here are many different interesting aspects to focus on, many of which are symbolic to Kahlo. Yasumasa faces the viewer with her head and shoulders taking up much of the space. He s surrounded by green leaves of similar size and shape with one yellow leaf behind her head. On the left side of the painting a spider monkey holds a piece of the thorns that encircle her neck. There are several drops of blood on her neck from the piercing thorns. A brown cat looks over her other shoulder. A black bird hangs from the thorns with its beak in the hollow of her throat. His air is piled with a purple textile into a figure eight-like design with two butterfly-like creatures with lace wings visible on either side. Two creatures fly above her head …show more content…
A bird often symbolizes freedom and a bird is often thought to be colorful and hovering above a flower, yet this bird is black, lifeless, and tied to her necklace of thorns. Frida Kahlo spent much of her life in physical pain after a streetcar accident at age fifteen which resulted in thirty five operations to try to repair her body. In her recovery she was often confined to her bed. She could not have children, but she did have several pet monkeys that were her beloved companions. Kahlo painted many self-portraits often with animals surrounding her. Kahlo often refers in her art to her Mexican heritage and her relationship with her husband a famous Mexican muralist, Diego Rivera. The light values and the placement of the insects suggest flight and freedom in contrast to the darkness of the bird, cat and monkey which appear to be grounding the figure. The monkey may represent one of her pet monkeys or maybe a child. A monkey is found in many of Frida Kahlo’s self-portraits often on her shoulder. The monkey holds the end of the thorns. Is he freeing her or is he pulling on the end? Perhaps the cat and monkey represent two sides of her personality. The contrast of Kahlo’s expression with her unusual surroundings makes the viewer wonder what pain she has endured.