Description
Self-Portrait Dedicated to Leon Trotsky is a 1937 work by Frida Kahlo: she stands on a stage between two white curtains held back by tasselled cords, with a small bunch of flowers and a letter bearing a dedication in her hands. She wears the dress of the women of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. The original, oil on masonite, is 76.2 cm high and 61 cm wide and belongs to the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, D.C. For you, our painter brings it onto canvas by hand in oil colours, in one of 8 portrait sizes between 40 x 49 and 102 x 125 cm or made to measure; before it travels, you receive a photograph of the finished work.
| Title: | Self-Portrait Dedicated to Leon Trotsky |
| Other titles: | Between the Curtains · Selbstporträt, Leo Trotzki gewidmet |
| Painter: | Frida Kahlo (1907–1954) |
| Year painted: | 1937 |
| Original size: | 76.2 cm x 61 cm (height x width) |
| Original technique: | Oil on masonite |
| Painting style: | Mexican modernism |
| Located at: | National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, D.C. |
| Our reproduction: | Hand-painted oil on canvas, 8 sizes or made to measure |
Self-Portrait Dedicated to Leon Trotsky – Frida Kahlo
What does Self-Portrait Dedicated to Leon Trotsky show?
Frida Kahlo painted herself full-length, upright and composed, like an actress stepping before an audience. She stands on a reddish wooden floor before a smooth, plain olive-yellow wall. Heavy white curtains hang to the left and right, held back by thick cords with tassels.
Her clothes come from the dress of the Zapotec women of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec in southern Mexico. The red huipil blouse has green trim and a jewelled pendant, but a beige rebozo, a long fringed shawl with a woven pattern, covers most of it. Below it spreads a coral-pink skirt with white flowers, finished with a broad white pleated hem.
Her braided hair holds a pink flower and a red ribbon, and she wears gold earrings and bright red lipstick. Her gaze is serious and meets ours directly.
In her clasped hands she holds a small bunch of flowers and a sheet of paper. On it is a handwritten dedication in Spanish, which reads roughly: “To Leon Trotsky with great affection, I dedicate this painting November 7, 1937. Frida Kahlo. In San Angel. Mexico.”
Why is the painting dedicated to Trotsky?
After years in exile, the Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky landed at the Mexican port of Tampico on 9 January 1937 with his wife Natalia Sedova. Frida Kahlo and her husband, the muralist Diego Rivera, had persuaded President Lázaro Cárdenas to let him into the country.
The couple moved into the Blue House (La Casa Azul) in Coyoacán and lived there until April 1939. A brief affair between Kahlo and Trotsky followed and was over by July 1937.
A few months later she gave him this self-portrait. The date on the letter, 7 November, was his birthday and also the twentieth anniversary of the October Revolution. Trotsky hung the painting in his study.
The setting draws on retablos, Mexican devotional paintings of saints, and the parted curtains suggest a performance about to begin, which is where its other title, Between the Curtains, comes from.
What made this self-portrait so well known?
Because Frida Kahlo later destroyed every other trace of the affair, the painting is its only tangible evidence. Historians read it in very different ways: Hayden Herrera believes Kahlo was teasing Trotsky with it, while Robin Richmond sees in the rather conservative dress a bid for his attention.
When Trotsky was assassinated in 1940, Kahlo was heartbroken and planned to destroy the painting; her visiting friend Clare Boothe Luce talked her out of it and took it herself.
Kahlo often painted herself in Tehuana dress, but here the outfit is considered more subdued than in other self-portraits. More on the story is in the Wikipedia article (in English).
Where is the original, and how did it get there?
The original hangs in Washington, D.C., at the National Museum of Women in the Arts. Clare Boothe Luce gave it in 1988 to Wilhelmina Holladay, the museum’s co-founder, and since then it has become one of the museum’s most popular works. It is also the only Kahlo painting in the permanent collection of a Washington museum.
During the museum’s renovation in the early 2020s it stayed at the National Gallery of Art, returning as a centrepiece when the museum reopened in October 2023.
This self-portrait or another Kahlo?
This upright canvas painting is bright and calm, so it suits a hallway, a narrow wall between two doors or a study, which is where it once hung for Trotsky.
If you like Kahlo in the dress of Tehuantepec, look also at Diego in My Thoughts, painted six years later and almost exactly the same size. Two figures with visible hearts joined by a vein appear in The Two Fridas, and the double portrait regarded as a wedding portrait is Frieda and Diego Rivera.
A frontal self-portrait with a black cat and a monkey at her shoulders is Self-Portrait with Thorn Necklace and Hummingbird. All the famous Frida Kahlo paintings we offer are gathered on the Frida Kahlo page.
How does our painter paint your self-portrait?
Frida Kahlo worked in flat, clear colours with firm outlines, and her surface stays smooth, with hardly a visible brushmark. Our painter keeps that character, but paints on canvas, which can be rolled or stretched.
First come a few thin layers for the olive wall, the reddish floor and the outlines of the curtains, then the figure. The folds of the white curtains and the coral skirt with its white flowers follow.
The finest work comes last: the shawl’s pattern and fringes, the earrings, the flower in her hair, the bouquet and the lines of the letter. The result is a Frida Kahlo reproduction with paint lying in real layers, which no print can give. Like any oil painting reproduction, it changes a little with the light of the day.
Which size for which wall?
In short: 40 x 49 or 46 x 55 cm for a narrow wall or a hallway, 50 x 64 or 58 x 70 cm above a chest of drawers or a desk, 64 x 80 or 81 x 100 cm above a bed or a sofa, and 89 x 114 or 102 x 125 cm for a large wall or a stairwell.
We paint the self-portrait in 8 portrait sizes (width x height): 40 x 49, 46 x 55, 50 x 64, 58 x 70, 64 x 80, 81 x 100, 89 x 114 and 102 x 125 cm. Closest to the original is 64 x 80 cm, which is 3 cm wider and 3.8 cm taller.
Because Kahlo stands full-length, the upright format fills the space between two doors or beside a window. As a painting for the living room above a sofa, 81 x 100 or 89 x 114 cm works well; hang it with the lower edge 20 to 25 cm above the backrest.
Can I have another size or a frame?
The original is roughly 4 : 5 in proportion, so we can easily paint it in a size that is not on the list without cutting off the curtains or the hem of the skirt. Send us the width and height you need, and we reply with a price and a delivery time.
It travels rolled, stretched on a stretcher bar or framed, and our workshop in Slovenia does the stretching and framing. Our 3D app is only for choosing the frame; a view of the painting on your own wall is a separate service.
When will the painting arrive?
Once you confirm the order we start painting, and within 15 to 45 working days the self-portrait is ready to travel. Before it ships you receive a photograph of the finished painting; if you would like a change, we make it.
Sent to Slovenia or any other EU country, the parcel goes through no customs, and our returns policy applies to every order.
Self-Portrait Dedicated to Leon Trotsky began life as a gift, which makes it a natural present for someone you love. If the size is better left to them, a wall art voucher lets them choose.
Frequently asked questions
Where does the original hang?
At the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, D.C.
What is Frida Kahlo holding?
A small bunch of flowers and a letter with her dedication to Trotsky, dated 7 November 1937.
Is it a print?
No. Each one is a hand-painted copy, made by the painter with a brush and oil colours on canvas.
How big is the original?
It is 76.2 cm high and 61 cm wide; our nearest size is 64 x 80 cm.
Can I order it in a different size?
Yes, in any width and height you give us, priced in advance.
How long will I wait?
Painting takes 15 to 45 working days, after which we ship, with no customs inside the EU.
Is it a good gift?
Very, since the original was itself a birthday present; if you are unsure of the size, a voucher helps.
What does the painting mean?
It was a personal gift to Trotsky; historians disagree, seeing teasing, a bid for attention or a will to survive.
- Subject: Frida Kahlo in Tehuana dress stands between two white curtains with flowers and a letter for Trotsky.
- Original: 1937, oil on masonite, 76.2 x 61 cm, National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, D.C.
- Ours: oil on canvas, painted by hand to your order, in 8 portrait sizes (40 x 49 to 102 x 125 cm) or made to measure.
- Worth knowing: Trotsky kept it in his study; in 1940 Clare Boothe Luce saved it from being destroyed.
