Editing Frida Kahlo (section)

=== 1907–1924: Family and childhood ===
[[File:Guillermo Kahlo - Matilde, Adriana, Frida and Cristina Kahlo - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|right|Kahlo (on the right) and her sisters [[Cristina Kahlo|Cristina]], Matilde, and Adriana, photographed by their father, 1916]]
Magdalena Carmen Frida Kahlo y Calderón{{efn|Kahlo was given her first two names so that she could be baptized according to Catholic traditions, but was always called Frida. She preferred to spell her name "Frieda" until the late 1930s, when she dropped the 'e' as she did not wish to be associated with Germany during [[Hitler]]'s rule.{{sfnm|1a1=Burrus|1y=2005|1p=202|2a1=Herrera|2y=2002|2pp=10–11}}}} was born on 6 July 1907 in [[Coyoacán]], a village on the outskirts of [[Mexico City]].{{sfnm|1a1=Burrus|1y=2005|1p=199|2a1=Herrera|2y=2002|2pp=3–4|3a1=Ankori|3y=2002|3p=17}}<ref name=":4">{{Cite web |date=11 November 2020 |title=Kahlo (y Calderón), (Magdalena Carmen) Frida |url=https://doi.org/10.1093/benz/9780199773787.article.B00096735 |url-access=subscription |access-date=4 March 2021 |website=Benezit Dictionary of Artists |publisher=Oxford University Press |doi=10.1093/benz/9780199773787.article.B00096735 |isbn=9780199899913}}</ref> Kahlo stated that she was born at the family home, [[Frida Kahlo Museum|La Casa Azul]] (The Blue House), but according to the official birth registry, the birth took place at the nearby home of her maternal grandmother.{{sfn|Zamora|1990|p=15}} Kahlo's parents were photographer [[Guillermo Kahlo]] (1871–1941) and Matilde Calderón y González (1876–1932), and they were thirty-six and thirty, respectively, when they had her.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Frida Kahlo : an open life |last=Tibol, Raquel. |date=1993 |publisher=University of New Mexico Press |isbn=0585211388 |location=Albuquerque |oclc=44965043}}</ref> Originally from [[Germany]], Guillermo had [[German immigration to Mexico|immigrated to Mexico]] in 1891, after [[epilepsy]] caused by an accident ended his university studies.{{sfnm|1a1=Herrera|1y=2002|1pp=4–9|2a1=Ankori|2y=2002|2p=17}} Although Kahlo said her father was [[Jewish]] and her paternal grandparents were Jews from the city of [[Arad, Romania|Arad]],<ref>{{Cite web |date=7 June 2018 |title=Making herself up: Was Frida Kahlo Jewish? |website=The Jewish Chronicle |url=https://www.thejc.com/culture/features/making-herself-up-was-frida-kahlo-jewish-1.465240 |access-date=5 October 2021 |archive-date=19 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220319074558/https://www.thejc.com/culture/features/making-herself-up-was-frida-kahlo-jewish-1.465240 |url-status=live }}</ref> this claim was challenged in 2006 by a pair of German genealogists who found he was instead a [[Lutheran]].{{sfn|Deffebach|2015|p=52}}<ref name="jerpost1">{{cite news |last=Ronnen |first=Meir |title=Frida Kahlo's father wasn't Jewish after all |work=[[The Jerusalem Post]] |date=20 April 2006 |url=https://www.jpost.com/Arts-and-Culture/Books/Frida-Kahlos-father-wasnt-Jewish-after-all |access-date=7 July 2018 |archive-date=15 April 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220415204855/https://www.jpost.com/Arts-and-Culture/Books/Frida-Kahlos-father-wasnt-Jewish-after-all |url-status=live }}</ref> Matilde was born in [[Oaxaca]] to an [[Indigenous peoples of Mexico|Indigenous]] father and a mother of [[Spaniards in Mexico|Spanish]] descent.{{sfnm|1a1=Herrera|1y=2002|1pp=4–9|2a1=Ankori|2y=2002|2pp=17–18|3a1=Burrus|3y=2005|3p=199}} In addition to Kahlo, the marriage produced daughters Matilde (''c.'' 1898–1951), Adriana (''c.'' 1902–1968), and [[Cristina Kahlo|Cristina]] (''c.'' 1908–1964).{{sfnm|1a1=Herrera|1y=2002|1pp=10–11|2a1=Ankori|2y=2002|2p=18}} She had two half-sisters from Guillermo's first marriage, María Luisa and Margarita, but they were raised in a convent.{{sfnm|1a1=Herrera|1y=2002|1pp=10–11|2a1=Ankori|2y=2002|2p=18|3a1=Zamora|3y=1990|3pp=15–16}}

Kahlo later described the atmosphere in her childhood home as often "very, very sad".{{sfn|Ankori|2002|p=18}} Both parents were often sick,{{sfnm|1a1=Ankori|1y=2002|1p=18|2a1=Herrera|2y=2002|2pp=10–12}} and their marriage was devoid of love.{{sfn|Beck|2006|p=57}} Her relationship with her mother, Matilde, was extremely tense.{{sfnm|1a1=Kettenmann|1y=2003|1pp=8–10|2a1=Zamora|2y=1990|2p=16|3a1=Ankori|3y=2002|3p=18|4a1=Burrus|4y=2005|4p=199}} Kahlo described her mother as "kind, active and intelligent, but also calculating, cruel and fanatically religious".{{sfnm|1a1=Kettenmann|1y=2003|1pp=8–10|2a1=Zamora|2y=1990|2p=16|3a1=Ankori|3y=2002|3p=18|4a1=Burrus|4y=2005|4p=199}} Her father Guillermo's photography business suffered greatly during the [[Mexican Revolution]], as the overthrown government had commissioned works from him, and the long civil war limited the number of private clients.{{sfnm|1a1=Ankori|1y=2002|1p=18|2a1=Herrera|2y=2002|2pp=10–12}}

When Kahlo was six years old, she contracted [[polio]], which eventually made her right leg grow shorter and thinner than the left.{{sfnm|1a1=Herrera|1y=2002|1pp=10–20|2a1=Ankori|2y=2013|2p=44}}{{efn|Given Kahlo's later problems with [[scoliosis]] and with her hips and limbs, neurologist Budrys Valmantas has argued that she had a congenital condition, [[spina bifida]], which was diagnosed by Dr. [[Leo Eloesser]] when she was a young adult.{{sfn|Budrys|2006|pp=4–10}} Psychologist and art historian Dr. Salomon Grimberg disagrees, stating that Kahlo's problems were instead the result of not wearing an orthopedic shoe on her affected right leg, which led to damage to her hips and spine.<ref name=Collins>{{cite web |url=https://www.vanityfair.com/culture/1995/09/frida-kahlo-diego-rivera-art-diary |title=Diary of a Mad Artist |last=Collins |first=Amy Fine |work=[[Vanity Fair (magazine)|Vanity Fair]] |date=3 September 2013 |access-date=17 July 2016 |archive-date=26 July 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160726145116/http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/1995/09/frida-kahlo-diego-rivera-art-diary |url-status=live }}</ref>}} The illness forced her to be isolated from her peers for months, and she was bullied.{{sfnm|1a1=Herrera|1y=2002|1pp=10–20|2a1=Ankori|2y=2013|2pp=44–47}} While the experience made her reclusive,{{sfn|Ankori|2002|p=18}} it made her Guillermo's favorite due to their shared experience of living with disability.{{sfnm|1a1=Burrus|1y=2008|1pp=13–15|2a1=Herrera|2y=2002|2pp=10–21}} Kahlo credited him for making her childhood "marvelous&nbsp;... he was an immense example to me of tenderness, of work (photographer and also painter), and above all in understanding for all my problems." He taught her about literature, nature, and philosophy, and encouraged her to play sports to regain her strength, despite the fact that most physical exercise was seen as unsuitable for girls.{{sfnm|1a1=Herrera|1y=2002|1pp=10–20|2a1=Burrus|2y=2005|2p=199|3a1=Ankori|3y=2013|3p=45|4a1=Burrus|4y=2008|4p=16}} He also taught her photography, and she began to help him retouch, develop, and color photographs.{{sfnm|1a1=Herrera|1y=2002|1pp=10–20|2a1=Burrus|2y=2005|2p=199|3a1=Zamora|3y=1990|3p=18}}

Due to polio, Kahlo began school later than her peers.{{sfn|Zamora|1990|p=18}} Along with her younger sister Cristina, she attended the local kindergarten and primary school in Coyoacán and was homeschooled for the fifth and sixth grades.{{sfn|Ankori|2013|p=58}} While Cristina followed their sisters into a convent school, Kahlo was enrolled in a German school due to their father's wishes.{{sfn|Ankori|2002|p=19}} She was soon expelled for disobedience and was sent to a vocational teachers school.{{sfn|Ankori|2013|p=58}} Her stay at the school was brief, as she was sexually abused by a female teacher.{{sfn|Ankori|2013|p=58}}

In 1922, Kahlo was accepted to the elite [[Escuela Nacional Preparatoria (Mexico)|National Preparatory School]], where she focused on natural sciences with the aim of becoming a physician.{{sfnm|1a1=Kettenmann|1y=2003|1p=11|2a1=Herrera|2y=2002|2pp=22–27|3a1=Ankori|3y=2002|3p=19}} The institution had only recently begun admitting women, with only 35 girls out of 2,000 students.{{sfnm|1a1=Kettenmann|1y=2003|1p=11|2a1=Herrera|2y=2002|2pp=22–27}} She performed well academically,{{sfn|Herrera|2002|pp=26–40}} was a voracious reader, and became "deeply immersed and seriously committed to Mexican culture, political activism and issues of social justice".{{sfn|Ankori|2013|pp=60–62}} The school promoted ''[[Indigenismo in Mexico|indigenismo]]'', a new sense of Mexican identity that took pride in the country's Indigenous heritage and sought to rid itself of the [[colonial mindset]] of Europe as superior to Mexico.{{sfn|Anderson|2009|p=120}} Particularly influential to Kahlo at this time were nine of her schoolmates, with whom she formed an informal group called the "Cachuchas"&nbsp;– many of them would become leading figures of the Mexican intellectual elite.{{sfnm|1a1=Herrera|1y=2002|1pp=26–40|2a1=Barson|2y=2005|2p=59|3a1=Burrus|3y=2005|3p=199|4a1=Ankori|4y=2002|4p=19}} They were rebellious and against everything conservative and pulled pranks, staged plays, and debated philosophy and Russian classics.{{sfnm|1a1=Herrera|1y=2002|1pp=26–40|2a1=Barson|2y=2005|2p=59|3a1=Burrus|3y=2005|3p=199|4a1=Ankori|4y=2002|4p=19}} To mask the fact that she was older and to declare herself a "daughter of the revolution", she began saying that she had been born on 7 July 1910, the year the [[Mexican Revolution]] began, which she continued throughout her life.{{sfnm|1a1=Herrera|1y=2002|1p=5|2a1=Dexter|2y=2005|2p=13|3a1=Zamora|3y=1990|3pp=19–20}} She fell in love with Alejandro Gomez Arias, the leader of the group and her first love. Her parents did not approve of the relationship. Arias and Kahlo were often separated from each other, due to the political instability and violence of the period, so they exchanged passionate love letters.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2">{{Cite web |last=Maranzani |first=Barbara |title=How a Horrific Bus Accident Changed Frida Kahlo's Life |url=https://www.biography.com/news/frida-kahlo-bus-accident |access-date=6 July 2020 |website=Biography |date=17 June 2020 |language=en-us |archive-date=22 April 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220422130511/https://www.biography.com/news/frida-kahlo-bus-accident |url-status=live }}</ref>