Description
What the Water Gave Me (Lo que el agua me dio) is a 1938 painting by Frida Kahlo: we look down from the rim of a bathtub along her legs, both feet with red-painted toenails rise above the surface, and in the grey-green water float tiny scenes from her life. The original, oil on canvas, is 91.44 cm high and 70.5 cm wide and belongs to the private collection of Daniel Filipacchi in Paris. Our painter paints it for you by hand in oil on canvas, in one of 8 portrait sizes from 40 x 50 to 142 x 190 cm or made to measure; before dispatch we send you a photograph of the finished painting.
| Title: | What the Water Gave Me |
| Other titles: | Lo que el agua me dio · What I Saw in the Water |
| Painter: | Frida Kahlo (1907–1954) |
| Year painted: | 1938 |
| Original size: | 91.44 cm x 70.5 cm (height x width) |
| Original technique: | Oil on canvas |
| Painting style: | Mexican modernism |
| Located at: | Collection of Daniel Filipacchi, Paris |
| Our reproduction: | Hand-painted oil on canvas, 8 sizes or made to measure |
Frida Kahlo – What the Water Gave Me
What can you see in the bathtub?
The view comes from above, as if we were sitting in the tub ourselves. The rounded white rim of the bath fills the top of the canvas, with a pale ochre wall behind it. Below lies grey-green water, and out of it rise Frida Kahlo’s feet with red-lacquered nails. The surface mirrors them, so each foot appears twice, once above the water and once upside down beneath it.
Between the feet sits a metal plug with its chain, and from the right foot blood drips into the water from a crack between the toes.
Small islands float on the water. On the right a volcano rises with a skyscraper shooting from its crater; beside it stands a tree with a dead woodpecker, and a little skeleton sits on the slope. A thin rope stretches from the island and forms a kind of diamond across the middle of the tub.
The rope loops around the neck of a naked woman who drifts like Ophelia, her dark hair spread out, then returns to the hand of a faceless man lounging on the edge of the island. Some readings see the artist herself in the woman.
At the lower left floats an empty Mexican dress with a yellow skirt, and above it a large seashell full of bullet holes. At the lower right stands a couple in old-fashioned clothes who recall the artist’s parents, and next to them two nude women rest on a patch of earth.
What do the scenes in the water mean?
The work has been called her biography. Kahlo spreads her memories across the bathwater and sets them side by side with no obvious order, the way thoughts come while you lie still in a warm bath.
The couple repeats a motif from her 1936 painting My Grandparents, My Parents and I, and the two women return in 1939 in Two Nudes in a Forest. The skyscraper burning inside the volcano is read as a clash of old and new, and the plants and animals as an echo of The Garden of Earthly Delights by Hieronymus Bosch.
Above everything, the feet dominate. The right one is wounded and deformed: childhood polio, congenital spina bifida and the bus accident of 1925 left Kahlo in pain all her life, and most of her more than thirty operations were on her back, right leg and right foot.
The volcano is seen as the heart of the composition, the point where she stops holding back her feelings about her body and about her husband, the muralist Diego Rivera.
Why is the painting so famous?
In November 1938 it hung in Kahlo’s first solo exhibition, at the Julien Levy Gallery in New York. André Breton saw her art as Surrealist and held up this work as an example. Kahlo had never thought of herself as a Surrealist before; the label was attached to her from outside.
The critic Bertram Wolfe wrote that her paintings brought together Surrealism and a deep-rooted Mexican tradition.
The Wikipedia article (in English) gathers the different readings.
Where is the original today?
The original is not in a museum but in the private collection of Daniel Filipacchi in Paris.
Kahlo painted it in oil on canvas, 91.44 cm high and 70.5 cm wide.
This painting or another Kahlo?
This canvas painting is full of detail, so it does best where you can step close: in a study, a library or next to a reading chair.
The same year produced The Frame, a small self-portrait with yellow flowers in her hair, also kept in Paris. A year later came The Two Fridas, where she sits beside herself with both hearts exposed.
A similar dreamlike mood fills The Dream (The Bed), in which Kahlo sleeps among clouds beneath a reclining skeleton; the wounded body turned into an animal is the subject of The Wounded Deer. You will find all the famous Frida Kahlo paintings we paint on the Frida Kahlo page.
How does our painter paint this scene?
Here Kahlo used smooth, almost invisible brushstrokes: the large areas of tub and water are calm and even, and all the attention goes to the tiny scenes.
He begins with the background, laying in thin layers the ochre wall, the white rim with its soft grey shadows and the grey-green water that darkens towards the bottom. Then come the two feet and their reflection, set exactly along the waterline.
Islands and figures follow, each in its own colour, from the brown volcano to the yellow skirt of the empty dress. The smallest things, from insects and flowers to the drops of blood and the links of the chain, come last, with fine brushes.
The result is a Frida Kahlo reproduction in which every detail is painted, not printed. Because the original is on canvas, ours is on the same support, and you can have it delivered rolled.
Which size suits your wall?
In short: 40 x 50 or 45 x 60 cm for a reading corner or a narrow wall, 58 x 75 or 66 x 83 cm above a chest of drawers or a bed, 80 x 108 or 100 x 135 cm above a sofa, and 117 x 145 or 142 x 190 cm for a tall wall or a stairwell.
There are 8 portrait sizes (width x height): 40 x 50, 45 x 60, 58 x 75, 66 x 83, 80 x 108, 100 x 135, 117 x 145 and 142 x 190 cm. Closest to the original is 66 x 83 cm, which is 4.5 cm narrower and 8.44 cm shorter.
As a painting for the living room above a sofa, 80 x 108 cm works well; from 100 x 135 cm upwards the figures in the water are larger than in the original.
An oil painting reproduction does not like steam and damp, so hang it not in the bathroom but in the hallway outside.
Can I have a custom size or a frame?
The original is roughly 3 : 4 in proportion, and the sizes on the list differ from it slightly. For the original’s exact proportions or a width of your own, write to us for a price and delivery time.
The painting can come rolled, stretched on a stretcher bar or framed; our workshop in Slovenia does the stretching and framing. Frames are chosen in our 3D app, built for that one job; a preview of the painting on your own wall is a separate service.
When will my painting arrive?
We start painting as soon as you confirm the order, and the painting is ready in 15 to 45 working days. Before it ships we send you a photograph of it, and if you would like a change, we make it.
Orders shipped within Slovenia or elsewhere in the EU go through no customs, and every order is covered by our returns policy.
As a gift it suits an art lover who knows Kahlo and enjoys finding details. If you are not sure which size would fit, give a wall art voucher and let them choose.
Frequently asked questions
Where is the original kept?
In the private collection of Daniel Filipacchi in Paris.
What is floating in the water?
A volcano with a skyscraper, an island with a skeleton, a woman on a rope, an empty dress, a seashell, a couple like Kahlo’s parents, and plants.
Will I get a print?
No. It is a hand-painted copy: our painter builds it up on canvas with a brush and oil colours, layer by layer.
How big is the original?
91.44 cm high and 70.5 cm wide; our nearest size is 66 x 83 cm.
Can you paint it in my size?
Yes, tell us the width and height and we confirm price and timing in advance.
How long does delivery take?
After 15 to 45 working days of painting we ship it, with no customs inside the EU.
Is it right for a bedroom?
Better a study or living room, where you can look closely; less so a child’s room.
What does the painting mean?
It has been called her biography: memories, the pain of the wounded foot and thoughts of life and death meet in the bath.
- Subject: Frida Kahlo’s feet in a bathtub, surrounded by small scenes from her life floating in the water.
- Original: 1938, oil on canvas, 91.44 x 70.5 cm, private collection of Daniel Filipacchi, Paris.
- Ours: oil on canvas, hand-painted to your order, in 8 portrait sizes (40 x 50 to 142 x 190 cm) or made to measure.
- Worth knowing: in November 1938 the painting hung in Kahlo’s first solo exhibition in New York.
