In her brilliantly-colored works, Kahlo confronts difficult parts of her life, including physical debilitation, infidelity, divorce and miscarriage—elements which allow those who view her paintings to reflect on the artist’s life as a mirror into their own lives.

Making art accessible to all is a passion for Haas, Jr. Fund co-founder Evelyn D. Haas. With support from the Evelyn D. Haas Exhibition Fund, the exhibit attracted the most diverse audience in SFMOMA history. More than half of those attending the exhibit were first time visitors. Nearly a quarter of all audience members self-identified as Latino compared with the usual Latino attendance rate of 4-8%.

Kahlo created 66 self-portraits and around 80 paintings of other subjects during her short, 47-year lifetime. “I paint my own reality,” she said. “The only thing I know is that I paint because I need to.”

The beautiful paintings by Kahlo, who began her career while recovering from a near-fatal bus accident, capture the artist’s deepest reflections: from internal to external, from personal to political.