The Frame (painting)

The Frame
Spanish: El marco
ArtistFrida Kahlo
Year1938
TypeOil on aluminum, framed in glass
Dimensions28.5 cm × 20.7 cm (11.2 in × 8.1 in)
LocationMusée National d'Art Moderne, Paris

The Frame (El marco in Spanish) is a 1938 self-portrait by Frida Kahlo.[1] The painting features Kahlo's self-portrait in oil on a sheet of aluminum framed in glass which she purchased from a market in Oaxaca, Mexico.[2] Although the glass frame is included as part of the painting, the flowers, birds, and other details on the frame were painted prior to being purchased by Kahlo.[3]

The painting is notable as the first work by a 20th-century Mexican artist to be purchased by a major international museum, when it was acquired by the Louvre in 1939. The painting is now shown at the Musée National d'Art Moderne in the Centre Pompidou in Paris.[4] It was the only sale Kahlo made in her Paris exhibition.[5] Upon Kahlo's death in 1954, the New York Times stated that she was "said to have been the first woman artist to sell a picture to the Louvre."[3][6]

  1. ^ Self-portrait "The Frame" by Frida Kahlo. fridakahlo.org.
  2. ^ "The Frame by Frida Kahlo". Google Arts & Culture. Retrieved 2024-05-08.
  3. ^ a b Lozano, Luis-Martín; Kettenmann, Andrea; Vázquez Ramos, Marina; Taschen, Benedikt, eds. (2021). Frida Kahlo: the complete paintings. Köln: Taschen GmbH. ISBN 978-3-8365-7420-4. OCLC 1255833086.
  4. ^ The Frame, Frida Kahlo. fridakahlofans.com.
  5. ^ Terri Hardin Frida Kahlo: A Modern Master 2005- Page 68 1597640891 "Breton annoyed Kahlo by exhibiting a jumble of various folk objects of varying artistic merit that he had acquired in Mexico — "junk," as she called it. Nevertheless, the objects were no doubt sufficiently exotic to the European sensibility, and Breton's instincts were probably right in presenting them. While the exhibit was not a financial success (due to the imminent onset of World War II), the Louvre chose to purchase one of Kahlo's works, The Frame (c. 1938). The Frame is a lively work ...
  6. ^ "Frida Kahlo, Artist, Diego Rivera's Wife". archive.nytimes.com. Retrieved 2024-05-08.