The Two Fridas Analysis

Frida Kahlo once said, “I never paint dreams or nightmares. I paint my own reality.” Kahlo’s works of art was a reflection of her life; it was heavily impacted by traumatic physical and psychological events from childhood up to early adulthood. Apart from these events, Kahlo’s rich and mixed ancestry - German and Mexican - provided her a source for her subject matter. Kahlo’s work often fell in the Surrealist category, though, Kahlo was never considered to be a Surrealist artist. Kahlo’s paintings were not based upon dreams or the subconscious; rather it was more of an autobiography. Kahlo’s paintings portray her suffering and pain throughout her life resulting it containing powerful messages within.

Frida Kahlo was a Mexican, self-taught

One such painting is called, “The Two Fridas. “ The Two Fridas is an oil painting in which represents a double self portrait of Kahlo. This painting is created in 1939 during the Naïve art time period -- a classification of art characterized by childlike simplicity in its subject matter and technique. The painting is 567 inches by 567 inches. The painting depicts two self-portraits of Frida Kahlo that show close similarity. However, on the right, Frida Kahlo wears a white, European style dress, whereas Frida is wearing a traditional Mexican Tehuana dress. Both Fridas sit on a bench during a stormy day. Looking closer, a single vein connects the two Fridas’ exposed hearts with the locket of Rivera on the right. Frida, on the left, holds a pair of scissors attempting to cut the vein connecting to the locket; instead blood drips onto her white dress. Her heart is shown as broken. Frida, on the right, holds a locket with an image of Diego Rivera in which a vein connects it to both Frida's’ heart. According to the attire, the time period would be around the 1900s. Kahlo uses implied lines to depict the veins connecting the two Fridas together, as well as, the different values of black in order to symbolize the stormy, sky. Although, both Fridas appear to be sorrowful, Kahlo uses color to depict that she is happier when she is home in Mexico and embraces who she is. As you see in the painting, on the

The painting is successful because it conveys a specific mood and meaning by containing the use of monochromatic colors (black) illustrating the sorrowful mood of the painting. The vein connecting the two hearts with the locket and the unloved Kahlo attempting to cut the vein demonstrates the pain Kahlo feels and her yearning to disconnect from Rivera. The painting had a lasting impression on me because it shows that no matter what a person looks like on the outside we will never know how a person feels emotionally or even physically