Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera in Detroit

Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera, about 1932, Detroit. Photografer: unknown

"High society here turns me off and I feel bit of rage against all these rich guys here, since I have seen thousands of people in the most terrible misery,"   Kahlo wrote in 1932 about her time in Detroit.

Licensed replica: ©Banco de Mexico Diego Rivera & Frida Kahlo Museums Trust/VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2008

Painting Nr. 26, Frida Kahlo: 
Display Window in a Street of Detroit 1931
Oil on metal, 30,3 x 38,2 cm
Collection Mr and Mrs Abel Holtz
Gary Nader Fine Art, Miami, Florida, USA

This colorful painting was painted by Frida as a memory of her stay in Detroit.
The painting is dated "1931" but in 1931 Frida was in New York not in Detroit. She moved to Detroit with Diego Rivera in 1932. She may have started the painting in New York and then finished it in Detroit. 

Frida's friend, the photographer Lucienne Bloch, recalls being with Frida in New York when they saw the display window that inspired the painting.  
On the other hand,  Lucienne Bloch remember walking with Frida around the poorer sections of Detroit, and walking  past a closed store that displayed the 4th of July theme.

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Impression of the painting at the latest exhibition of the Frida Kahlo collection by Kunstmuseum Gehrke-Remund. All paintings are: Licensed replica: ©Banco de Mexico Diego Rivera & Frida Kahlo Museums Trust/VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2008

This painting seems to be a simple "still life" composition of objects in a shop window, but it looks like  a collection of toys for the child she desired to have and never had.
However, some critics believe the theme is perhaps an allegory of the United States. In the background she seems to indicate that the country is still "under construction" and the objects in the store window are just a façade for distraction. Frida never explained this painting and many interpretations are possible.

The lion and horse in the painting very closely resemble ceramic and terracotta figures of  Frida's personal collection. 

The inscription in the lower right corner reads:  "Display window in a street of Detroit".

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Frida Kahlo, 1932, Detroit. Photographer unknown.