The ultimate viral challenge: Dress up as Frida Kahlo while staying at home, see the best pics

Frida, born Magdalena Carmen Frida Kahlo y Calderón, was born on July 6, 1907, in Coyoacán, Mexico City, Mexico. Frida had a German father, Guillermo Kahlo, and a mestiza mother, Matilde Calderón y González.

When Frida was six-years-old, she contracted polio. The disease affected her body and made her her right leg shorter and much thinner than the left. Because of her disability, she was able to develop a close relationship with her dad.

Unfortunately, her disability left her feeling isolated and caused others to bully her, forcing her to become a recluse and focus on art.

Frida had a love for art early on, something that was present within her for her entire life. Prior to dedicating her life to art, she was on her way to become a medical student. But at the age of 18 she suffered from a bus accident and returned to art.

The bus accident fractured Frida’s ribs, both her legs and her collarbone -- and she was in a hospital for about two months before she was released. The pain from the accident was something she experienced for the rest of her life.

Once she was fully healed, she began to socialized with friends again. One thing lead to another, and Frida quickly found herself at a party where she was introduced to the man who would be her future husband, Diego Rivera.

After meeting Diego at the party, Frida asked him to judge her paintings on their level talent as she wanted to know whether she should pursue a career in painting and art. Diego admitted that he was impressed by her work and acknowledged that she held the talent of a true artist.

Diego was quoted saying that Frida had “an unusual energy of expression, precise delineation of character, and true severity ... They had a fundamental plastic honesty, and an artistic personality of their own ... It was obvious to me that this girl was an authentic artist.”

Diego, the love of Frida’s life, was 20 years older than her, but that didn’t dissuade her from entering a relationship with him. At the time they began their relationship, Diego had two “common law” wives (a fancy way of saying he was in two relationships at the time sans the legally binding wedding vows).

But on August 21, 1929, Diego and Frida tied the knot in a small civil ceremony in Frida’s hometown. Referring to their opposing physicalities, Frida’s parents were said to have referred to the union as “marriage between an elephant and a dove,” as their daughter was petite and dainty and Diego was tall and chunky.

Their relationship garnered much press within Mexico and aboard. The media in Mexico would simply refer to them as “Diego and Frida.”

After getting married, the couple moved to moved to Cuernavaca in the rural state of Morelos (a state that found itself with the heaviest fighting during the civil war). During this time, Frida tapped into her Mexican identity and history.

She began wearing traditional indigenous Mexican peasant clothing to emphasize her ancestry. This consisted of long and colorful skirts, elaborate headdresses and masses of jewelry.

It was said that she favored the dresses from the allegedly matriarchal society of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec — a dress that allowed her to honor her femininity and roots.

Due to Diego’s work, she had the opportunity to travel within the United States (having visited San Francisco, New York and Detriot). During her time in San Francisco, it is said that she met photographer Nickolas Muray, the man she is said to have had a 10 year relationship with.

During her various trips to the US, she gave frequent press conferences, impressing American journalists with her honesty and dominance of the English language. While in Detriot, Frida became pregnant with Diego’s child, but unfortunately misscarried the child.

Upon finishing his last commission in New York, Diego and Frida returned to Mexico due to Frida feeling homesick (her mother had passed away while she was aboard). Once there, their relationship began to strain, with both of them partaking in respective affairs.

In addtion to this, Frida was experiencing many health problems as a consequence of undergoing an appendectomy, two abortions and the amputation of gangrenous toes.

The dissolution of their “married life” came when Frida found out about Diego’s infidelity with her younger sister Cristina, something that truly hurt Frida. She ended up moving to Mexico City and had an affair with American artist Isamu Noguchi.

Although she later came to forgive Diego and Cristina, Frida had decided to continue living her own life. She did, however, move back to her home with Diego and was said to love and dote on her sister’s children.

In 1936, she resumed her political activities and she and Diego were successful in petition the government for the political asylum of former Soviet leader Leon Trotsky and his wife. Frida was said to have held a brief affair with Leon.

Frida traveld to Paris, France, for an exhibition she was showing for some of her art pieces. Upon completion of the exhibit, she was eager to return to New York so that she could be together with her lover and photographer Nickolas Muray. Unfortunately, Nickolas ended their relationship as he was with someone else.

Upon her return to Mexico City, Diego decided to divorce her, although his motives were not entirely clear. The two remained friendly. After their separation, Frida moved to La Casa Azul (her childhood home). It is was said that she began her most productive time as an artist while at La Casa Azul.

Leon was assasinated in 1940 Coyoacán, Frida’s hometown where he had lived after his short residence at La Casa Azul (where he first lived when he arrived to Mexico). Due to Frida’s connection to the person who had killed Leon, she and her sister Cristina were arrested and held for two days.

A month after her release, Frida returned to San Francisco to receive medical treatment for back pain and a fungal infection on one of her hands. Since her divorce to Diego, her health had rapidly declined (her high drinking levels were said to have had a huge impact on her health).

During her treatment, she and Diego later reconciliated and remarried in a civil ceremony. The couple returned to Mexico where they lived in La Casa Azul.

Although the two were married, it is said that they maintained their individual independence and continued with their respective affairs. Diego was said to have kept their previous home and used it as his studio and second apartment. Their second marriage was said to be more peaceful than the first.

Despite receiving treatment for her ailments in San Francisco, her health was not getting better. Because of her spinal issues, Frida was forced to wear 28 separate supportive corsets — made from materials like steel and leather to plaster. She was also treated for syphilis. The death of her father also pushed her into depression.

As her health continued to delined, La Casa Azul became the center of her universe as it was difficult to move. Frida had to undergo many back surgeries, of which let her wheelchair and crutch bound. Frida underwent a serious bone graft surgery on that would hopefully help her spinal condition.

Unfortunately, the surgery brought on a difficult infection and required Frida to undergo several follow-up surgeries. At one point, her right leg needed to be amputated from the knew down due to gangrene, causing her to become anxious and for her pain killer addiction to escalate. Around this time, Diego began another affair and it affected Frida to the point of a possible overdose.

At the end of her life, Frida was essentially bedridden due to her severe health conditions and problems (mainly due to bronchopneumonia). She made on final public appearance on July 2, 1954, for a protest against the CIA in Guatemala that Diego was spearheading. This outing was said to have made her condition worse.

The night before she passed away (July 12, 1954), Frida ran a very high fever, and in the early hours of July 13 was said to have passed away. It is argued that Frida may have taken her life, at the age of 47, by overdosing on her pills. She had given Diego a wedding anniversary present prior to her death, which was almost a month before their anniversary.

Frida has always been celebrated for her individuality, her art and her outspoken manner of being. The Mexican artist always kept true to her roots and what she stood for. The world over has celebrated her gumption and drive for self love and truth as well as her artist abilities and the stories she was able to tell through it.

Her popularity began to really grow in the 1970s when she was no longer seen as “Diego’s wife” and more as a feminist icon that women across the world would try to emulate. In the 80s, Frida’s work was declared national cultural heritage, which made it illegal to export any of her work.

Along with figures like Che Guevara and Bob Marley, Frida become one of the world’s most recognized public figures through her art, demeanor and principles. She has inspired films, characters and many other things: from Hollywood biopic,Julie Taymor’s Frida with Salma Hayek to merchandizing to fashion.

Her home in Coyoacán, La Casa Azul, became a museum in 1958 and has become one of the most popular places to visit in Mexico City.