About the Author: Best known for her striking self-portraits, Frida Kahlo (1907-54) ranks among Mexico's most prominent artists. Her surrealistic paintings abound in symbolism, drawing upon her native country's folk traditions and reflecting her own turbulent existence. "I never paint dreams or nightmares," she asserted, "I paint my own reality." With the Neomexicanismo movement of the 1980s, which celebrated the values of contemporary Mexican culture, Kahlo's work began receiving wider recognition. International exhibitions of her paintings followed, exciting an ongoing interest in her passionate life, which has inspired biographies, an acclaimed film, and an opera.