My Grandparents, My Parents and Me by Frida Kahlo

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Frida Kahlo painted My Grandparents, My Parents and Me in 1936. The artist herself, was very interested in collecting works of art that dated back to the early nineteenth century and which depicted images that thanked Gods or saints for curing the individual in the mage of an illness or curse.

This painting very much influenced Kahlo, and helped her to mold and shape her own style of art.

The painting, My Grandparents, My Parents and Me, is a family tree that has been visualised on canvas. The imagery is both beautiful, yet disturbing and fantastical in its nature. The naked little girl depicted at the very heart of the painting is Kahlo.

However, she appears on the canvas twice, her second depiction is that of the unborn foetus within her mother's womb.

It has also been said that the encompassing of her parents and grandparents in the one painting is also that of a womblike environment, especially with the red ribbon symbolism that joins the family members together.

The Mexican culture and its associated traditions are also very evident within her work.

This painting though is far more personal and clearly echoes her Jewish and European heritage. The observer can see her father to the right of the painting, who was of Jewish and German heritage, and a sketched map of Mexico can also be seen above her grandparents' heads.

What is also interesting is the use of mixed heritage as a visual form in this painting, as it was painted shortly after the passing of the Nuremberg laws by Hitler, making this painting almost an act of defiance.

Many historians have also commented about the subversive sexual imagery of My Grandparents, My Parents and Me. Firstly with the use of the red ribbon that is conceptualising the mother's sexuality, and then secondly in the symbolism of the red flower that is welcoming the pollen.