( CNN ) -- It takes quite a character to inspire a legion of women to draw thick black unibrows and mustaches on their own faces . Six decades after Frida Kahlo 's death , her distinctive floral headwear , ornate dresses , and flash of red lipstick , still captivates some fans to the point of making themselves in her image . Every time a major gallery launches a new exhibition of the Mexican painter 's work , you can bet it will be accompanied by a queue of Kahlo-lookalikes , said art historian Helga Prignitz-Poda . `` It 's a real phenomenon , '' said the curator of one of the biggest Kahlo exhibitions in the world , currently on display at Rome 's Scuderie del Quirinale . `` I think people are most fascinated by her paintings -- Frida shows her inner life in a very authentic manner . And I think there are very few artists that have painted so much of what they really felt . `` There 's a certain honesty , and that 's what people understand and feel . '' Queen of the selfie ? Kahlo 's greatest muse was arguably herself , throughout her lifetime painting a huge number of self-portraits depicting deeply personal experiences in raw detail . From miscarriages , to a painful back injury which plagued her , the viewer is given a glimpse into the darkest depths of Kahlo 's world . She once famously said : `` I paint myself because I am often so alone , and because I am the subject I know best . '' And in an age of the selfie , could Kahlo 's self-portraits tell us something about people 's need to share their image with others ? `` She told her friends : ' I give you this painting so that I am not so alone , ' '' said Prignitz-Poda . `` So when people looked at pictures of her in their houses they thought of her , and it was like a white magic -- the more she painted herself , the more she spread her image among her friends , and the more these friends thought of her . `` I think the people who dress-up as Frida Kahlo today want to identify themselves with her because they feel there is a person who has been as lonely as them . There is a person who fought against this loneliness , who was strong enough to overcome their own problems . '' A life less ordinary . Kahlo 's enduring allure is not simply due to her artwork , but a remarkable life which began in Mexico City in 1907 . A horrific traffic accident as a teenager left her with lifelong back problems , and many of her self-portraits depict her body wracked with pain -- in one she wears a necklace of thorns , in another she is a deer pierced with arrows . Her marriage to fellow Mexican painter Diego Rivera -- 21 years her senior and a towering figure beside Kahlo 's petite frame -- was a tumultuous one , the couple divorcing in 1939 and remarrying the next year . Both had extramarital affairs , with Kahlo perhaps most famously engaging in a relationship with Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky , while he was in exile in Mexico . `` In the beginning Frida was in Diego 's shadow , but she very soon stepped out of it , '' said Prignitz-Poda of the couple 's avant-garde art careers . `` On their first trip to the United States in 1930 , they had been married for one year , and already the press started to notice her appearance by his side as someone very attractive and spectacular . `` When people came to their house to interview Diego , they saw her paintings , and saw that she was also very interesting . '' In 1938 Kahlo had her first solo exhibition in New York . A year later her self-portrait `` The Frame , '' was purchased by The Louvre in Paris , the first work by a 20th century Mexican artist bought by the gallery . She had well and truly stepped out of her husband 's shadow -- professionally at least . Frame of mind . Gaze across Kahlo 's self-portraits and you 'll find an unsmiling woman with a harsh unibrow staring back . But the bold persona was all part of a carefully cultivated `` masquerade , '' says Prignitz-Poda . `` She 's dressing up in the Tehuana dress , which represents the matriarch in a certain part of Mexico -- the strong woman who fights for her rights , makes her own money . She wants to represent this type of woman . `` She pointed out her mustache and joined eyebrows because they show a male aspect to her personality , and Frida always wanted to be both . She wanted to be a complete human being and not only the sweet wife , so this makes her look so strong . '' Kahlo died soon after her 47th birthday in La Casa Azul -- `` The Blue House '' -- where she was also born , now a museum attracting thousands of visitors each month . The official cause of death was respiratory failure , set on by pneumonia . Today , Kahlo 's paintings sell for a whopping $ 5.6 million , her face adorns Mexico 's 500-pesos note , and a 2002 Hollywood biopic of her life featured Salma Hayek in the Oscar nominated lead role . Major retrospective exhibitions of her work continue to draw huge crowds . And among them are the Kahlo lookalikes , who quietly contemplate their hero hanging on the wall . Learn : Forgotten war photographer you should know . Milena Veselinovic contributed to this report .
60th anniversary of Frida García 's death . New retrospective of Mexican painter 's work in Mexico . ' Exhibition ' of women dressing as legendary women . Most famous for surreal self - portraits , which sell for $ 5 million .