What I saw in the water

Unlike some of her images, this painting has no specific central idea. It illustrates certain events that occured throughout her life. It is said that as she soaked her aching body, her mind began to drift and was given images of the past and present, and death, comfort and lost.

Without Hope

After many surgeries, Frida had lost her appetite and became very thin. This painting portrays the idea of  a "force-feeding" diet. The wooden bored that she used to paint was now replaced with a type of funnel that continuously fed her. As you can see, her hands are pinned under the blankets showing that she has no control over the situation.

Tree of Hope

Frida painted this portrait for her patron, the engineer Eduardo Morillo Safa, after a botched operation in New York City. The flag she is holding says "Tree of Hope, Stay strong", which seems to be her own self courage. Yet again, we see two Fridas. The one on the left is Frida after an operation, and the other one is an upright confident Frida. The two paintings are divided into day and night. The wounds on her back resemble the cracks in the landscape. The Frida on the right is holding the corset that she has hope in casting away forever.

Thinking about Death

By this point, Frida was confied to a bed due to her declined health.Because of her poor health throughout the years, death was ALWAYS on her mind. Hence the skull and crossbones in a circular figure on her forehead. Death was understood as a sort of transition to a different kind of life.

Wounded Table

• Painting measures 4 feet by 8 feet
• Resembles a version of "The Last Supper", Frida being Christ in the middle of the table
• The Juda on her right represents Diego when he had an affair with her sister Christina, the figure has his hands on the table as did the Judas that betrayed Christ
• The Skeleton is holding a strand of her hair which may symbolize that she is "flirting with death"
• The two children symbolize her sisters two kids who seem to be unaware of the whole situation
• The characters have a lot of references to Frida's  leg and foot. (The Skeleton and Judas have bandaged feet, and the table has human legs) Which in a sense shows that her misfortune was one of the reasons that the divorce between her and diego happened.
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Two Fridas

After her divorce, Frida created this painting to demonstrate two sides of her. The right side is the person that Diego respected and loved. In her hand she holds a photo of Diego as a child and is the "Mexican Frida in Tejuana costume". On the left side she is dressed in a Victorian wedding dress, symbolizing the woman that Diego abandoned. Notice, that both of their hearts are exposed which Frida did to express her pain. The unloved Frida's heart is broken, while the "loved" Frida is whole. There is an ambulette that is connected to both Fridas, but is cut by "broken-hearted" Frida. She is also holding her own hand which shows she is her own companion.

My Birth

Encouraged by her husband to embark on a project documenting events in her life in a series of paintings, Frida began with this.  In this painting she depicts, as she would put it "...how I imagined I was born" , the head coming out is her own. The woman hidden under the sheets is a reference to her recently dead mother. In place of her mother's hidden face, Frida draws a virgin "Weeping of Sorrows" in a picture above the bed.