Homage to Frida Kahlo's "Tree of Hope"

Unfortunately, the operation did not improve her health, and instead she lost weight and became anemic. She also suffered shooting nerve pains. This operation was the beginning of a steady downturn in Frida's health.

"Beneath a cloudy sky in which the sun and moon divide the painting into light and dark sits a weeping Frida clothed in a red Tehuana costume. She keeps vigil over the body of a second Frida, who lies anesthetized on a hospital trolley, her surgical incisions still open and dripping with blood. The seated Frida holds a pink orthopedic corset as if it were a trophy. But her real support comes from a flag emblazoned in red with words taken from a song--her motto, 'Tree of Hope, keep firm.' The flagpole's pointed red tip looks like a paintbrush dipped in red paint, or in this context, like a surgical instrument stained with blood. The two Fridas are flanked by a gravelike trench and a precipice; as always the fissured earth is a metaphor for Frida's wounds. ... Joining the tragic victim and Frida the heroic survivor in one image, Tree of Hope is an act of faith, like a retablo. But in Frida's retablo, there is no miracle worker; Frida takes charge of her salvation and becomes her own holy intercessor" (Herrera, Frida Kahlo: The Paintings, pp. 191, 193).