Frida Kahlo in blue satin blouse, 1939, photograph by Nickolas Muray © Nickolas Muray Photo Archives
To mark the new Frida Kahlo exhibit at London’s Victoria & Albert Museum, Frida Kahlo: Making Her Self Up — which features her personal belongings, from jewelry and cosmetics to clothing and her booted prosthetic leg — here are some of our favorite quotes from the legendary artist.
“Nothing is worth more than laughter. It is strength to laugh and to abandon oneself, to be light.”
“Feet, what do I need you for when I have wings to fly?”
“Perhaps they expect me to wail and moan about ‘how much I suffer,’ living with a man like Diego. But I don’t think that the banks of a river suffer by letting it flow…”
“Every tick-tock is a second of life that passes by, that flees never to repeat itself. And it holds such intensity, such interest that the only problem is knowing how to live. May each person solve it as best they can.”
“I am not sick. I am broken. But I am happy to be alive as long as I can paint.”
Frida Kahlo with Olmec figurine, 1939 © Nickolas Muray Photo Archives
Silver, enamel, turquoise and coral necklace by Matilde Poulat, Mexico City, c. 1950, Museo Frida Kahlo, photographed by Javier Hinojosa © Diego Riviera and Frida Kahlo Archives, Banco de México, Fiduciary of the Trust of the Diego Riviera and Frida Kahlo Museums
Frida on the bench, 1939, photograph by Nickolas Muray © Nickolas Muray Photo Archives
Revlon cosmetics: Clear Red blush compact, Everything’s Rosy lipstick, emery boards and ebony eyebrow, before 1954, photographed by Javier Hinojosa © Diego Riviera and Frida Kahlo Archives, Banco de México, Fiduciary of the Trust of the Diego Riviera and Frida Kahlo Museums
Self-portrait on the Border between Mexico and the United States of America, Frida Kahlo, 1932 © Modern Art International Foundation, Courtesy María and Manuel Reyero
