Which 1940 Frida Kahlo painting shows her holding a thorn necklace beside a monkey?

The story behind the answer

Frida Kahlo’s 1940 painting showing her beside a monkey while wearing a thorn necklace is Self-Portrait with Thorn Necklace and Hummingbird.

The self-portrait places Kahlo against dense foliage. A thorn necklace cuts into her neck, a black cat appears behind one shoulder, and a monkey reaches toward the necklace. A dead hummingbird hangs at the center of the composition. These elements have prompted extensive interpretations involving pain, symbolism, and Mexican visual traditions.

The title is sometimes confused with Kahlo’s related self-portrait paintings featuring monkeys or animals. The hummingbird is the identifying detail in this title. The work was painted in 1940, the year Kahlo and Rivera remarried.

Source: Wikipedia · fact-checked Sept. 2026

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