü çoğu zaman yalnızdı ve en iyi bildiği konu kendisiydi. Son büyük işini ölümünden sekiz gün önce bitirdi.

Source trail

Read beyond the card.

Background reading: Frida KahloAttribution and context are revised when stronger evidence appears. Corrections are welcome through the editorial page.
Next in the open archiveAt thirty-one, losing his hearing, Beethoven wrote a private letter describing how close he had come to taking his own life, and what stopped him: the work he had not yet made. He went on to compose while completely deaf.Q1686