Frida Kahlo

"The Little Deer", by Frida Kahlo, caught the attention right away. her love of nature and the world as one of her primary sources of inspiration. This painting is one of the many symbolic representations of Frida's naturalist persona. Frida, as the deer, is a creature of nature. She's innocent, and she's organic. She looks poised and proud as an animal, and although the representation is surreal and strange-feeling, it conveys a sense of emotion and imaginative thought that makes it enjoyable to look at and ponder. One of the noticeable parts of this picture is the cluster of arrows piercing the deer in various places. Many people know that Frida's injuries lasted throughout her entire life, and were never quite solved or figured out, even decades after the accident. She never fully recovered from that accident alone, and from those injuries more and more horrible diseases and discomforts revealed themselves. The first arrow on the far left is the one which has drawn the most blood from the deer. Its represents the bus accident that started all of her problems. It has hit her in the neck and spinal column, which is right where Frida's most profound injury occurred with the bus. Each other arrow that hits her after that is a product of the first, but still hurt her in other ways. A total of 9 arrows pierced Frida in this painting, possibly representing each of her different injuries that resulted from her accident; the painting was completed in 1946, during which time Frida had undergone a bone-graft operation, and was subsequently administered large doses of morphine. Much of the content of this painting may be perceived as being the product of a 'trip' or some sort of crazy hallucinogenic experience. Rightly so; this piece is a biproduct of a hallucinatory experience, but not exactly the same type of 'trip' you may hear the creative product of when you blast Hendrix on the radio; Frida's various medical predicaments brought these experiences into her reality, and