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My Grandparents, My Parents, and I presented Kahlo within a clear framework. My Family (Unfinished Family Tree), on the other hand, is a less orderly composition. In this later painting, the artist's parents remain at the center of the composition.
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Photographer unknown
Frida painting her family tree in the hospital, c. 1950
(click images for more)
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Here, their matrimonial bond seems strained. While Matilde Calderón's portrait is based on the wedding photograph, Guillermo Kahlo's portrait is based on a different photograph, in which he appears alone. Their unhappy marriage adversely affects the fate of their children – Kahlo and her sisters are isolated from each other. The artist herself appears in two guises, as an adult in a Tehuana costume on her mother's side and as a helpless infant close to her father's heart. Although more than a decade separates the two paintings, Kahlo was as interested in portraying her family at the end of her life as she was in her artistic prime. She continued to mine the conflicts, complications, and sorrows of her family even as she painted one of her last works.
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