Description
The Bride Frightened at Seeing Life Opened is a still life Frida Kahlo painted in 1943: on a yellow table lie watermelons cut open in zigzags, a halved papaya, a pineapple, bananas, a coconut and avocados, while a tiny doll in a white bridal dress peeps out from behind the watermelon on the left. The original, oil on canvas, is 63 cm high and 81.5 cm wide and belongs to the Jacques and Natasha Gelman Collection in Mexico City. Our painter paints it for you in oil colours on canvas, in one of 8 landscape sizes from 50 x 39 to 200 x 162 cm or made to measure, and you see a photograph of the finished bride among her fruit before it is dispatched.
| Title: | The Bride Frightened at Seeing Life Opened |
| Other titles: | La novia que se espanta de ver la vida abierta · Die Braut, erschrocken beim Anblick des geöffneten Lebens |
| Painter: | Frida Kahlo (1907–1954) |
| Year painted: | 1943 |
| Original size: | 63 cm x 81.5 cm (height x width) |
| Original technique: | Oil on canvas |
| Painting style: | Mexican modernism |
| Located at: | Jacques and Natasha Gelman Collection, Mexico City |
| Our reproduction: | Hand-painted oil on canvas, 8 sizes or made to measure |
The Bride Frightened at Seeing Life Opened – Frida Kahlo
What does The Bride Frightened at Seeing Life Opened show?
The scene is set on a broad yellow table in front of a pale pink wall. Two watermelons take the centre, cut into sharp points so that their red flesh, studded with dark seeds, rises like a row of triangles. Behind them lies a papaya split in half, its orange inside holding a nest of black seeds, and on the right a pineapple lifts a lush crown of green leaves.
On the left of the table are oranges and a hand of reddish bananas with a green leaf laid across them, and on the leaf sits a grasshopper. Dark avocados lie along the right edge beside a small white card with a few handwritten lines.
At the front edge of the table an owl with brown speckled feathers and a round pale eye sits turned to the right. The strangest guest is the little doll in white with fair hair: in the top left corner she clings to a slice of melon and peers out from behind it, as if alarmed by what is opening up in front of her.
What does the title of this still life tell us?
The artist wrote the title straight onto the front of the table, so it belongs to the composition rather than being a note on the back of the canvas. It tells us that the doll in white is a bride; what exactly the opened life is, the painting does not explain.
In 1943, the year of the work, Frida Kahlo accepted a teaching post at the reformed school of painting, sculpture and printmaking La Esmeralda in Mexico City.
Why does this still life draw so many eyes?
Most people know her self-portraits, so the still life with the bride comes as a surprise: the artist’s face is nowhere to be seen, yet the work is just as personal and odd.
Among famous Frida Kahlo paintings without a self-portrait, this one shows both sides of the painter at once: her delight in Mexican fruit and strong colour, and the quiet unease the title carries into the scene.
In 1984 Mexico declared her works part of its national cultural heritage and banned their export. Her life is covered at length in the English Wikipedia article on Frida Kahlo; there is no separate article on this still life.
Where is the original today?
The original belongs to the Jacques and Natasha Gelman Collection in Mexico City.
The same collection also holds her Diego in My Thoughts, which we likewise paint to order.
A print repeats only the colours, whereas our hand-painted copy has real layers of oil that, in raking light, show every stroke on the owl’s feathers and the banana skins.
The Bride or another Kahlo still life?
This canvas painting is in landscape format, full of yellow, red and green, with the white doll as a bright point in the left corner.
Eleven years later came Viva la Vida (Watermelons), where the melons lie alone under a blue sky and one slice carries an inscription. Older is Fruits of the Earth from 1938, with corn cobs and mushrooms on a wooden table.
Instead of fruit, white blossoms come to the front in Magnolias from 1945. The full range of her works that our painters paint to order is on our Frida Kahlo page.
How does our painter paint the melons, the owl and the doll?
He first draws the arrangement of the fruit on the table and lays in even areas for the yellow table, the pink wall and the green rinds. Then he builds the forms in thin layers: the melon flesh gains lighter edges, the papaya its warm orange, the pineapple a net of scales painted one scale at a time.
The doll in her white dress is modelled with soft grey shadows so that she stays bright without looking flat, and the owl’s plumage is built from short, dense strokes.
The surface stays smooth and the colours clear, as in the original. The result is a Frida Kahlo reproduction with real body to its paint, and the inscription along the table edge is lettered with a fine brush.
Because each order is painted on its own, every oil painting reproduction of this bride differs a little from the one before.
Which size suits your wall?
In short: 50 x 39 or 65 x 49 cm for a kitchen or a narrow hallway, 74 x 55 or 90 x 72 cm above a dining table, 115 x 89 or 130 x 100 cm above a sofa, and 160 x 129 or 200 x 162 cm for a large empty wall.
You can choose from 8 landscape sizes (width x height): 50 x 39, 65 x 49, 74 x 55, 90 x 72, 115 x 89, 130 x 100, 160 x 129 and 200 x 162 cm. The original is 81.5 cm wide and 63 cm high; the closest size is 74 x 55 cm, which is 7.5 cm narrower and 8 cm lower, while 90 x 72 cm is 8.5 cm wider and 9 cm taller.
As a painting for the living room this bride is most convincing at 115 x 89 or 130 x 100 cm, where the owl and the doll stay easy to read even from a sofa across the room.
Can I order a different size or a frame?
The original is about a third wider than it is tall, so we also paint the still life with the bride in a size that is not on the list.
Tell us the width and height you would like, and we will send you the price and the making time for this bride in your own size.
Like every painting we ship, it can reach you rolled, stretched on a wooden stretcher bar or ready framed; stretching and framing are done by our workshop in Slovenia.
You choose the frame for this still life in our 3D app, which serves only for picking a frame; a view of the painting on your own wall is a separate service.
How long does it take, and how does the painting reach you?
As soon as you confirm the order the painter begins, and the still life with the bride and the owl is ready to travel in 15 to 45 working days.
Before dispatch we send you a photograph of the finished painting; if you would like anything changed, we make the correction before packing.
When the bride travels within Slovenia or anywhere else in the EU there are no customs formalities, and any return is handled under our returns policy.
Anyone fond of Mexican art and still lifes with a story will enjoy the doll among the melons; if you do not know the right size, give a wall art voucher and let them choose for themselves.
Frequently asked questions
Where can I see the original of the bride among the fruit?
It belongs to the Jacques and Natasha Gelman Collection in Mexico City.
Who is the bride in the painting?
A small doll in a white dress, peeping out from behind a cut watermelon in the top left corner.
Is it a print?
No, our painter paints the owl, the fruit and the doll with a brush in oil colours on canvas.
How big is the original?
It is 63 cm high and 81.5 cm wide; our nearest size is 74 x 55 cm.
Can I have the bride in another size?
Yes, we paint it in the width and height you give us and tell you the price in advance.
How long will I wait for the still life with the bride?
Painting takes 15 to 45 working days, then comes delivery, customs-free within the EU.
Is it suitable for a dining room or as a gift?
Yes, fruit and warm yellows belong near the table, and the unusual story makes it a gift people talk about.
What does the title mean?
The artist left no exact explanation; the title calls the doll a bride who takes fright at life opened up, and everyone reads that in their own way.
- Subject: zigzag-cut watermelons, papaya, pineapple, bananas, a coconut and avocados on a yellow table, an owl in front and a doll in white behind the melon.
- Original: 1943, oil on canvas, 63 x 81.5 cm, Jacques and Natasha Gelman Collection, Mexico City.
- Ours: oil on canvas, hand-painted only after you order; 8 landscape sizes from 50 x 39 to 200 x 162 cm or a size of your choice.
- Worth knowing: The artist wrote the title along the front edge of the table, in the year she began teaching at the La Esmeralda school.
