Two Fridas

Mediums: oil, canvas.
Dimensions: 173,5 x 173 сm.
Location: Museum of Modern Art, Mexico City (Mexico).

A double self-portrait is one of Kahlo’s most famous compositions, symbolizing the artist’s emotional pain when she divorced Diego Rivera. Against the background of a stormy sky, she painted herself on the right in modern European clothes; on the left, she depicted herself in a Mexican costume, which is a hint of the strong nationalism of Rivera, whose portrait she keeps in her medallion. Although both women have their hearts, the European in white seems to have cut her heart, and the artery that comes from it is bleeding. The symbolic elements in Kahlo’s paintings often have several layers of meaning: for example, the recurring theme of blood represents both metaphysical and physical suffering.