Kahlo, Frida. Henry Ford Hospital. 1932. Collection, Fundacion Dolores Olmedo, Mexico. Web. 9 September 2010.

The strikingly drastic image of Frida Kahlo's "Henry Ford Hospital" is unique to Frida's dramatic, shocking style and portrayal of her suffering. In this particular self-portrait, Frida depicts the traumatizing hospitalization in 1932, when Frida claims she had a miscarriage.  The portrait employs bold, yet dull colors (as in few dramatic, bright colors) with six key elements aside from Frida herself. Frida lies hemmorrhaging on a hospital bed engraved with Henry Ford Hospital, Detriot with the date of hospitalization on the front of the bed frame. The city of Detriot seems to be partitioned behind her. The six key elements are connected to Frida through red strings tied to her left pinky: a newborn/still-born baby boy, a pelvis (most likely female), a purple flower, a snail, a woman's abdominopelvic region, saggital view and a collection of metal items that resemble a blacksmiths working station. Frida is naked and crying. Interestingly, the hospital bed itself is not portrayed in a hospital setting, but instead seems to set itself outside of Detroit (city line) with a blue sky and natural earth below.

Concerning my own interpretation, it is quite obvious that the artist is suffering and believes quite firmly that a micarriage was the source of her woe. Through reading of her life story, it is somewhat simple to see the connections between events and beliefs in her life and this painting. The pelvis situated in the far right of the painting, tied to her little finger represents the accident that damaged her pelvic bone when she was young and to her, the reason that she was unable to have a child. Frida's lower abdomen was pierced by a metal rod from the bus she was riding when it collided with a heavy street car. She said many a time that she felt that this was the reason she was unable to bear children. On that note, the still-born baby boy represents the child she lost during the miscarriage and the pain she felt through that loss (her tears); the abdominopelvic region of a woman shown also adds to that sentiment. The mass of metal items situated in the far left corner may represent the metal inserted into her spine and pelvis to support her skeleton after the accident. When she was younger (shortly after the accident), she wrote many letters that explained her thoughts on her conditions and she wrote many a time that the metal and the devices that held her were bothersome, tiring and demoralizing. Their inclusion in the painting may be an extension of that sentiment. Lastly, the purple flower; this was indeed difficult to decipher and my guess is simply that, a guess. After the accident, Frida explained that the metal rod that pierced her body penetrated her uterus and exited through her vagina and stated that at that point, she lost her virginity. The flower to me seems somewhat broken (at least sad and flaccid) and that may represent her 'flower' which can represent the purity of a woman and the loss of it through the accident. It may also represent the life lost through the event. The snail, in the top right corner was also difficult to infer meaning from as the only association to snails that I am certainly familiar with is their quality of slowness. Perhaps this represents the slow healing of her body or the slow healing of her emotional state after hospitalization. Either way it is difficult to say; the artist clearly makes a strong association with the element, however. The entire piece is rather morbid, as became her style in her later years and carries a feeling of genuine grief; it is obvious that the ability to have a child was vital to her and that the event signified a great loss for Frida.