Currently, our society is obsessed with taking self-portraits with our cell phones; we call them Selfies. We love to document our hair dos, new clothes, beard growth, gym goals, clubbing with the girls, hanging with the boys, rock concerts, plush restaurants, vacation spots and our mood of the day. Yet before cell phones, gasp, people actually PAINTED their own image on canvas with the aid of a mirror. These self-portraits on canvas are the first SELFIES. Way back in the day, the Mexican woman artist, Frida Kahlo, was the Queen of Selfies. As a vibrant young artist, Frida barely survived a tragic bus accident, where she was impaled by a rail near her seat. Though the bus accident left Frida bed ridden and in pain much of her life, she would lay in bed with a mirror and paint portraits of herself. Through her paintings Frida documented her hair dos, her new clothes, her pet monkey, her many operations, her dreams and her mood of the day. . . . Sound familiar? Frida Kahlo's Selfies are extremely popular they appear everywhere: museums, art galleries, books, posters, tee shirts, mugs, magnets, etc. There is even a movie about Frida Kahlo's life starring Selma Hayek. Though Frida Kahlo isn't the first artist to paint their own image on canvas; she is definitely the most renown for self-portraits, aka SELFIES!
