In 1907 Magdalena Carmen Frieda Kahlo y Calderón was born in a small town on the outskirts of Mexico city. Almost exactly 47 years later she died in the same house she was born. Throughout her life Frida re-imagined a great deal about herself, most famously claiming to have been born in 1910; the year the Mexican Revolution began. Today Frida Kahlo is one of Mexico's most famous artists and her name is synonymous with feminist surrealism.

From a young age Frida displayed an independent and resilient nature and, despite contracting polio at a young age and suffering a withered leg as a result, Frida participated in a great many sports, including boxing. A bus crash at 18, however, put an end to a great deal of this physical activity as she suffered numerous injuries including a broken pelvis and spine and a pierced uterus as an iron handrail skewered her abdomen.

This accident was to play a massive part in Frida's life as she became constrained by the resulting injuries and was forced to spend a great deal of time confined to her bed for long periods of her life. Before this, however, Frida had a very active social life centered around a clique of personalities in her school. This social activity was to continue in her later life and, together with her forced confinement, created one of the most interesting artists and personalities of the 20th century; Frida Kahlo.

Though Frida is now remembered mainly for her surreal art and its strong depictions of Mexican and Amerindian motifs, there was far more to this icon of art during her lifetime. Renown for her sexual exploits and social thought Frida helped to push social boundaries not only of Mexico but the wider world too. In her art Frida's stood strongly beside her feminism as she unashamedly depicted women and their sexual organs as she saw them. Even her private life impacted on the public world with her open bisexuality and affairs with figures like Leon Trotsky.

In many ways the blueprint for Frida's life can be seen in her youth. By the age of 18 Frida had been socially and physically active, confined to a bed with nothing to do in her solitude but paint and read, and had witnessed the revolution that painted Mexico's streets in violence. This plethora of varied activity resurfaces in Frida's later life and is reflected in much of her work.

Listen back as Patrick is joined by a panel of experts to talk about the life and legacy of Frida Kahlo and her fascinating art. Was her early life as eventful as Frida claimed? Or was it a construction to further the myth of Kahlo? What was her marriage to Diego Rivera really like? And is she as important an artist as we make her out to be today?