"A Few Small Nips" by Frida Khalo

Some situations and feelings are often indescribable in words, and some people use their canvas and paints to bring their stories and emotions into life. Frida Kahlo was a Mexican artist and was famous for her self-portraits. She often shared her life experiences through her paintings. In 1935, there was a murder case that she found exciting and horrible at the same time. She painted "a few small nips" in order to capture the essence of this story. In the painting, a naked woman is lying in her bed covered in her blood while her husband, who stabbed her several times, is standing beside her with the knife in his hand. There is a debate that the man stabbed his wife because he suspected her unfaithfulness. There is a white and a black dove in the painting that might suggest the good and ugly parts of love. The painting represents this murder case alone and every other case where women are tortured by their spouses or male family members in the name of honor.

The fascinating thing about this painting is that it is also assumed the depiction of Kahlo's husband's unfaithfulness. Kahlo found out that her husband was cheating on her with her sister, and it is assumed that she represents herself by the stabbed naked woman. The woman's nakedness shows her vulnerability, and all the blood and stabs depict her emotional torture. Interestingly, in both scenarios, when a woman is unfaithful or a victim of unfaithfulness, she is the one who is stabbed. Women are often victim blamed when their men are not loyal. And Kahlo portrayed this issue in such fineness.