I gave myself a haircut once as a child, much to my mother’s dismay.

Needless to say, it did not work out as well as I had hoped. Lets face it, giving yourself a stylish haircut is no easy feat. I wish someone had warned poor Frida.

Not that it would have mattered. Kahlo was pretty down in the dumps when she painted this self-portrait. She produced this piece in the wakes of her recent divorce from Diego Rivera. Their relationship was always a bit tumultuous, and we can only assume her divorce was not much better.

Painting a self-portrait is nothing new for Frida, but there is something odd about this one. Frida typically rocked the traditional female Mexican style: brightly colored dresses paired nicely with unruly flowing locks (and let us not forget eyebrows!). In this painting however, she is adorned in a man’s suit, presumably her ex hubby’s, and her hair is severed and discarded, just like her marriage. A solemn sentiment, but perhaps rather than serving as a reminder of a painful adulterous relationship, we should see this stylistic shift as a fresh new start for the precocious Frida. The world was her oyster! But old feelings die-hard and within a year, she was back in the arms of philandering Rivera. Imagine getting a break-up makeover and then un-breaking up. So embarrassing. 

Some see this painting as a message from Frida to the world that she is ready to be self-reliable and independent. Personally though, all I can think about is her newfound androgynous style. Quite frankly, the eyebrows and mustache already pushed Kahlo a bit towards the masculine side, and this short hair only solidifies her position amongst the most dynamic of female artists. Aggressively butch yet salaciously feminine at the same time. One of the many reasons we will always love Mrs. Kahlo.