Extraordinary Mexican painter Frida Kahlo employed the symbolism that characterized much of her work in the self-portrait, “Autorretarto con Collre de Espinas y Colibri, 1940.” Wearing a necklace of thorns, Kahlo represents a Christian martyr, and the thorns piercing her skin symbolize the emotional pain of her divorce from artist Diego Rivera. The dead hummingbird is a love charm; the black cat signifies bad luck and death. Kahlo’s pet monkey, a gift from Rivera, represents the devil, and the butterflies in her hair denote the Resurrection. The painting was intended to be a gift for one of her lovers, but after her divorce, Kahlo (1907 – 1954) sold it to pay her lawyer.

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