Frida Kahlo was a Mexican painter known for her many varied self-portraits and works inspired by the nature and cultural history of Mexico. Today we're looking for her Self-portrait with Small Monkey, painted in 1945.
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The painting is held in the Museo Dolores Olmedo, in Xochimilco, on the southern edge of Mexico City. The museum presents the art collection of the late Dolores Olmedo, who was a close friend of Kahlo and her husband Diego Rivera.
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We're inside the museum, now we just need to find the painting… Stay on this slide and point and click to explore the gallery
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Well done! Here it is, lets take a closer look…
Kahlo's unmistakable style was inspired by Mexican popular culture and colonial history, and she employed a self-conciously naïve folk art aesthetic to comment on gender, class, and race in Mexican society.
However, this painting draws on subjects a little closer to home. Frida kept a number of pet monkeys and hairless dogs at her Blue House in Coyoacán. Some critics have said that the monkeys symbolise the children she was unable to bear.
Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera carrying their pet monkey "Fulang-Chang" (ca. 1940) by Autor no identificadoMuseo Casa Estudio Diego Rivera y Frida Kahlo
Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera carrying their pet monkey, Fulang-Chang, 1940.
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Thanks for joining today's scavenger hunt. There's lots more to see at the Museo Dolores Olmedo, so stick around and carry on exploring
