Which 1946 Frida Kahlo painting portrays her face on the body of a deer pierced by arrows?

Frida Kahlo’s 1946 painting portraying her face on the body of a deer pierced by arrows is The Wounded Deer.

The small painting shows Kahlo’s human head and upper body joined to a deer’s body in a forest. Nine arrows pierce the animal, and a wounded deer lies on the ground nearby. Kahlo signed the work and included the word “Carma,” a reference often connected to fate or destiny.

The image was made after Kahlo underwent spinal surgery in New York. The injured animal has therefore often been read as a symbol of physical pain, medical treatment, and frustration. Kahlo’s art repeatedly transforms her body and illness into visual metaphors, although individual symbolic interpretations remain debated.

The Wounded Deer is commonly confused with The Little Deer, also from 1946. In The Little Deer, the title refers to a fawn-like figure; The Wounded Deer is the work with nine arrows, a forest, and the word “Carma.”