Major Achievements/Works

Henry Ford Hospital
1932
Oil on Canvas
12 ¼ x 15 ½ in
Collection Delores Olmedo Foundation, Mexico City
Frida was with Diego in Detroit where he was working on a mural when on the fourth of July she had to rushed to Henry Ford Hospital for severe hemorrhaging.

It is unclear whether she lost a baby at that time, but the event in a strange city away from Mexico was traumatic. She later painted this painting as a memory of being in the hospital. She lies in a hospital bed holding onto red lines, blood vessels connected to various symbols of parts of herself. There is a pelvis, an embryo, a broken spine, a flower, a snail, and a machine, all personal symbols floating around her in a surreal, flat green landscape. Frida is bleeding on the bed and she holds onto the cord to these parts as if to hold herself together.

2 Fridas
1939
Oil on canvas
68 x 68 in
Museo de Arte , Mexico City
By the time Frida painted this double portrait of herself she had been through many tragedies in her life. At this time she may have been suffering emotionally and physically so much that she thought of death as a way out. In 1939 was when Rivera asked her for a divorce, a final blow to her happiness, even though he had been a difficult, unfaithful husband.

This painting reflects her ability to see her self in two parts holding onto each other, perhaps one suffering and wanting death and the other wanting life. The two parts are not explained but remain a mystery.

Self Portrait
1926
Oil on canvas
31 x 23 in
Private collection, Mexico City
This is an early self portrait of Frida Kahlo at the age of 19, the same year as her bus accident. The composition of her pale skin, plunging into a V shape, then angling with her hand is interesting against the dark red dress The portrait is beautiful and strong, but it does not have the depth that her later portraits have.