The Wounded Table

The Wounded Table (La mesa herida in Spanish) is an oil painting by Mexican artist Frida Kahlo. In The Wounded Table, Kahlo is no longer a bewildered child but an adult-sized Kahlo sitting at the table. Kahlo bleeds as a martyr for Mexicanidad, she comments on the performative aspects of Mexican identity. It supports Roger Bartr’s analysis of post-revolutionary culture. In the Wounded Table, Kahlo parodies the stereotypes of mexicanness.^[1]

A Tehuana-clad Kahlo shares a long table with the cord- and dynamite-wrapped male figure and the skeleton of Four Inhabitants. Her long dark hair is lifted up and draped over the skeleton's arm, tying the two figures together. Seated between Kahlo and the skeleton is a small Nayarit sculpture. The long arm of the sculpture extends toward Kahlo and, near her shoulder, merges with hers. Blood oozes from wounds in the table, the man's feet, and the skeleton. It pools near the hem of the Tehuana dress and splatters onto the skirt. Blood is never far removed from the heart, and in this particular work the skeleton is touched by the bloodheart linking the skeletal death figure with the heart-life.^[2]

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