Description
Roots is a 1943 painting by Frida Kahlo: dressed in orange, she lies on cracked ground while green vines with leaves grow from her chest, their fine red veins reaching down into the earth. The original, also called Raíces (El Pedregal), is oil on a metal sheet, 30.5 cm high and 49.9 cm wide, and is held in a private collection. Our painter brings it onto canvas by hand in oil colours, in one of 8 landscape sizes between 60 x 35 and 180 x 115 cm or made to measure, every one of them larger than the original. Before dispatch we send you a photograph of the finished painting.
| Title: | Roots |
| Other titles: | Raíces (El Pedregal) · Wurzeln |
| Painter: | Frida Kahlo (1907–1954) |
| Year painted: | 1943 |
| Original size: | 30.5 cm x 49.9 cm (height x width) |
| Original technique: | Oil on metal |
| Painting style: | Mexican modernism |
| Located at: | Private collection |
| Our reproduction: | Hand-painted oil on canvas, 8 sizes or made to measure |
Roots – Frida Kahlo
What does Roots show?
Frida Kahlo painted herself lying down in the middle of a wide, bare landscape. She rests on her side with her head on a white pillow, and her long dark hair falls in strands over her shoulder to the ground. Her gaze is calm and meets the viewer directly.
She wears a long orange dress that deepens to red at the shoulders, while at her feet a white ruffled hem opens like a fan. Her body stretches horizontally across almost the whole width, so the composition reads as a long, low band of colour laid over brown earth.
From her chest grows a branching plant with yellow-green stems and large heart-shaped leaves. The vines spread both ways, over the dress and across the ground, and thin red veins run from the leaves into the cracks of the earth like roots.
The ground is furrowed and dry, in layers of brown, ochre, pink and white that break into restless ridges towards the horizon. Above it there is only a narrow strip of pale grey-blue sky, with no clouds and no other figures.
What does the plant growing from her body mean?
Kahlo often mixed realism with fantasy, and her paintings carry a strong autobiographical streak. Here the real and the impossible sit side by side: the face and dress are painted with care, while the plant rising from her body is pure invention.
The Wikipedia article on the painter notes that root imagery appears often in her work, with roots growing out of her body to tie her to the ground. Read that way, the motif can stand for personal growth, for being trapped in a particular place, time and situation, or for the way the past shapes the present.
The second title, El Pedregal, names the stony, cracked ground beneath her. Dry land and fresh green leaves are set directly against each other, and that contrast is what stays in the mind first.
Why is Roots so well known?
At a glance it sums up what makes Kahlo recognisable: she herself is at the centre, surrounded by nature and symbols anyone can read.
For Kahlo, 1943 was a busy year: she began teaching at the reformed art school La Esmeralda in Mexico City, and her work was shown in exhibitions in Philadelphia and New York.
From 1932 Kahlo also painted on small metal sheets, which give her works an intimate feel; around 1940 she moved mostly to larger canvases, as they were easier to exhibit. This work goes back to that small metal support.
Her life and work, including the root motif, are covered in the Wikipedia article on Frida Kahlo (in English); there is no separate article on this painting.
Where is the original today?
The original belongs to a private collection, so it is not on permanent display in any public museum.
It is a small work: the metal sheet measures 49.9 cm across and 30.5 cm high, smaller than an A2 sheet of paper.
The metal support gives the original a smooth, hard surface. We paint on canvas that can be rolled, stretched or framed, in sizes that are all larger than the original.
Roots or another Kahlo?
This low landscape canvas painting is at its best above a sofa, a bed or a long sideboard.
Another scene in which she lies among vines is The Dream (The Bed) of 1940: Kahlo sleeps under a yellow blanket threaded with vines while the bed floats among clouds. Large green leaves around bare shoulders also appear in Self-Portrait with Braid, painted two years earlier.
A thin vein joining two hearts is the central motif of The Two Fridas, and for lovers of nature and symbols there is also The Wounded Deer from 1946. Our full selection of famous Frida Kahlo paintings is on the Frida Kahlo page.
How does our painter paint your Roots?
Frida Kahlo painted in flat, clear colours with precise outlines and no thick impasto. Our painter keeps that smoothness but swaps the metal sheet for canvas and oil paint.
First come thin layers for the sky and the cracked ground in browns, ochres and pinks, then the outline of the reclining figure and the white pillow. Later layers give the dress its shift from orange to red and the white ruffled hem its shadows.
The smallest parts come last: the face with its strong brows, the strands of hair, the yellowish stems, the veins of the leaves and the thin red roots that vanish into the cracks. The result is a Frida Kahlo reproduction in which every vine is drawn with a brush.
As with every oil painting reproduction, the paint sits in real layers, so it looks a little different at noon than at dusk.
Which size for which wall?
In short: 60 x 35 or 66 x 41 cm for a smaller wall, 80 x 48 or 100 x 63 cm above a chest of drawers or a bed, 116 x 68 or 130 x 77 cm above a sofa, and 165 x 100 or 180 x 115 cm for a large wall.
We paint Roots in 8 landscape sizes (width x height): 60 x 35, 66 x 41, 80 x 48, 100 x 63, 116 x 68, 130 x 77, 165 x 100 and 180 x 115 cm. The original is smaller than all of them: even our smallest size, 60 x 35 cm, is 10.1 cm wider and 4.5 cm taller.
Since the figure lies across the whole width, the landscape format naturally follows long furniture. As a painting for the living room above a sofa, 116 x 68 and 130 x 77 cm work best; keep it a little narrower than the sofa, with the lower edge about 20 cm above the backrest.
Can I order a different size or a frame?
The original is roughly 5 : 3 in proportion, so we can paint it in a size that is not on the list without cropping the head, the pillow or the ends of the vines. For another width and height, write to us through the paintings made by order page and we reply with a price and a delivery time.
Your painting can arrive rolled, stretched on a stretcher bar or framed, and our workshop in Slovenia handles the stretching and framing.
You choose the frame in our 3D app, which is for frame selection only. If you want to see the painting on your own wall, that is a separate service, apart from the app.
When will my painting be delivered?
As soon as you confirm your order, our painter begins, and the painting is ready for dispatch within 15 to 45 working days. Before that we send you a photograph of the finished painting, and if you would like a correction, we make it.
Within Slovenia and the rest of the EU the parcel goes through no customs, and our returns policy covers every order.
Roots makes a fine gift for someone who loves gardening, nature or Mexican art. If the person receiving Roots should pick the format, a wall art voucher leaves that choice to them.
Frequently asked questions
Where is the original of Roots?
In a private collection; it is not on permanent display in a public museum.
What grows out of Frida Kahlo’s body in the painting?
A green plant with large leaves, from which thin red roots spread into the cracked earth.
Is it a print?
No. Our painter makes each one as a hand-painted copy, with a brush and oil colours on canvas.
How big is the original?
It is 49.9 cm wide and 30.5 cm high; all our sizes are larger, the smallest being 60 x 35 cm.
Can I get it in my own size?
Yes, we paint it in the width and height you choose and quote the price in advance.
How long do painting and delivery take?
Painting takes 15 to 45 working days; then we ship, with no customs inside the EU.
Does it suit a bedroom?
Yes, the low landscape format fits well above a bed, and the warm earth tones feel calm.
What does the plant with red roots mean?
Roots in Kahlo’s work are read as growth, ties to a place or the pull of the past; there is no single answer.
- Subject: Frida Kahlo lies on cracked ground as vines with leaves and red roots grow from her chest.
- Original: 1943, oil on metal, 30.5 x 49.9 cm, private collection.
- Ours: oil on canvas, painted by hand to your order, in 8 landscape sizes from 60 x 35 to 180 x 115 cm or made to measure.
- Worth knowing: The original is small, so every size we offer is larger; it was painted on metal, ours on canvas.
