Self-Portrait with Monkey1938
Oil on masonite, 16 x 12"
Bequest of A. Conger Goodyear, 1966

Frida Kahlo's short and painful life is reflected in the many self-portraits she created throughout her career. Born in Mexico in 1907, she was one of five daughters of a Hungarian-Jewish father and a Mexican mother.

She was afflicted with polio at the age of six, which left her with a withered leg. As a result, her self-image was never strong. To compound her difficulties, at age eighteen she was a passenger on a bus that collided with a trolley, and her body was pierced by the trolleyÌs metal handrail. Although she survived, her injuries made childbirth a near impossibility and resulted in a never-ending string of operations and hospitalizations. The only positive result of the accident was that Kahlo took up painting while convalescing. The small scale of most of her work is a result of being confined, often in her own bed or a hospital bed.

Kahlo's imagery reflects a preoccupation with the exploration of love and its connection to pain in her life. She had many lovers, both male and female, and was married twice--first in 1929 and again in 1940--to the famous Mexican muralist Diego Rivera, whom she loved obsessively. The small, slender Kahlo was a stark contrast to the portly Rivera. Her father remarked, "It was like the marriage between an elephant and a dove." Their stormy relationship inspired many of her paintings. As her biographer, Hayden Herrera, noted, "Every time Diego left her, there's another painting with tears or gashes." In Kahlo's own words, Rivera showed her "the revolutionary sense of life and the true sense of color."
Kahlo preferred dressing in native Mexican costume and paid great attention to her hair and make-up even when gravely ill.

The numerous self-portraits she created range in mood from violent (i.e. showing herself as a deer shot through with arrows or a woman ripped open from neck to navel and covered with nails), to heart-rending (showing herself naked and bleeding profusely from complications of childbirth), to more serene images such as the Gallery's Self-Portrait with Monkey.
In Self-Portrait with Monkey,Kahlo's signature icon—her joined eyebrows—is emphasized. She chose a monkey as her companion because she admired its childlike and playful nature. The apparently naïve (unschooled) drawing, bright and bizarre colors, and dramatic and fantastical images reflect her inspiration in native Mexican art.

Kahlo preferred dressing in native Mexican costume and paid great attention to her hair and make-up even when gravely ill. The numerous self-portraits she created range in mood from violent (i.e. showing herself as a deer shot through with arrows or a woman ripped open from neck to navel and covered with nails), to heart-rending (showing herself naked and bleeding profusely from complications of childbirth), to more serene images such as the Gallery's Self-Portrait with Monkey.
In Self-Portrait with Monkey,Kahlo's signature icon—her joined eyebrows—is emphasized. She chose a monkey as her companion because she admired its childlike and playful nature. The apparently naïve (unschooled) drawing, bright and bizarre colors, and dramatic and fantastical images reflect her inspiration in native Mexican art.

Kahlo was a famous personality in her time, and lived a life full of drama and passion right to the end. When her first major exhibition finally opened in Mexico City's Gallery of Contemporary Art in 1953, she was not expected to attend due to the grave condition of her health. To the surprise and delight of her patrons and fans, however, she arrived on a hospital stretcher and was enthroned in her canopy bed, which had been installed in the Gallery that afternoon. Less than a year later, she died from an overdose of tranquilizers. Her popularity has taken an upswing lately, due both to the avid collection of her work by celebrities such as Madonna and the relevance of themes such as androgyny and violence in the 1990s.
— Mariann Smith