Self Portrait with Thorn Necklace and Hummingbird is amid Frida Kahlo's well-nigh celebrated self-portraits. Kahlo was well known for the autobiographical elements in her piece of work, and Self Portrait with Thorn Necklace and Hummingbird is rich with symbols from her Mexican heritage. Singulart reveals the symbolism portrayed in this iconic work, every bit well as exploring Kahlo's cocky portraits and how her pride for her culture influenced her style.

Frida Kahlo'southward Famous Cocky Portraits

Kahlo famously stated, "I pigment cocky-portraits because I am so often solitary, because I am the person I know best." During her lifetime, Kahlo completed 143 artworks, 55 of which were cocky-portraits. She has become renowned for the autobiographical elements of her pieces, unashamedly portraying her life through her artwork. Her self-portraits all take some chemical element of pain and ache, whether it is concrete, as portrayed in The Wounded Deer, or emotional, like Self Portrait with Thorn Necklace and Hummingbird.

I of Kahlo's earliest self-portraits was titled Self Portrait in a Velvet Dress. In contrast to her later work, this shows some influences of European artistic techniques, particularly in the elongated hands and cervix, and the stylized waves in the background. Equally Kahlo began to explore her Mexican roots, with a specially fervent interest later her wedlock to Diego Rivera, she began to include more Mexican symbolism in her work. The influence of the surrealism movement also began to bear witness in her portraits, particularly in pieces such every bit Henry Ford Hospital and The Broken Column.

It seemed like there was no subject affair Kahlo was unwilling to portray through her portraits. Her pain over her divorce from Rivera can be seen in pieces such as The Two Fridas and of course Self Portrait with Thorn Necklace and Hummingbird, while pieces such as The Broken Column and Without Hope propose Kahlo's anguish towards her ongoing physical deterioration. Fifty-fifty her infertility is explored in works such as Roots, with Henry Ford Hospital straight referencing the miscarriage she experienced at said infirmary. She stated, "I never paint dreams or nightmares. I paint my own reality."

Self Portrait with Thorn Necklace and Hummingbird

Self Portrait with Thorn Necklace and Hummingbird (1940)

This self portrait was created following Kahlo'due south divorce to Diego Rivera. Although the ii had experienced a tumultuous relationship, with both conducting extramarital affairs, Kahlo was particularly devastated when Rivera embarked on an affair with her younger sister Cristina. However, it was Rivera who requested a divorce when Kahlo returned from exhibiting her work in New York and Paris.

Self Portrait with Thorn Necklace and Hummingbird shows Kahlo looking squarely at her audition, immediately engaging the viewer. She is painted in front of a wood of tropical green leaves, dressed in a white robe. On her head, two butterflies rest on her elaborate hairstyle, with two dragonflies flying close to her. Kahlo has painted herself with a necklace of thorns, with the spikes puncturing her skin and causing her to bleed. A monkey on her right shoulder pulls at the necklace, while a blackness cat on her left arches its back. An upside down hummingbird rests at the base of operations of her throat.

There are obvious religious overtones to the slice through the apply of Jesus'south crown of thorns. Kahlo has painted herself as a Christian martyr, enduring the hurting of her failed marriage. It has also been suggested that the butterflies symbolize resurrection, and then Kahlo could exist portraying herself equally Jesus Christ.

The hummingbird holds particular resonance to Kahlo's Mexican heritage. In Mexican civilization, hummingbirds signify falling in love and are used in love charms, just the fact that this hummingbird is black and lifeless suggests the desolation Kahlo felt following the end of her marriage. Alternatively, the hummingbird could symbolize Huitzilopochtli, the Aztec god of war. This god was oft depicted every bit a hummingbird, or with a helmet in the shape of a blue or green hummingbird.

Rivera gave Kahlo a monkey for a pet, and so the monkey on her back could be a straight reference to Rivera. It is also thought that the monkey could symbolise the devil, and that in the artwork he is antagonizing Kahlo by tugging at the thorn necklace. The blackness true cat is a symbol of bad luck and decease, and Kahlo has besides painted the cat to be gazing directly at the viewer. The true cat has an arched back, suggesting an agitated state.

Kahlo often used vibrant flora and animal every bit backgrounds for her self-portraits, to create a claustrophobic space teeming with fertility. It is thought that the emphasis of her monobrow and moustache – with the lines of her eyebrows mimicking the wingspan of the hummingbird around her neck – was intended every bit a feminist argument.

Frida Kahlo and Mexicanidad

Kahlo was heavily influenced past the Mexicanidad movement, which began in the backwash of the Mexican revolution. The motility was a resistance of "mindset of cultural inferiority" that had resulted from colonialism, and aimed to promote the history and culture of the indigenous Mexican people. The Mexican elite believed that Mexico should emulate Europe and European culture, and then the traditional Mexican civilisation was looked down upon. After joining an activist grouping called the Cachuchas, Kahlo began dressing in the Tehuana style, the colorful Mexican dresses and shawls that appear in many of her pieces, such as My Wearing apparel Hangs At that place.

Frida Kahlo, My Dress Hangs There (1933)
Frida Kahlo, My Dress Hangs There (1933)

Critics have argued that Kahlo'south self portraits do non only portray her personal life, but likewise the political and social reform that was happening in her beloved United mexican states. In her essay Culture, Politics and Identity in the Paintings of Frida Kahlo, art historian Jane Helland writes, "Kahlo's personal pain should non eclipse her commitment to Mexico and the Mexican people. As she sought her own roots, she as well voiced concern for her state every bit it struggled for an independent cultural identity."

The same My Dress Hangs In that location can be seen as a critique of the United states: the United States is depicted as a place that is soulless with skyscrapers and mechanism, while Mexico is portrayed equally a naturalistic, lush, fertile ground. A similar theme is explored in Cocky-Portrait on the Border, showing a stark contrast between United mexican states and the The states.

Frida Kahlo, Self-Portrait on the Border (1932)
Frida Kahlo, Self-Portrait on the Border (1932)

Kahlo'due south love and fierce pride for her heritage secured her place as an icon in Mexican culture. Her erstwhile domicile shared with Rivera, La Casa Azul, is at present a museum dedicated to her life and her work.

Want to see works in the style of Frida Kahlo? Check out Singulart'due south Inspired past Frida Kahlo Drove.