Description
My Dress Hangs There is a painting Frida Kahlo began in New York in 1933: her empty Tehuana dress hangs from a blue ribbon strung between a toilet and a gold trophy, with New York rising behind it. The original, oil and collage on masonite, is 45.7 cm high and 49.5 cm wide; the English Wikipedia list of her works places it at the Hoover Gallery in San Francisco. Our painter paints it for you by hand in oil on canvas, in one of 8 sizes from 50 x 45 to 160 x 150 cm or made to measure, and you see a photograph of the finished painting before it leaves us.
| Title: | My Dress Hangs There |
| Other titles: | Allá cuelga mi vestido · Dort hängt mein Kleid |
| Painter: | Frida Kahlo (1907–1954) |
| Year painted: | 1933 |
| Original size: | 45.7 cm x 49.5 cm (height x width) |
| Original technique: | Oil and collage on masonite |
| Painting style: | Mexican modernism |
| Located at: | Hoover Gallery, San Francisco |
| Our reproduction: | Hand-painted oil on canvas, 8 sizes or made to measure |
My Dress Hangs There – Frida Kahlo
What does My Dress Hangs There show?
At the centre hangs a dress with no one in it: a maroon blouse embroidered in yellow and orange, and a green skirt ending in a broad, white pleated flounce. It hangs on a blue hanger from a blue ribbon looped across the middle. Kahlo left herself out; only her dress is present.
On the left the ribbon is tied to a white toilet with its lid raised, set on a tall fluted column. On the right it is tied to a gold trophy on a plain brownish column.
Behind it crowd grey, pink and lilac skyscrapers with countless tiny windows. Above them rises a columned building with a triangular pediment and a statue in front; to the left are a brick church with a stained-glass window and a poster of a woman in a red gown, and a black telephone sits on a low roof.
On the right stand a red petrol pump with a white star and a clock, factory chimneys, water towers and an overflowing bin. A smoking fire burns at lower left, and crowds of people run along the bottom edge in collage. At the top lies the sea, with a steamship, the Statue of Liberty on its island and a distant city of towers.
How did the painting come about in New York?
In March 1933 Frida Kahlo and her husband, the muralist Diego Rivera, returned to New York, where Rivera had been commissioned to paint a mural for the Rockefeller Center. According to the English Wikipedia, she worked on only one painting during those months, and it was this one.
In May Rivera was fired from the Rockefeller Center project and hired instead to paint a mural for the New Workers School. He wanted to stay on in the United States, but she was homesick. In December 1933, soon after his new mural was unveiled, the couple went back to Mexico.
She started the painting in New York and finished it at home in Mexico City. On the back she wrote that she had painted it in New York while Diego was painting the mural at the Rockefeller Center.
Why is this painting so distinctive?
Most of her best-known works are self-portraits, but here there is no face at all: the dress speaks in her place. The Tehuana costume she so often wore and painted hangs empty in the middle of the metropolis.
According to Wikipedia, the background holds what Kahlo saw as symbols of America and capitalism: skyscrapers, an overflowing bin, a statue of George Washington, a toilet and the Statue of Liberty. The painting thus carries her criticism of capitalism and her wish to go home to Mexico.
It was first shown at the Levy Gallery in New York in 1938, the year of her first solo exhibition, and in Paris in 1939. The Wikipedia article on the painting (in English) has more on how it was made and what it means.
Where is the original today?
The English Wikipedia list of Frida Kahlo’s paintings gives the Hoover Gallery in San Francisco as its location. Check with the gallery before visiting.
The original is not on canvas: it is oil and collage on masonite, a hardboard panel, 45.7 cm high and 49.5 cm wide, nearly square.
My Dress Hangs There or another Kahlo?
As a hand-painted copy, this canvas painting packs a lot of detail into a near-square format, so hang it where people can step up close: a living room, a study or an entrance hall. Its red and green lift the cool city greys and suit modern interiors.
From her first stay in the United States, in San Francisco in 1931, come the double portrait Frieda and Diego Rivera and Portrait of Luther Burbank, which shows the horticulturist as half man, half plant.
Among her most celebrated works is The Two Fridas of 1939, and at the time of the Paris exhibition the Louvre bought The Frame, making her the first Mexican artist in its collection. The famous Frida Kahlo paintings we offer, from early portraits to late still lifes, are gathered on our Frida Kahlo page.
How does our painter paint the city and the dress?
Kahlo worked in oil on masonite and glued in collage pieces. Ours is an oil painting reproduction on canvas throughout: even the pasted-on crowds are painted with a brush.
The painter first draws the architecture in thin straight lines, then builds sea, sky and facades in thin layers from dark to light.
The colours are flat and clear, and the surface is smooth, as in the original. The most patience goes into the tiny windows, the blouse embroidery, the white pleats and the bows on the ribbon.
The result is a Frida Kahlo reproduction with real layers of paint, made afresh for every order. A print cannot carry those thin layers.
Which size is right for your wall?
The answer in one line: 50 x 45 or 60 x 54 cm for a small wall or a hallway, 70 x 62 or 80 x 72 cm above a desk or a chest of drawers, 100 x 90 or 110 x 105 cm above a sofa or a bed, and 140 x 135 or 160 x 150 cm for a large open wall or a stairwell.
There are 8 sizes (width x height): 50 x 45, 60 x 54, 70 x 62, 80 x 72, 100 x 90, 110 x 105, 140 x 135 and 160 x 150 cm. Closest to the original is 50 x 45 cm, which is 0.5 cm wider and 0.7 cm lower.
With so many small objects, larger sizes stay readable from the sofa, so as a painting for the living room we suggest 100 x 90 or 110 x 105 cm; the two largest need a wall with space to spare.
Can I have another size, and which frame suits it?
If you need a size that is not on the list, send us a request with the width and height, and we reply with a price and a delivery time.
Like all our paintings, it can come rolled, stretched on a stretcher bar or framed, with the stretching and framing done by our workshop in Slovenia.
The frame is picked in our 3D app, whose only job is frame choice; a view of the painting on your own wall is a separate service. Silver or graphite grey suits the skyscrapers; warm wood brings out the red blouse and the trophy.
When will it arrive, and how does it travel?
Painting starts when you confirm the order and takes 15 to 45 working days; then we send you a photograph, and the painter makes any change you ask for before dispatch.
Parcels within Slovenia and to the rest of the EU travel without customs, and our returns policy applies to every order.
It suits anyone who loves New York or Mexican art; if you do not know their wall, give a wall art voucher instead.
Frequently asked questions
Where can I see the original?
The English Wikipedia list places it at the Hoover Gallery in San Francisco; ask before you go whether it is on view.
What does the empty dress mean?
According to Wikipedia, it voices criticism of capitalism and her wish to leave New York for Mexico.
Will I receive a print?
No, every order is painted by hand with a brush and oil colours on canvas.
How big is the original?
It is 45.7 cm high and 49.5 cm wide; our smallest size, 50 x 45 cm, differs from it by less than a centimetre.
What size works above a sofa?
100 x 90 and 110 x 105 cm work best above a sofa, as the small objects stay legible from across the room.
Can I order my own size?
Yes, we paint it in the width and height you ask for and tell you the price beforehand.
How long will I wait?
Making it takes 15 to 45 working days, and shipping inside the EU involves no customs.
Is it a good gift?
Yes, especially for someone fond of New York or Mexican art; to leave the size open, there is the voucher.
- Subject: an empty Tehuana dress on a blue ribbon between a toilet and a gold trophy, with New York behind it.
- Original: 1933, oil and collage on masonite, 45.7 x 49.5 cm, Hoover Gallery, San Francisco (per the Wikipedia list).
- Ours: oil on canvas, painted by hand to your order, in 8 sizes from 50 x 45 to 160 x 150 cm or made to measure.
- Worth knowing: It is the only painting Frida Kahlo worked on during her 1933 stay in New York.
