In two parts, oil on board (1937) with painted mirror frame (added after 1939); and mirror with painted mirror frame (after 1939)
In 1938, André Breton, the leader of the Surrealist movement, met Kahlo during a visit to Mexico City. He described Kahlo’s work as Surrealist, particularly because of its entanglement with her dreams. But, when asked about it, Kahlo responded: “I never painted dreams. I painted my own reality.” This painting—with an intricately detailed pink ribbon connecting Kahlo and her pet monkey, Fulang-Chang—offers an imaginative view of the real. The artist later paired the self-portrait with a mirror, a tool she also often used to alter and extend her field of vision while painting.
517: A Surreal Lens, 2025
Kids label from 517: Surrealist Objects , 2025
What’s your favorite animal?
Frida Kahlo kept spider monkeys as pets. She named the one in the painting Fulang-Chang. The artist might have painted the pink ribbon connecting them to show how close she felt to her monkey.
What animal would you want to include in a painting? How would you show how you feel about that animal?
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Frida Kahlo
Mexican, 1907–1954 3 works onlineFrida Kahlo began to paint in 1925, while recovering from a near-fatal bus accident that devastated her body and marked the beginning of lifelong physical ordeals.
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The Last Dream
3 NorthFrida and Diego: The Last Dream celebrates Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera—two of Mexico’s most beloved icons of 20th-century art—in a first-of-its-kind collaboration with the Metropolitan Opera.
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