Autorretrato con chango y loro (Self-portrait with Monkey and Parrot)

In 1930, Kahlo followed her husband to San Francisco; they packed their things and moved from Mexico to the United States. In this scene, Frida painted herself in between these two homes; on the right, an exaggerated industrial view of the US,  the Ford smokestacks emitting a cloudy American flag and on her left, a pre-columbian view of Mexico, with a temple and native plants. This dichotomy is also reflected in what she holds in her crossed arms, she has a cigarette in her right hand, and a Mexican flag in her left. Homesick for Mexico, she portrays the U.S. as an unfriendly place full of machinery and smog, and romanticizes her indigenous roots–which are quite literally present under the surface on which she stands.

Creator: Frida Kahlo

Date: 1942

Original Medium: Oil on Masonite

Original Size:

Location: Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires (MALBA)