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July 13: Frida Kahlo’s Death Day

It’s Frida Kahlo’s death day. Born in 1907, the revolutionary Mexican painter with the iconic eyebrows died on this day in 1954 in Mexico City. Frida defied social norms her entire life and her drinking habits were no different. When in mixed company, instead of fading into the background to sip wine with the ladies, she insisted on drinking straight tequila with the men. Her capacity scandalized the international art scene, especially when she publicly drank visiting male painters under the table. According to biographers, she averaged a bottle of tequila a day. She claimed she needed it as medicine, because she hurt her leg as a child. And her heart was often breaking. Regardless of her reasons, she drank right up to the moment the death angel put the arm on her. On her deathbed, where she lay dying of a blood clot in her lungs after an unsuccessful bone graft surgery on her spine, she used tequila to moderate the pain. Top quote: “I tried to drown my sorrows, but the bastards learned how to swim, and now I am overwhelmed by this decent and good feeling.”