Frida and Child - SOLD

Medium: Oil on Canvas

Size: 30 x 24

I imagined painting Frida Kahlo's portrait on a glorious day at Treasure Island Beach, just up from the Montage Hotel in Laguna Beach. Because of a bus accident when she was 18 years old, Kahlo experienced lifelong pain and medical problems. Unable to bear a child, she said her monkeys symbolized the children she couldn't have. Here I paint Frida, relaxed and pain free, with one of her beloved "children."

Magdalena Carmen Frida Kahlo y Calderón (1907 – 1954) was a Mexican painter known for her many portraits, self-portraits, and works inspired by the nature and artifacts of Mexico. Inspired by the country's popular culture, she employed a naïve folk art style to explore questions of identity, post-colonialism, gender, class, and race in Mexican society. Her paintings often had strong autobiographical elements and mixed realism with fantasy. Kahlo has been described as a surrealist or magical realist.