An Iconographic Analysis

Frida Kahlo, The Two Fridas (Las dos Fridas), 1939, oil on canvas, 67-11/16 x 67-11/16 inches (Museo de Arte Moderno, Mexico City)

The Two Fridas by famous Mexican artist Frida Kahlo has been a widely discussed piece

of art since its debut in 1939. As discussed in my formal analysis, there are two figures sitting

side by side on a bench, joined by clasped hands and arteries of a severed heart with a dark sky

creating the background. Embedded within the formal elements are aspects of dualism, culture

and romantic despair.

The visual emphasis is placed on the two figures seated on the bench clasping hands in

the center of the image, creating the feature of dualism. Both women are figuratively and literally

two halves of one whole. One is wearing a European dress reminiscent of the bridal dress her

mother wears in My Grandparents, My Parents, and I (Family Tree)1 and the other is wearing a

traditionally styled Mexican dress. Frida Kahlo was a bicultural woman so it can be interpreted

that the European dress is a nod to her father’s German ancestries while the indigenous dress is

associated to her mother’s Mexican heritage2. Also to be noted, Kahlo typically wore European

styled attire prior to her marriage to fellow artist Diego Rivera3 who encouraged Frida to

embrace her culture and its customs. When looked at with this perception, the storming sky behind the two figures can be seen as a clash of cultures and the person she was with each

respectively.

Two anatomically correct hearts can be seen in both Fridas – Frida One (left) is portrayed

with a broken heart and Frida Two (right) is shown with what seems to be a fully functioning

heart. Both hearts are connected to each other by an artery that crosses around the neck of Frida

One from her damaged heart over the collar bone of Frida Two. From the full heart of Frida

Two, another artery branches off and is wrapped several times around her left arm and feeds into

a miniature portrait of Diego Rivera while from the heart of Frida One an artery branches off and

freely hangs down her right arm and ends severed within a hemostat, blood spilling out onto her

dress. Though most see Frida One as “pre-Diego Rivera”, I perceive Frida One as Kahlo without

Diego Rivera. At the time, Frida Kahlo was going through her difficult divorce with Diego

Rivera4. Though her heart is broken in this representation of herself and the consequent emotion

of the piece expresses sorrow and yearning, Kahlo is seen as resilient5. While it is evident that

Frida Two, the Mexican Frida, craves and clutches tightly a picture of her beloved Diego, Frida

One is literally and figuratively cutting off that supply of blood that feeds into that deficit.

Through the grasped hands and unwavering gaze, it is evident that Frida was in pain but she was

determined to move on from it and show that she was irrepressible.

The Two Fridas gives tribute to a mixed heritage and pays homage to her tumultuous

marriage to fellow artist Diego Rivera. Multiple areas of connection heavily symbolize the

joining of her two heritages and the dualism within herself, the heartbreak she was suffering, and

her love for Diego.