Antique

Before it moved to the Museum of Fine Arts, Frida Kahlo's Dos Mujeres (Salvadora y Herminia) belonged to the family of American industrialist Jackson Cole Phillips, who purchased it from Kahlo in 1929.

Up until recently, there were only 12 works by celebrated Mexican artist Frida Kahlo in American public collections. Now, there's one more on display at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Dos Mujeres (Salvadora y Herminia) is the first painting Kahlo ever sold, and it's been in the same family ever since.

Kahlo is known for her fantastical self-portraits, but Dos Mujeres shows two other women.

"They were her maids [who] worked in her house during her childhood, we believe," says Rhona MacBeth, conservator of paintings at the MFA. "We're still finding out more about them."

They're indigenous Mexicans — one has olive skin and Indian features, and the other is paler with a gold hoop in her ear. They stand against dense, green foliage dotted with fruit and butterflies. According to MacBeth, this painting takes us back to the beginning of Kahlo's career, following a violent car crash that left her spine and pelvis permanently damaged.
"Her terrible accident was in 1925; this was only 1928," MacBeth says. "And she really only started painting seriously after the accident, so she's 21 years old at this point."

more...