1937, Frida Kahlo, Self-Portrait Dedicated to Leon Trotsky -- National Museum of Women in the Arts (Washington)
From the museum label: In this painting, Kahlo commemorated the brief affair she had with the Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky and also alluded to her political views. Joseph Stalin expelled Trotsky from the U.S.S.R. in 1929. In January 1937, Trotsky and his wife received asylum in Mexico. They lived with Kahlo and her husband, artist Diego Rivera, for two years before Trotsky was assassinated by a Stalinist agent. Kahlo candidly acknowledged her allegiance to the Mexican Revolution and Marxism by holding a note addressed to Trotsky. Her traditional clothing also conveys her alignment with Mexicanidad, a Mexican nationalist movement that rejected European influence.
1937, Frida Kahlo, Self-Portrait Dedicated to Leon Trotsky -- National Museum of Women in the Arts (Washington)
From the museum label: In this painting, Kahlo commemorated the brief affair she had with the Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky and also alluded to her political views. Joseph Stalin expelled Trotsky from the U.S.S.R. in 1929. In January 1937, Trotsky and his wife received asylum in Mexico. They lived with Kahlo and her husband, artist Diego Rivera, for two years before Trotsky was assassinated by a Stalinist agent. Kahlo candidly acknowledged her allegiance to the Mexican Revolution and Marxism by holding a note addressed to Trotsky. Her traditional clothing also conveys her alignment with Mexicanidad, a Mexican nationalist movement that rejected European influence.