Editing Frida Kahlo (section)

=== Return to Mexico City and international recognition ===
Upon returning to Mexico City in 1934 Kahlo made no new paintings, and only two in the following year, due to health complications.{{sfn|Ankori|2002|p=160}} In 1937 and 1938, however, Kahlo's artistic career was extremely productive, following her divorce and then reconciliation with Rivera. She painted more "than she had done in all her eight previous years of marriage", creating such works as ''My Nurse and I'' (1937), ''[[Memory, the Heart]]'' (1937), ''Four Inhabitants of Mexico'' (1938), and ''[[What the Water Gave Me (painting)|What the Water Gave Me]]'' (1938).{{sfnm|1a1=Herrera|1y=2002|1p=215 for quote|2a1=Zamora|2y=1990|2p=56|3a1=Kettenmann|3y=2003|3p=45}} Although she was still unsure about her work, the [[National Autonomous University of Mexico]] exhibited some of her paintings in early 1938.{{sfn|Herrera|2002|p=226}} She made her first significant sale in the summer of 1938 when film star and art collector [[Edward G. Robinson]] purchased four paintings at $200 each.{{sfn|Herrera|2002|p=226}} Even greater recognition followed when French Surrealist [[André Breton]] visited Rivera in April 1938. He was impressed by Kahlo, immediately claiming her as a surrealist and describing her work as "a ribbon around a bomb".{{sfn|Mahon|2011|pp=33–34}} He not only promised to arrange for her paintings to be exhibited in Paris but also wrote to his friend and art dealer, [[Julien Levy]], who invited her to hold her first solo exhibition at his gallery on the East 57th Street in Manhattan.{{sfnm|1a1=Kettenmann|1y=2003|1p=45|2a1=Mahon|2y=2011|2pp=33–34}}

[[File:Diego Rivera, Frida Kahlo & Anson Goodyear.jpg|thumb|260px|left|Rivera, Kahlo, and [[Anson Goodyear]]]]
In October, Kahlo traveled alone to New York, where her colorful Mexican dress "caused a sensation" and made her seen as "the height of exotica".{{sfn|Mahon|2011|pp=33–34}} The exhibition opening in November was attended by famous figures such as [[Georgia O'Keeffe]] and [[Clare Boothe Luce]] and received much positive attention in the press, although many critics adopted a condescending tone in their reviews.{{sfnm|1a1=Herrera|1y=2002|1pp=230–232|2a1=Mahon|2y=2011|2pp=34–35}} For example, ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' wrote that "Little Frida's pictures&nbsp;... had the daintiness of miniatures, the vivid reds, and yellows of Mexican tradition and the playfully bloody fancy of an unsentimental child".{{sfn|Herrera|2002|pp=230–232}} Despite the [[Great Depression]], Kahlo sold half of the 25 paintings presented in the exhibition.{{sfn|Burrus|2005|p=204}} She also received commissions from [[A. Conger Goodyear]], then the president of the MoMA, and Clare Boothe Luce, for whom she painted a portrait of Luce's friend, socialite [[Dorothy Hale]], who had committed suicide by jumping from her apartment building.{{sfn|Herrera|2002|pp=230–235}} During the three months she spent in New York, Kahlo painted very little, instead focusing on enjoying the city to the extent that her fragile health allowed.{{sfn|Herrera|2002|pp=230–240}} She also had several affairs, continuing the one with Nickolas Muray and engaging in ones with Levy and [[Edgar Kaufmann, Jr.]]{{sfnm|1a1=Herrera|1y=2002|1pp=230–240|2a1=Ankori|2y=2002|2p=193}}

In January 1939, Kahlo sailed to Paris to follow up on André Breton's invitation to stage an exhibition of her work.{{sfnm|1a1=Kettenmann|1y=2003|1pp=51–52|2a1=Herrera|2y=2002|2pp=241–243}} When she arrived, she found that he had not cleared her paintings from the customs and no longer even owned a gallery.{{sfnm|1a1=Kettenmann|1y=2003|1pp=51–52|2a1=Herrera|2y=2002|2pp=241–245}} With the aid of [[Marcel Duchamp]], she was able to arrange for an exhibition at the Renou et Colle Gallery.{{sfnm|1a1=Kettenmann|1y=2003|1pp=51–52|2a1=Herrera|2y=2002|2pp=241–245}} Further problems arose when the gallery refused to show all but two of Kahlo's paintings, considering them too shocking for audiences,{{sfn|Herrera|2002|pp=241–245}} and Breton insisted that they be shown alongside photographs by [[Manuel Alvarez Bravo]], pre-Columbian sculptures, 18th- and 19th-century Mexican portraits, and what she considered "junk": sugar skulls, toys, and other items he had bought from Mexican markets.{{sfn|Mahon|2011|p=45}}

The exhibition opened in March, but received much less attention than she had received in the United States, partly due to the looming [[Second World War]], and made a loss financially, which led Kahlo to cancel a planned exhibition in London.{{sfnm|1a1=Kettenmann|1y=2003|1pp=51–52|2a1=Herrera|2y=2002|2pp=241–250}} Regardless, the [[Louvre]] purchased ''[[The Frame (painting)|The Frame]]'', making her the first Mexican artist to be featured in their collection.{{sfnm|1a1=Kettenmann|1y=2003|1pp=51–52|2a1=Herrera|2y=2002|2pp=241–250|3a1=Mahon|3y=2011|3p=45}} She was also warmly received by other Parisian artists, such as [[Pablo Picasso]] and [[Joan Miró]],{{sfn|Mahon|2011|p=45}} as well as the fashion world, with designer [[Elsa Schiaparelli]] designing a dress inspired by her and ''[[Vogue Paris]]'' featuring her on its pages.{{sfnm|1a1=Kettenmann|1y=2003|1pp=51–52|2a1=Herrera|2y=2002|2pp=241–250}} However, her overall opinion of Paris and the Surrealists remained negative; in a letter to Muray, she called them "this bunch of coocoo lunatics and very stupid surrealists"{{sfn|Mahon|2011|p=45}} who "are so crazy 'intellectual' and rotten that I can't even stand them anymore".{{sfn|Kettenmann|2003|p=51}}

In the United States, Kahlo's paintings continued to raise interest. In 1941, her works were featured at the [[Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston|Institute of Contemporary Art]] in [[Boston]], and, in the following year, she participated in two high-profile exhibitions in New York, the ''Twentieth-Century Portraits'' exhibition at the MoMA and the Surrealists' ''First Papers of Surrealism'' exhibition.{{sfn|Burrus|2005|pp=220–221}} In 1943, she was included in the ''Mexican Art Today'' exhibition at the [[Philadelphia Museum of Art]] and ''Women Artists'' at [[Peggy Guggenheim]]'s [[The Art of This Century gallery]] in New York.{{sfnm|1a1=Herrera|1y=2002|1pp=316–318|2a1=Zamora|2y=1990|2p=137|3a1=Burrus|3y=2005|3pp=220–221}}
[[File:Frida Kahlo by Magda Pach.jpg|thumb|A portrait of Kahlo by Magda Pach, wife of [[Walter Pach]], in the [[Smithsonian American Art Museum]] (1933)]]
Kahlo gained more appreciation for her art in Mexico as well. She became a founding member of the Seminario de Cultura Mexicana, a group of twenty-five artists commissioned by the Ministry of Public Education in 1942 to spread public knowledge of Mexican culture.{{sfnm|1a1=Kettenmann|1y=2003|1pp=61–62|2a1=Herrera|2y=2002|2pp=321–322}} As a member, she took part in planning exhibitions and attended a conference on art.{{sfn|Kettenmann|2003|pp=61–62}} In Mexico City, her paintings were featured in two exhibitions on Mexican art that were staged at the English-language Benjamin Franklin Library in 1943 and 1944. She was invited to participate in "Salon de la Flor", an exhibition presented at the annual flower exposition.{{sfn|Herrera|2002|pp=316–320}} An article by Rivera on Kahlo's art was also published in the journal published by the Seminario de Cultura Mexicana.{{sfnm|1a1=Burrus|1y=2005|1p=221|2a1=Herrera|2y=2002|2pp=321–322}}

In 1943, Kahlo accepted a teaching position at the recently reformed, nationalistic [[Escuela Nacional de Pintura, Escultura y Grabado "La Esmeralda"]].{{sfn|Zamora|1990|pp=95–96}} She encouraged her students to treat her in an informal and non-hierarchical way and taught them to appreciate Mexican popular culture and folk art and to derive their subjects from the street.{{sfnm|1a1=Zamora|1y=1990|1pp=95–96|2a1=Kettenmann|2y=2003|2pp=63–67|3a1=Herrera|3y=2002|3pp=330–332|4a1=Burrus|4y=2005|4p=205}} When her health problems made it difficult for her to commute to the school in Mexico City, she began to hold her lessons at La Casa Azul.{{sfnm|1a1=Zamora|1y=1990|1pp=95–96|2a1=Kettenmann|2y=2003|2pp=63–68}} Four of her students&nbsp;– [[Fanny Rabel]], [[Arturo García Bustos]], Guillermo Monroy, and [[Arturo Estrada]]&nbsp;– became devotees, and were referred to as "Los Fridos" for their enthusiasm.{{sfnm|1a1=Zamora|1y=1990|1pp=95–97|2a1=Kettenmann|2y=2003|2pp=63–68}} Kahlo secured three mural commissions for herself and her students.{{sfn|Herrera|2002|pp=335–343}}

Kahlo struggled to make a living from her art until the mid to late 1940s, as she refused to adapt her style to suit her clients' wishes.{{sfn|Herrera|2002|pp=316–334}} She received two commissions from the Mexican government in the early 1940s. She did not complete the first one, possibly due to her dislike of the subject, and the second commission was rejected by the commissioning body.{{sfn|Herrera|2002|pp=316–334}} Nevertheless, she had regular private clients, such as engineer Eduardo Morillo Safa, who ordered more than thirty portraits of family members over the decade.{{sfn|Herrera|2002|pp=316–334}} Her financial situation improved when she received a 5000-peso national prize for her painting ''Moses'' (1945) in 1946 and when ''[[The Two Fridas]]'' was purchased by the [[Museo de Arte Moderno]] in 1947.{{sfn|Herrera|2002|pp=320–322}} According to art historian Andrea Kettenmann, by the mid-1940s, her paintings were "featured in the majority of group exhibitions in Mexico". Further, Martha Zamora wrote that she could "sell whatever she was currently painting; sometimes incomplete pictures were purchased right off the easel".{{sfnm|1a1=Zamora|1y=1990|1p=100|2a1=Kettenmann|2y=2003|2p=62}}