Frida Kahlo (Mexico, 1907-1954)

Self-Portrait (Autorretrato)

signed and inscribed México, Coyoacán. Para el Señor Sigmund Firestone y sus hijas Alberta y Natalia, pinté esté autoretrato con todo cariño, en Febrero de 1940.
oil on masonite
24 × 17 inches (61.0 × 43.2 cm)
1940

Provenance:

Commissioned from the artist, 1940
Sale: Sotheby's, New York, 19th and 20th Century Mexican Paintings, Drawings, Sculpture and Prints , May 11, 1979
Private collection, Switzerland

Exhibited:

San Francisco, Palace of Fine Arts, Golden Gate International Exposition , 1939-40, no. 30
New York, Grey Gallery, Frida Kahlo and Tina Modotti, 1983
Buenos Aires, Argentina, Fundacion PROA , Pintura Mexicana de la Coleccion de Jacques y Natasha Gelman , May 27 - July 25, 1999 (this painting is not from the Gelman collection but was lent for this show).
London, England, Whitechapel Art Gallery, The Whitechapel Art Gallery Centenary Exhibtion , March 21-May 20, 2001. Illustrated in Review, pg. 80

Literature:

Alfred Frankenstein, "Mexican Art Review," San Francisco Chronicle , Sept. 15, 1940, illus. P. 16
Raquel Tibol, Frida Kahlo , 1978, illus.
Hayden Herrera, Frida: A Biography of Frida Kahlo , 1983, no.56, illus.
Marta Zamorra, Frida: El pincel de la angustia , 1987, pg. 313, illus. in color
H. Prignitz-Poda, Frida Kahlo, Das Gesamtwerk , Verlag Neue Kritik, 1988, no. 73, illustrated in color, pg. 135
Martha Zamora, Frida Kahlo, The Brush of Anguish , 1990, pg. 67, illus. in color
Hayden Herrera, Frida Kahlo, The Paintings , New York; 1991. Iluustrated in color, pg. 146
Carlos Monsivais, Luis-Martin Lozano, Frida Kahlo , BITAL, Mexico; 2000, illustrated in color pg. 158