Body, identity and symbol · Self-portraits by Frida Kahlo

Frida Kahlo transforms her face, body, clothes and the animals around her into a direct language of pain, identity and resistance.

Frida Kahlo makes the self-portrait a space where physical experience, Mexican identity and self-construction become inseparable. The Self-portrait with the velvet dress takes on a noble pose and an elongated neck, but the undulating background and the frontal gaze already establish a singular presence. In The Broken Column, the open body reveals a fractured ionic column, while the nails and the corset give a visible shape to the pain. The Self-portrait with a monkey brings together face, foliage and animal in a dense image where affection and symbol overlap. The Self-portrait with a monkey brings together face, foliage and animal in a dense image where affection and symbol overlap. After his separation from Diego Rivera, the Self-portrait with short cut hair uses a male costume, strands on the ground and words inscribed to represent a recomposed identity. Kahlo not only tells the story of her life: she constructs its signs. The "Frida Kahlo Portraits" selection notably compares Self-portrait with a velvet dress - Frida Kahlo and The Broken Column - Frida Kahlo. His reading favors composition.

In Frida Kahlo, the face remains calm even when everything around it - bodies, plants, animals and objects - reveals inner conflict.