Frida Kahlo: The Paintings

Frida Kahlo's riveting canvases are complemented by Hayden Herrera's expressive and fluid prose, which effectively captures the essence of viewing her works, offering a "superb tribute," as described by Booklist. In this beautiful book, the art historian brings together numerous paintings and sketches by the Mexican artist, each accompanied by explanatory text that probes the influences in Kahlo's life and their significance for her iconic body of work.

Kahlo's small, stunningly rendered self-portraits depict her in the most raw and vulnerable states – cracked open, hemorrhaging during a miscarriage, anesthetized on a hospital gurney, and weeping beside her own extracted heart. The emotional intensity and provocative subject matter of her pieces are so incendiary that one art critic suggested the walls of an exhibition be covered with asbestos.

Included in Frida Kahlo: The Paintings are more than eighty full-color paintings, as well as dozens of black and white photographs and line illustrations, showcasing both famous and lesser-known works. Among these are The Two Fridas, Self Portrait as a Tehuana, Without Hope, The Dream, The Little Deer, Diego and I, Henry Ford Hospital, My Birth, and My Nurse and I. Additionally, the book features documentary photographs of Kahlo and her world, illuminating the various stages of her life and artistic evolution.

Through Herrera's insightful text, readers are granted a deeper understanding of the influences that shaped Kahlo's distinctive style and the profound personal significance imbued in her self-portraits and other iconic paintings. This comprehensive volume offers an immersive and enriching exploration of the life and creative genius of one of Mexico's most celebrated and influential artists.

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