Roots, 1943, oil on canvas, 30.5×49.9 cm, private collection.
Frida Kahlo (1907-1954) was a Mexican painter, wife of the famous artist Diego Rivera (her full biography appears in the article «My Nurse and I»).
In the work Roots, Frida is the protagonist. She lies on the ground in an orange dress, resting her head on an arm propped on a white pillow, and from her open side sturdy green branches emerge, taking root in the parched soil around her. This image expresses the desire to reproduce herself outside of her own body, fertilizing lifeless ground and bonding with it through a two-way exchange of giving and receiving. This connection, this anchoring to the soil, represents not only self-reproduction, but also the most intimate, almost organic bond with the immortality of creation.
No blood flows from her open side, unlike in many of Kahlo's other canvases, where it often evokes a martyr. The image is perfectly natural, and Frida's face — often shown tensed by physical suffering or darkened by pain, loneliness, and fear — is radiant in this work, exuding serenity and sweetness, as if she were completely fulfilled and felt close to perfection and eternity. The work was painted in 1943, when Frida was 36, but her radiant face, carefree smile, loose and free hair, and relaxed, soft body convey the image of a childlike Frida who has rediscovered her own childhood and is reliving it differently from how it actually was — serene, secure, and free of pain.