Frida Kahlo is one of the most iconic artists of the 20th century, famous for her deeply personal and symbolic self-portraits. Out of her 143 paintings, 55 are self-portraits. She famously said, 'I paint myself because I am so often alone and because I am the subject I know best.' Her work often explores her chronic pain—resulting from a bus accident in her youth—her volatile marriage to Diego Rivera, and her Mexican identity. Kahlo frequently used Christian and Jewish mythology, as well as indigenous Mexican 'ex-voto' traditions, to convey her physical and emotional suffering. Common motifs include thorns, hummingbirds (symbols of luck or love in Mexican culture), and monkeys (which she saw as protective symbols). Her art was a revolutionary blend of Realism, Symbolism, and Surrealism, though she famously rejected the Surrealist label, claiming she never painted dreams, but rather her own reality.