Cinco de Mayo literally means “Fifth of May” in Spanish, and it commemorates Mexico’s victory over France at the Battle of Puebla, not the country’s independence as many people assume. The holiday honors a surprising underdog victory, where about 4,000 Mexican soldiers defeated a much larger and better equipped French army that had not lost…

Mexican artist Frida Kahlo made 143 paintings, 55 were self-portraits.

Frida Kahlo joined the Mexican Communist Party in 1927. She also had a brief affair with the exiled Soviet, Leon Trotsky and dedicated art to him.

Frida Kahlo’s painting The Wounded Deer is partly a self-portrait. But many believe that the deer was based on her pet deer, Granizo.

Frida Kahlo did not have the best health growing up, as she suffered from polio as a child and had a bus accident when she was 18. But it was that later accident that sparked her to pursue a career in art.