A missed train to posterity

Family Portrait by Frida Kahlo

July 6, 2022


I came across a picture of the unfinished family portrait of Frida Kahlo (why unfinished? Death? Lost interest? No idea. At first, I thought it wasn't something that would interest me but I noticed the outlines of people with undrawn facial features in it and that make me feel sad for the people they were to represent. I know that nothing lasts in this universe and yet it oddly feels like these people missed a chance at eternity (the outlines being their reserved seats in the metaphorical train). Well, at the very least posterity. It's that disappointment you feel for someone who has missed a train he just had to catch especially when they still have a seat reserved in it. Like their whole life hinged on catching that metaphorical train. As if that painting was sole purpose of their existence. What this makes this feeling even more absurd is that most people who would see the painting won't know names of people in it. I myself can't tell which one is Frida Kahlo herself.

P.S. - I am aware of the irony of the fact that the only thing about painting that made me feel anything about it was what was missing in it. I believe I would have loved it more if she had declared painting finished with faces left undrawn.