The Two Frida’s is a painting of vulnerability, fractured identity, heartbreak, and strength. The Mexican artist, Frida Kahlo, pioneered a new bold form of self-portraiture that depicted deeply personal and honest experiences. The Two Frida’s was painted in 1939, the year in which her artistic career was flourishing but her personal life was crumbling. After a series of successful solo shows abroad, Frida returned home to find that her husband of 10 years had slept with her sister. A heartbroken Frida moved out and Diego began divorce proceedings. It was during this tumultuous time of heartbreak, change, and stress that Frida started working on this painting. We see two Frida’s sitting side by side on a simple woven bench in a stark desert like space. The dramatic stylized stormy sky creates a sense of turmoil and unease. Frida said that she wanted to show the Frida Diego loved and the one he didn’t. On the right, we see a darker skinned Frida wearing a traditional Tijuana ensemble. This is the indigenous Mexican Frida who was adored by her husband. Frida only started wearing indigenous clothes in 1929 on her wedding day. It was Diego who suggested and encouraged it as an expression of Mexican identity and pride. This Frida holds a small amulet featuring a portrait of a young Diego she owned in real life right up until the day she died. The amulet is attached to an artery that’s entwines around Frida’s left arm and connects to her exposed yet fully intact heart. To the left we see a lighter skinned Frieda wearing a Victorian style lace wedding dress. This is the European Frida who was rejected by her husband. This Frida’s heart is much more exposed and less intact. Since it is disconnected from Diego, it bleeds profusely onto her white dress. This Frida is shown trying to stop the flow of blood running through her veins with surgical forceps. She is unsuccessful, and the blood that seeps under her dress creates patterns that echo the embroidered flowers below. The two bear hearts that recalled the art and culture of Aztec peoples encapsulate Frida’s vulnerability pain and heartbreak. In this double self-portrait, Frida also explores the struggle of two distinct national identities. A struggle that she was already familiar with having grown up with mixed heritage and indeed this painting alone exhibits a mix of influence is coming from different places. Frida’s focus on deeply personal feeling and narrative, rather than realism and perspective, shows how she was inspired by Mexican folk art and small adipose. However, the frontal and rigid poses of the two Frida’s and their blank expressions recalls European portraiture and, in particular, the work of the Italian artist Bronzino. Although, the loved and unloved Frida’s are depicted as two distinctly separate entities. They are also united by the holding of their hands and the single artery that connects to both their hearts. So, despite their pain suffering and loneliness they support each other. Frida is showing herself as a broken, fractured, yet self-supporting woman.