Frida Kahlo

Frido Kahlo was more than just an artist with a striking unibrow; she was a tequila-drinking, dirty-joke-telling communist who endured more in her 47 years than most do in a lifetime. After a horrific bus accident, she turned her pain into profound art, famously stating, "I didn't die, and I had a reason to live. That reason was painting." She had a famously tumultuous relationship with fellow artist Diego Rivera, whom she called the "second accident" in her life. Their marriage was a whirlwind of affairs on both sides. Frida's alleged dalliances were with both men and women, including a rumored fling with the vibrant entertainer Josephine Baker, though evidence of this remains elusive. One of her confirmed affairs was with Leon Trotsky, to whom she would slip love notes in books right under his wife's nose. A master of the self-portrait, she once quipped, "I paint myself because I am so often alone, because I am the subject I know best." In a display of her flamboyant spirit, she arrived at her first solo exhibition in an ambulance, holding court from her bed. It's also rumored that immediately after her accident, she was found covered in gold dust, a tragically beautiful and unverified anecdote of the "little ballerina".