Artist Critique

Artist  Critique
Self-Portrait with Thorn Necklace and Hummingbird

 1940

By Frida Kahlo

     This painting, Self-Portrait with Thorn Necklace and Hummingbird, was painted by Frida Kahlo in 1940. The medium used to paint this is paint.  This portrait is a front view. Around her neck is a necklace of thorns that seem to be cutting her throat. On either side of her, she has a black cat and monkey. Another creature in the painting is a hummingbird, that hangs from one of the limbs of the vine. The background of the painting is filled with leaves and a small piece of blue sky.

    There aren’t any bright eye-catching colors. However, the color black is repeated through the animals of the painting (cat, monkey, hummingbird). An example of repetition found in the painting would be the colors and similar shapes of the leaves in the background. The overall quality of the art is very high.

    Frida Kahlo was involved in a bus accident when she was eighteen. She continued to be in physical pain after this. I believe the thorns and the lifeless hummingbird around her neck are symbolic of her feelings at the time. I believe this because she had to endure many operations to fix her body after her accident. Also, hummingbirds are usually symbolic of life and freedom. The thorns around her neck may be symbolic of how she couldn’t express herself the way she wanted because she was bedridden because of the surgeries.

    In my honest opinion, I really like this artwork. It tells a story. A story of how much pain she is feeling. My aesthetic judgment of this artwork would be that she was trying to go for a somewhat tropical theme. I’m basing this on the different elements she included in her art. The animals she included are generally tropical type animals and the leaves seem bright green and large like those you would see in a rainforest.