Frida Kahlo: when the uni-brow is said and done, will Frida Kahlo's life prove her greatest work of art?

Frida Kahlo had it all. The sex, the revolution, the tragedy, the notorious affairs, the talent... But what makes her one of the most important female artists of our time, one of our most controversial and fascinating figures, an inspiration to today's leading ladies such as Madonna and Jennifer Lopez (both of whom were reportedly interested in taking her life to the screen), and Salma Hayek, who produces and stars in the just-opened film Frida? What makes Kahlo an icon?

As a woman, a human being, the great magnitude of her life competed with her art; living became an art itself. One cannot separate them--one feeds the other. Would Van Gogh have been an icon if he hadn't cut off his ear? Picasso, if he had a lead a suburban, monogamous life? Warhol, if he'd stayed at home every night watching TV?

Kahlo dug deeper into the human condition than most could. Joy, rejection and devastation were her inspiration, the fuel for her creative fires. She celebrated all of her desires and deficiencies, and explored them in every brush stroke. Nothing was rejected. Everything was art. What made her so great was her capacity to be human on such a grand scale. As Geoffrey Rush's Leon Trotsky says in director Julie Taymor's new biopic, Frida, "Her paintings express what everyone feels, yet they are alone in their pain."

On canvas or onscreen, it is fascinating to watch life unfold in front of you, where one can recognize oneself. Kahlo was willing to be--and in many ways still is--the star of this great show.

Artist Anh Duong's book (Self) Portraits was published recently by Assouline.

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