Pain is one of the senses that can change us as human beings. If you indulge it, it can become a part of you and shape your life. Can you really learn to live with pain? Will pain define you as a human being? Frida Kahlo's life began and ended in pain. In the midst of his pain he created masterpieces that gave his suffering artistic form and to this day that work of art derived from his suffering continues to influence artists today. Frida's life began in Coyoacan, Mexico on July 6, 1907. During her life Kahlo faced many difficulties caused by illness, heartache and love. She became famous for her disturbing self-portraits, radical politics, and that infamous unibrow (Stephen 2008). At the age of 6 Frida contracted polio which mainly affected her right leg. When she was 18, she was involved in a near-fatal bus crash that crushed her back, right leg and pierced her pelvis. Due to this accident Frida had to undergo almost 30 operations and was in constant pain. As a young woman, becoming a painter was not Frida's goal, she wanted to become a doctor. However, the tragic bus accident changed the course of his life forever. It was during the months of convalescence that Frida began to take painting seriously..."to combat boredom and pain" she said. "I felt I still had enough energy to do something other than study to be a doctor. Without particularly thinking about it, I started painting" (Wilson 145). It was the beginning of a lifelong career for Frida. Aside from a few art courses in high school and browsing through art books in her father's collection, Frida had no formal art training (Marion 2005). After recovering from the bus By chance, Frida learned that Dieg...... center of paper...... JWU Library, Charlotte, North Carolina. January 28, 2009docview.do?docLinkInd=true&risb=21_T5692273033&format=GNBFI&sort=RELEVANCE&startDocNo=1&resultsUrlKey=29_T5692273036&cisb=22_T5692273035&treeMax=true&treeWidth=0&csi=7 9 45&docNo=13>.Frida Kahlo: Portrait of an Artist (FFH 10704)Review by: Bianca ElliottHispania, Vol. 84, no. 3 (September 2001), p. 528Published by: American Association of Teachers of Spanish and PortugueseArticle DOI: 10.2307/3657814Article Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3657814http://arthistory.about.com/od/from_exhibitions/ig/frida_kahlo/fk200708_03 .htm"Kahlo, Frida." Dictionary of Women Artists (1997): Biography Reference Bank (H.W. Wilson). Network. March 20, 2014. "Frida Kahlo." (2005): Biographical Reference Bank (H.W. Wilson). Network. March 20. 2014.