Oil Paintings - Art Reproductions

Self-Portrait with Curly Hair by Frida Kahlo

Frida Kahlo (Mexican 1910-1954) Self-Portrait with
Curly Hair oil on tin
7¼ x 5¾ in. (18.3 x 14.6 cm.)
Painted in 1935.

Please note that a sketch of a self-portrait by the artist is carved on the verso.

Frida Kahlo's Self-Portrait with Curly Hair (1935), another page in the iconography that reflects significant events in Kahlo's life, is about her attempt to break away from the attachment to Rivera, following his freshly discovered amorous liaison to her younger sister Cristina, shortly after she and Rivera returned to Mexico from New York. A despondent Rivera withdrew for a time, still stunned by the destruction of the mural that he produced for the Rockefeller Center for surreptitiously including in it the portrait of Lenin. Kahlo, unable to tolerate his withdrawal without interpreting it as a form of rejection, pressured him for acknowledgement, which made him withdraw further and take refuge with Cristina. The insult, she recreated in A Few Small Nips (1935) the narrative a of a woman butchered by her lover who jokes about it and says he did not really hurt her as he only gave her a few small nips. Kahlo told a friend that after Rivera requested a divorce, she attempted to take her life. Unsuccessfully, she had tried to break away from his influence and assert her individuality by shedding the Tehuana costume and cutting her long hair, both of which Rivera treasured. Out of that experience, Kahlo produced the androgynous Self-Portrait with Curly Hair, wearing regular clothes, and with her hair in a permanent curl. The painting is a precious object of devotion with its small size and gigantic emotional content: richly painted, eyebrows thick and sensuous frame Kahlo's long lashes and caressing gaze. Following her separation from Rivera, Kahlo had a liaison with Ignacio Aguirre, himself a talented muralist and printmaker. Till his death, Aguirre kept her letters and photos, including one of them of Kahlo with Cristina, in a small box made of the aromatic wood of Olinala, inscribed with his name, likely a gift from Kahlo. Her letters recall those she wrote to Rivera, making one wonder whether she sought more the amorous experience than the person. Like a treasure, I kept your letter. Your voice gave me the cleanest joy - I did not know what to do! - And I began to write you this letter that will not know how to tell you with words all that I would like - all that you deserve for giving me so much! - Your beauty -your hands - you.

Three months with Aguirre were not long enough to forget Rivera. With curls shed, Kahlo went to New York to commiserate with Ella Wolfe, brought with her the Self-Portrait with Curly Hair, and presented her with it as a gift. Ella Wolf owned another work by Kahlo also given her as a gift, Four Inhabitants of Mexico (1937), which she sold in order to live at home until her death on January 8, 2000; but the treasured Self-Portrait with Curly Hair, hung in her dining room, until the end.

Dr. Salomon Grimberg
Dallas, Texas
October 3, 2003
Source: Christies.com – Auction house for fine art