L'œuvre en bref

Created in 1940, shortly after her temporary divorce from Diego Rivera, this painting expresses Frida Kahlo's emotional pain and resilience. Here she uses the symbolic language that characterises many of her self-portraits to evoke her suffering, but also her attachment to Mexican culture and nature. It's a self-portrait of rupture, but also of resistance, painted at a moment of personal fragility.

Frida stands facing the viewer, upright and impassive. Around her neck, a necklace of thorny stems lacerates her skin, causing small drops of blood to form. In the centre of the necklace hangs an inert black hummingbird, evoking both love and death. To the left, a monkey gives her a gentle tug, and to the right, a black cat stares intently at her. White butterflies decorate her plaited hair, and the background is filled with large tropical leaves. The contrast between the living vegetation and the symbols of pain and death accentuates the emotional tension of the whole.

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