Source: WTL research files.
Image: "The Little Deer" (1946).
Comments: In 1946, she went to New York after having been bedridden for four months. Before flying to New York for more back surgery, she gave this painting to her friend Arcady Boytler () along with a Spanish ballad she had written that begins "The deer walked alone." In traditional Hispanic iconography, St. Sebastian is depicted being martyred by being shot with many fatal arrows. In this painting, a body of a suffering male stag replaces the traditional image or St. Sebastian, while, as Frida no doubt felt fully, her face and the talent and intelligence in her head remains proud and unbowed. In the lower left corner, following Frida's signature and date ("Frida Kahlo, 46") is the word "carma" (Spanish for Karma, fate). Like most of her paintings this one is laden with symbols. The deer, on the one hand, may refer realistically to her pet deer, which she kept in the garden at the Casa Azul, though I doubt it because, to my knowledge it was never shot with arrows. On the other hand, in Aztec mythology, about which Kahlo was well informed, a deer is the symbol for the right foot, which is the foot of hers whose condition continued to worsen. The New York operation was for the fusion of four verterbrae in her spine. The operation was a success.
Humanities question: Write a brief analysis about this painting by considering images that, to you, may have symbolic significance:the deer, the arrows, trees in winter (or dead), ocear and storm clouds in the background; others as you discover them.