Editing Frida Kahlo (section)

=== 1934–1949: La Casa Azul and declining health ===
[[File:Casa Habitación Rivera y Kalho.JPG|thumb|Kahlo and Rivera's houses in [[San Ángel]]. They lived there from 1934 until their divorce in 1939, after which it became his studio.]]
Back in Mexico City, Kahlo and Rivera moved into a new house in the wealthy neighborhood of [[San Ángel]].{{sfnm|1a1=Herrera|1y=2002|1pp=179–180|2a1=Zamora|2y=1990|2pp=46–47|3a1=Burrus|3y=2005|3p=203}} Commissioned from [[Le Corbusier]]'s student [[Juan O'Gorman]], it consisted of two sections joined by a bridge; Kahlo's was painted blue and Rivera's pink and white.{{sfnm|1a1=Herrera|1y=2002|1pp=179–180|2a1=Zamora|2y=1990|2pp=46–47|3a1=Kettenmann|3y=2003|3p=38}} The bohemian residence became an important meeting place for artists and political activists from Mexico and abroad.{{sfnm|1a1=Burrus|1y=2005|1p=203|2a1=Herrera|2y=2002|2pp=192–196}}

Kahlo once again experienced health problems&nbsp;– undergoing an [[appendectomy]], two abortions, and the amputation of [[gangrene|gangrenous]] toes{{sfnm|1a1=Herrera|1y=2002|1pp=180–190|2a1=Kettenmann|2y=2003|2pp=38–39|3a1=Burrus|3y=2005|3p=219}}<ref name=Collins />&nbsp;– and her marriage to Rivera had become strained. He was not happy to be back in Mexico and blamed Kahlo for their return.{{sfnm|1a1=Herrera|1y=2002|1pp=180–182|2a1=Zamora|2y=1990|2pp=46–47}} While he had been unfaithful to her before, he now embarked on an affair with her younger sister [[Cristina Kahlo|Cristina]], which deeply hurt Kahlo's feelings.{{sfnm|1a1=Herrera|1y=2002|1pp=180–182|2a1=Zamora|2y=1990|2pp=46–47|3a1=Burrus|3y=2005|3p=203|4a1=Ankori|4y=2002|4pp=159–160}} After discovering the affair in early 1935, she moved to an apartment in central Mexico City and considered divorcing him.{{sfnm|1a1=Burrus|1y=2005|1p=203|2a1=Herrera|2y=2002|2pp=180–190|3a1=Kettenmann|3y=2003|3p=39}} She also had an affair of her own with American artist [[Isamu Noguchi]].{{sfnm|1a1=Herrera|1y=2002|1pp=180–190|2a1=Kettenmann|2y=2003|2pp=38–40|3a1=Zamora|3y=1990|3pp=50–53|4a1=Burrus|4y=2005|4p=203|5a1=Ankori|5y=2002|5p=193}}

Kahlo was reconciled with Rivera and Cristina later in 1935 and moved back to San Ángel.{{sfnm|1a1=Burrus|1y=2005|1p=203|2a1=Herrera|2y=2002|2pp=190–191|3a1=Zamora|3y=1990|3p=50}} She became a loving aunt to Cristina's children, Isolda and Antonio.{{sfn|Herrera|2002|pp=192–196}} Despite the reconciliation, both Rivera and Kahlo continued their infidelities.{{sfnm|1a1=Herrera|1y=2002|1pp=192–201|2a1=Zamora|2y=1990|2pp=50–53|3a1=Kettenmann|3y=2003|3p=40}} She also resumed her political activities in 1936, joining the [[Fourth International]] and becoming a founding member of a solidarity committee to provide aid to the [[Second Spanish Republic|Republicans]] in the [[Spanish Civil War]].{{sfnm|1a1=Kettenmann|1y=2003|1pp=40–41|2a1=Burrus|2y=2005|2p=203}} She and Rivera successfully petitioned the Mexican government to grant asylum to former Soviet leader [[Leon Trotsky]] and offered La Casa Azul for him and his wife [[Natalia Sedova]] as a residence.{{sfnm|1a1=Herrera|1y=2002|1pp=192–215|2a1=Zamora|2y=1990|2pp=52–54|3a1=Kettenmann|3y=2003|3pp=40–41|4a1=Burrus|4y=2005|4p=203}} The couple lived there from January 1937 until April 1939, with Kahlo and Trotsky not only becoming good friends but also having a brief affair.{{sfnm|1a1=Herrera|1y=2002|1pp=192–215|2a1=Zamora|2y=1990|2pp=52–54|3a1=Kettenmann|3y=2003|3pp=40–41}} Kahlo painted ''[[Self-Portrait Dedicated to Leon Trotsky]]'' in 1937 during their time together in Mexico City, including a written inscription to Trotsky in the painting on a letter that Kahlo's figure holds.<ref>{{cite web |title=Self-Portrait Dedicated to Leon Trotsky |url=https://nmwa.org/art/collection/self-portrait-dedicated-leon-trotsky/ |website=NMWA |publisher=[[National Museum of Women in the Arts]] |access-date=29 October 2023 |archive-date=1 November 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231101071101/https://nmwa.org/art/collection/self-portrait-dedicated-leon-trotsky/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
{{external media
| image1 = [https://www.fridakahlo.org/a-few-small-nips-passionately-in-love.jsp ''A Few Small Nips'' (1935)]
| image2 = [https://www.fridakahlo.org/four-inhabitants-of-mexico.jsp ''My Nurse and I'' (1937)]
| image3 = [https://www.fridakahlo.org/four-inhabitants-of-mexico.jsp ''Four Inhabitants of Mexico'' (1938)]}}

[[File:Toni Frissell - Frida Kahlo, seated next to an agave.jpg|thumb|left|1937 photograph by [[Toni Frissell]], from a fashion shoot for ''[[Vogue (magazine)|Vogue]]'']]
After opening an exhibition in Paris, Kahlo sailed back to New York.{{sfn|Herrera|2002|pp=250–252}} She was eager to be reunited with Muray, but he decided to end their affair, as he had met another woman whom he was planning to marry.{{sfnm|1a1=Herrera|1y=2002|1pp=250–252|2a1=Marnham|2y=1998|2p=290}} Kahlo traveled back to Mexico City, where Rivera requested a divorce from her. The exact reasons for his decision are unknown, but he stated publicly that it was merely a "matter of legal convenience in the style of modern times&nbsp;... there are no sentimental, artistic, or economic reasons".{{sfn|Zamora|1990|p=62}} According to their friends, the divorce was mainly caused by their mutual infidelities.{{sfnm|1a1=Herrera|1y=2002|1pp=250–252, 273–27|2a1=Zamora|2y=1990|2pp=62–64|3a1=Marnham|3y=1998|3p=290}} He and Kahlo were granted a divorce in November 1939, but remained friendly; she continued to manage his finances and correspondence.{{sfnm|1a1=Herrera|1y=2002|1pp=250–252, 273–277|a1=Zamora|2y=1990|2pp=62–64|3a1=Marham|3y=|3p=290}}{{multiple image
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 |image1    = Frida Kahlo House, Mexico City (6998147374).jpg
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 |caption1  = [[Frida Kahlo Museum|La Casa Azul]], Kahlo's childhood home and residence from 1939 until her death in 1954
 |image2    = 2013-12-22 Grabmal Frida Kahlo Museum Mexico City anagoria.JPG
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| caption2  = The garden at La Casa Azul
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Following her separation from Rivera, Kahlo moved back to La Casa Azul and, determined to earn her own living, began another productive period as an artist, inspired by her experiences abroad.{{sfnm|1a1=Herrera|1y=2002|1pp=280–294|2a1=Zamora|2y=1990|2p=64|3a1=Kettenmann|3y=2003|3p=52}} Encouraged by the recognition she was gaining, she moved from using the small and more intimate tin sheets she had used since 1932 to large canvases, as they were easier to exhibit.{{sfnm|1a1=Kettenmann|1y=2003|1p=62|2a1=Herrera|2y=2002|2p=315}} She also adopted a more sophisticated technique, limited the graphic details, and began to produce more quarter-length portraits, which were easier to sell.{{sfn|Herrera|2002|p=315}} She painted several of her most famous pieces during this period, such as ''[[The Two Fridas]]'' (1939), ''Self-portrait with Cropped Hair'' (1940), ''[[The Wounded Table]]'' (1940), and ''[[Self-Portrait with Thorn Necklace and Hummingbird]]'' (1940). Three exhibitions featured her works in 1940: the fourth International Surrealist Exhibition in Mexico City, the [[Golden Gate International Exposition]] in San Francisco, and ''Twenty Centuries of Mexican Art'' in MoMA in New York.{{sfnm|1a1=Zamora|1y=1990|1pp=136–137|2a1=Burrus|2y=2005|2p=220}}<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.moma.org/momaorg/shared/pdfs/docs/press_archives/608/releases/MOMA_1940_0039_1940-05-11_40511-34.pdf?2010 |title=Twenty Centuries of Mexican Art Opens at Museum of Modern Art |date=15 May 1940 |access-date=25 July 2016 |publisher=[[Museum of Modern Art]] |archive-date=3 November 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161103100431/https://www.moma.org/momaorg/shared/pdfs/docs/press_archives/608/releases/MOMA_1940_0039_1940-05-11_40511-34.pdf?2010 |url-status=live }}</ref>

On 21 August 1940, [[Assassination of Leon Trotsky|Trotsky was assassinated]] in Coyoacán, where he had continued to live after leaving La Casa Azul.{{sfn|Herrera|2002|pp=295–315}} Kahlo was briefly suspected of being involved, as she knew the murderer, and was arrested and held for two days with her sister Cristina.{{sfnm|1a1=Herrera|1y=2002|1pp=295–315|2a1=Burrus|2y=2005|2p=220}} The following month, Kahlo traveled to San Francisco for medical treatment for back pain and a fungal infection on her hand.{{sfnm|1a1=Herrera|1y=2002|1pp=276–277; 295–315|2a1=Kettenmann|2y=2003|2pp= 52, 56|3a1=Zamora|3y=1990|3pp= 64, 70|4a1=Burrus|4y=2005|4p=205}} Her continuously fragile health had increasingly declined since her divorce and was exacerbated by her heavy consumption of alcohol.{{sfnm|1a1=Herrera|1y=2002|1pp=276–277; 295–315|2a1=Kettenmann|2y=2003|2pp= 52, 56|3a1=Zamora|3y=1990|3pp= 64|4a1=Burrus|4y=2005|4p=205}}

Rivera was also in San Francisco after he fled Mexico City following Trotsky's murder and accepted a commission.{{sfnm|1a1=Herrera|1y=2002|1pp=295–315 for fleeing|2a1=Zamora|2y=1990|2p=70|3a1=Kettenmann|3y=2003|3p=56}} Although Kahlo had a relationship with art dealer [[Heinz Berggruen]] during her visit to San Francisco,{{sfnm|1a1=Marnham|1y=1998|1p=296|2a1=Ankori|2y=2002|2p=193}} she and Rivera were reconciled.{{sfnm|1a1=Kettenmann|1y=2003|1pp=56–57|2a1=Burrus|2y=2005|2p=205|3a1=Zamora|3y=1990|3p=70}} They remarried in a simple civil ceremony on 8 December 1940.{{sfnm|1a1=Kettenmann|1y=2003|1pp=56–57|2a1=Burrus|2y=2005|2p=205|3a1=Zamora|3y=1990|3p=70|4a1=Herrera|4y=2002|4pp=295–315}} Kahlo and Rivera returned to Mexico soon after their wedding. The union was less turbulent than before for its first five years.{{sfn|Zamora|1990|p=86}} Both were more independent,{{sfnm|1a1=Herrera|1y=2002|1pp=295–315|2a1=Zamora|2y=1990|2p=70}} and while La Casa Azul was their primary residence, Rivera retained the San Ángel house for use as his studio and second apartment.{{sfn|Kettenmann|2003|p=57}} Both continued having extramarital affairs; Kahlo had affairs with both men and women, with evidence suggesting her male lovers were more important to Kahlo than her female lovers.{{sfnm|1a1=Herrera|1y=2002|1pp=295–315|2a1=Zamora|2y=1990|2p=70}}<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.glbtq.com/arts/kahlo_f.html |title=glbtq >> arts >> Kahlo, Frida |date=10 November 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131110030622/http://www.glbtq.com/arts/kahlo_f.html |access-date=24 February 2020 |archive-date=10 November 2013}}</ref>
[[File:Frida Kahlo in Sari.png|thumb|right|Kahlo (centre), [[Nayantara Sahgal]] (right) and Rita Dar at Casa Azul in 1947]]
Despite the medical treatment she had received in San Francisco, Kahlo's health problems continued throughout the 1940s. Due to her spinal problems, she wore twenty-eight separate supportive corsets, varying from steel and leather to plaster, between 1940 and 1954.{{sfn|Herrera|2002|pp=344–346}} She experienced pain in her legs, the infection on her hand had become chronic, and she was also treated for [[syphilis]].{{sfnm|1a1=Herrera|1y=2002|1pp=344–346|2a1=Zamora|2y=1990|2p=86}} The death of her father in April 1941 plunged her into a depression.{{sfn|Zamora|1990|p=86}} Her ill health made her increasingly confined to La Casa Azul, which became the center of her world. She enjoyed taking care of the house and its garden, and was kept company by friends, servants, and various pets, including [[spider monkey]]s, [[Mexican hairless dog|Xoloitzcuintlis]], and parrots.{{sfnm|1a1=Herrera|1y=2002|1pp=295–315|2a1=Zamora|2y=1990|2pp=73–78|3a1=Kettenmann|3y=2003|3p=61}}

While Kahlo was gaining recognition in her home country, her health continued to decline. By the mid-1940s, her back had worsened to the point that she could no longer sit or stand continuously.{{sfnm|1a1=Kettenmann|1y=2003|1p=79|2a1=Herrera|2y=2002|2p=383|3a1=Burrus|3y=2005|3p=205}} In June 1945, she traveled to New York for an operation which fused a bone graft and a steel support to her spine to straighten it.{{sfnm|1a1=Herrera|1y=2002|1pp=344–359|2a1=Burrus|2y=2005|2p=205}} The difficult operation was a failure.{{sfn|Herrera|2002|pp=344–359}} According to biographer Hayden Herrera, Kahlo also sabotaged her recovery by not resting as required and by once physically re-opening her wounds in a fit of anger.{{sfn|Herrera|2002|pp=344–359}} Her paintings from this period, such as ''[[The Broken Column]]'' (1944), ''Without Hope'' (1945), ''Tree of Hope, Stand Fast'' (1946), and ''[[The Wounded Deer]]'' (1946), reflect her declining health.{{sfn|Herrera|2002|pp=344–359}}