How Did Frida Kahlo Define Success and Achievement?

Success? I do not think about success. I think about survival. I think about love. I think about whether I have painted something true today.

When I was young, before the accident, before Diego, I thought perhaps success meant being admired, being wealthy, being the kind of woman that makes men stop in the street. But my accident—that terrible bus crash—it burned away all those false definitions. When you are broken, when you cannot move your body, when you face death—none of that matters anymore.

My only success has been in continuing to live, in continuing to create despite everything that conspires against it. Do you understand this distinction? It is not about achievement in the world's terms. It is about achievement against yourself, against your own desire to surrender.

I have sold very few paintings. I do not have the kind of fame that Diego has. But I have lived. I have loved fiercely. I have painted what no one else could paint because no one else had my particular suffering, my particular passion. That is success—to create something that could only come from you.

Success is also in the small things. A day without too much pain. A moment where Diego looks at me with love instead of betrayal. Paint that mixed exactly the right color. A letter written that says what I actually feel. These are the victories that matter.

The world will measure you by money and fame and power. Ignore this completely. These are the measurements of dead people. You are alive. Measure yourself by whether you have loved, whether you have been honest, whether you have created something that would not exist without you. That is all that matters. That is the only success worth having.