The Wounded Deer

The Wounded Deer (El venado herido in Spanish) is an oil painting by Mexican artist Frida Kahlo created in 1946. It is also known as The Little Deer. Through The Wounded Deer, Kahlo shares her enduring physical and emotional suffering with her audience, as she did throughout her creative oeuvre. This painting in particular was created towards the end of Kahlo's life, when her health was in decline. Kahlo combines pre-Columbian, Buddhist, and Christian symbols to express her wide spectrum of influences and beliefs. Kahlo was injured at the age of 18 in a bus accident that resulted in serious injuries to her entire body. Her spine, ribs, pelvis, right leg, and abdomen were particularly damaged. She would deal with the injuries from this accident for the rest of her life. Kahlo painted this self-portrait after an operation on her spine, which would leave her bedridden for almost a year. During her recovery, she wore a steel corset, which can be seen in her late self-portraits. Her right leg would eventually be amputated up to her knee, as a result of gangrene. The variety of cultural influences reflect Kahlo's own background. She had a German father and a Mexican mother, thus she was aware of traditional European and Mexican ideas during her childhood. It is also known that Kahlo was interested in Eastern Religion during the later years of her life. In 1940, Kahlo married fellow Mexican artist Diego Rivera for the second time. Their second marriage saw many of the same problems as their first, filled with jealousy, affairs, and arguments. Around the time she created The Wounded Deer, Kahlo made a drawing of a young deer in her diary, which is thought to be inspired by her pet deer, Granizo. The Wounded Deer was given by Kahlo to...