Description
Magnolias is a still life Frida Kahlo painted in 1945: a full bunch of white magnolia blossoms with dark green and golden-yellow leaves rises from a white vessel decorated with brown plant motifs. The original, oil on masonite, is 41 cm high and 57 cm wide and belongs to a private collection in Mexico City. Our painter recreates it in oil colours on canvas, in one of 8 landscape sizes from 53 x 38 to 200 x 140 cm or made to measure; you receive a photograph of the finished painting before it is shipped.
| Title: | Magnolias |
| Other titles: | Magnolias (Spanish) · Magnolien |
| Painter: | Frida Kahlo (1907–1954) |
| Year painted: | 1945 |
| Original size: | 41 cm x 57 cm (height x width) |
| Original technique: | Oil on masonite |
| Painting style: | Mexican modernism |
| Located at: | Private collection, Mexico City |
| Our reproduction: | Hand-painted oil on canvas, 8 sizes or made to measure |
Magnolias – Frida Kahlo
What does Magnolias show?
A single bunch fills almost the whole landscape surface. The magnolia flowers turn in every direction: some are still closed in plump, egg-shaped buds, others have opened into broad, fleshy petals. The bouquet reaches nearly all four edges, leaving very little background.
The white of the petals is never flat. In shadow it shifts to cream, pale green and a faint pink, while along the edges it lights up almost pure. At the centre one flower opens wide to reveal a long tuft of yellow stamens, and beneath it hangs a pale pink bud of overlapping leaflets.
Between the flowers sit firm, glossy leaves of dark green with lighter mottling, and a few leaves are olive-yellow and gold. At the top left, small pointed green leaflets stick out.
At the bottom a white vessel appears, marked with dark plant-like strokes and cut off by the lower edge. The background is a muted pinkish brown, and the strip along the very bottom is grey, like the surface the vessel stands on.
How did this still life come about?
The painting dates from 1945, when Kahlo’s health was declining fast. By the mid-1940s her back had weakened so much that she could no longer sit or stand for long. Her paintings Moses and Without Hope come from the same year.
At the same time her standing in Mexico was growing. According to the art historian Andrea Kettenmann, by the mid-1940s her work featured in most group exhibitions in the country, and in the second half of the decade her finances improved too.
In her final years, when she was mostly confined to the Blue House (La Casa Azul) in Coyoacán, she painted mainly still lifes of fruit and flowers. Magnolias is a flower piece from 1945 with no human figure in it.
Why do these flowers win over Kahlo’s admirers?
Most people know Frida Kahlo through her self-portraits. Tate Modern counts her among the most significant artists of the twentieth century, yet her reputation grew mostly late in her life and after her death.
She is absent from this painting. Instead of a face we have flowers seen at very close range, enlarged until they fill the whole scene, and that closeness gives a simple bouquet the weight of a portrait.
There is no agreed reading of these magnolias, and we do not invent one. For more on her life, see the Wikipedia article on Frida Kahlo (in English); the encyclopedia has no separate article on this painting.
Where is the original today?
The original belongs to a private collection in Mexico City and cannot be seen in any museum. It is painted in oil on masonite, a rigid board of pressed wood fibres, and measures 41 cm in height and 57 cm in width.
We take the year, technique, measurements and city of the collection from the English Wikipedia list of Kahlo’s works.
For most people a hand-painted copy is therefore the only way to bring these white blossoms, in real oil colours, onto their own wall.
Magnolias or another Kahlo still life?
This canvas painting is calm and light: the white of the flowers, the green of the leaves and the pinkish-brown ground go well with wood, linen and ceramics. It is at home in a dining room, kitchen, bedroom or hallway, anywhere you want flowers that never wilt.
Fruit takes the place of flowers in Fruits of the Earth of 1938: corn cobs, mushrooms and a cut fruit on a wooden table under a cloudy sky. Much later came Living Nature (1952), with cut fruit, a white dove and an inscription along the bottom edge.
Among her last works is Viva la Vida (Watermelons) of 1954, red melons against a blue sky, while plant forms around a red sun with a face fill Sun and Life. The rest of the famous Frida Kahlo paintings we paint to order, from self-portraits to fruit and flowers, wait for you on our Frida Kahlo page.
How does our painter paint the white blossoms?
Kahlo painted on masonite, a smooth, rigid support; our version is always made on canvas. The colours of the original are not loud: white, cream, dark green and a muted pinkish brown dominate, and only the yellow of the stamens and the gold of a few leaves are brighter.
The painter works in layers. First the outlines of flowers, leaves and vessel go down, then the shaded parts of the petals are built up in thin glazes so that the white glows at the end as it does in the original. The leaves get a dark base, over which come lighter patches and fine veins.
The small things come last: single yellow stamens, the pointed leaflets at the top left and the dark decoration on the white vessel. The result is a Frida Kahlo reproduction with a real layer of oil paint, which no print can imitate. Every order is painted separately, so each oil painting reproduction we deliver is one of a kind.
Which size for which wall?
In short: 53 x 38 or 65 x 49 cm for a small wall or beside a mirror, 74 x 55 or 98 x 70 cm above a chest of drawers or a dining table, 110 x 78 or 139 x 100 cm above a sofa or a double bed, and 160 x 110 or 200 x 140 cm for a large empty wall.
We paint it in 8 landscape sizes (width x height): 53 x 38, 65 x 49, 74 x 55, 98 x 70, 110 x 78, 139 x 100, 160 x 110 and 200 x 140 cm. The smallest, 53 x 38 cm, is 4 cm narrower and 3 cm shorter than the original; 65 x 49 cm is 8 cm wider and 8 cm taller.
As a painting for the living room above a sofa, 110 x 78 or 139 x 100 cm works best. The two largest sizes need a few steps of distance for the bouquet to read as a whole; the smaller ones invite a close look, in a kitchen or a bedroom for example.
Can I choose another size and a frame?
The original is roughly 7 : 5 in proportion, so we can paint it in a size that is not on the list without cutting off a flower at the edge. Send us a request with the width and height you want, and we reply with a price and a production time.
You can receive the painting rolled, stretched on a stretcher bar or framed; our workshop in Slovenia does the stretching and framing. In our 3D app you pick only the frame, while seeing the painting on your own wall is a separate service.
When and how does the painting arrive?
The painter starts as soon as you confirm the order, and within 15 to 45 working days Magnolias is ready to travel. Before packing we send you a photograph of the completed painting; if you would like a change, the painter still makes it.
Parcels within Slovenia and to other EU countries travel without customs, and every order is covered by our returns policy.
A bunch of white magnolias makes a lovely gift for a wedding, a new home or a milestone anniversary. If you are unsure which size will suit, give a wall art voucher and let the recipient choose.
Frequently asked questions
Which museum has the original?
None: it belongs to a private collection in Mexico City.
What is in the painting?
A bunch of white magnolias with dark green and golden leaves in a white vessel.
Is this a print?
No, the painter applies it with a brush and oil colours on canvas, layer by layer.
How big is the original?
It measures 41 cm in height and 57 cm in width; our nearest size is 53 x 38 cm.
Can I have it in a different size?
Yes, we paint it in the width and height you need and tell you the price first.
How long will I wait?
Painting takes 15 to 45 working days, and then we ship.
Does it suit a bedroom or a dining room?
Yes, the calm whites and greens suit both rooms, and the smaller sizes a kitchen as well.
What do the magnolias mean?
There is no fixed meaning; in her later years Kahlo often painted still lifes of flowers and fruit.
- Subject: a bunch of white magnolia blossoms with dark and golden leaves in a white vessel.
- Original: 1945, oil on masonite, 41 x 57 cm, private collection, Mexico City.
- Ours: oil on canvas, painted by hand to your order, in 8 landscape sizes (53 x 38 to 200 x 140 cm) or made to measure.
- Worth knowing: The original is on a board of pressed wood fibres; ours is always on canvas.
