Frida and Her Self Portraits

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In Kahlo's 'Self Portrait with Monkey' a self portrait of Frida herself being grasped around the neck with a monkey which could be suggested to be her pet monkey, is centred in front of a background that has a leafy pattern. The mood that has been created in the painting is quite an uneasy one, as a stern and cold expression on Frida's face possibly over the divorce from Diego, is shown. The monkeys expression being the same. Although great detail is present in the painting, the leaves in the background seem to blend together with the monotonous colour (brownish/green) being shown throughout. This draws our attention onto Frida, as she painted herself an interesting element of a deep red ribbon that wraps around her neck and then disappears behind the monkey's neck. She may have painted the brown leaves to make them look dead to suggest symbolically her 'death' of life. A reason for this is that she painted this after going through a divorce with her husband. During the period following the divorce, Frida relied heavily on her pets for companionship. Frida often used monkeys in her compositions and although it could be represented as being a pet of hers or maybe a child, she may have also used the monkey to represent lust in Mexican symbolism. However, Kahlo’s stiff exterior could suggest that the monkey is more of a protective and even aggressive figure. Another painting includes In Frida Kahlo's self portrait paintings, she often illustrates herself wearing a traditional Mexican woman's dress with long flowing hair which shows a part of her feminine Mexican identity. However, in her self portrait painting named 'Self portrait with cropped hair' in place of her feminine appearance, shes shown to be short haired and wearing an oversized, dark coloured mans suit (presumably her former husband's). To draw our attention on Frida, her freshly cut locks of hair are
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