Frida Kahlo painted The Two Fridas, the 1939 double self-portrait often linked to Surrealism.
The large painting shows two seated versions of Kahlo holding hands, with their hearts and blood vessels visibly connected. One figure wears a European-style white dress and the other wears traditional Tehuana clothing, creating a visual contrast tied to identity, heritage and emotional pain.
Kahlo painted the work after her divorce from Diego Rivera. The two figures have often been interpreted as different aspects of her identity, though Kahlo’s imagery resists a single fixed explanation. The painting was made in oil on canvas and is among her largest works.
Kahlo is frequently grouped with Surrealism because André Breton praised her work, but she rejected the idea that she consciously painted dreams. She famously argued that she painted her own reality, making the classification an important point of debate.