A Few Small Nips (Passionately in Love) - Frida Kahlo

A stark, narrative oil painting by Frida Kahlo, inspired by the tradition of Mexican retablos to depict themes of betrayal and domestic violence.

Frida Kahlo painted A Few Small Nips (Passionately in Love) in 1935, a period marked by personal turmoil following the discovery of her husband Diego Rivera's affair with her sister, Cristina. The work depicts a woman lying on a bed, covered in wounds, while a man stands over her holding a knife. The scene is rendered with a direct, almost naive aesthetic that contrasts with the violent subject matter. Kahlo drew inspiration from the tradition of Mexican retablos, which are small devotional paintings created to give thanks for survival or divine intervention. By adopting this format, she subverts the genre, replacing religious gratitude with a stark depiction of domestic trauma. The title itself is a grim irony, referencing a newspaper account of a man who murdered his partner and claimed he had only given her a few small nips. The composition is intentionally flat, placing the figures within a sparse, box-like room. The blood from the victim's wounds extends beyond the canvas, staining the wooden frame itself, which serves to blur the boundary between the painted reality and the physical space of the viewer. This technique forces an immediate confrontation with the brutality of the event. The inclusion of a banner held by a dove and a black bird adds a layer of dark, theatrical commentary to the scene. Through this work, Kahlo externalises her internal suffering, using the visual language of folk art to process betrayal and physical vulnerability. The painting remains a stark example of her ability to translate personal anguish into a tangible, visual form, stripped of artifice or sentimentality.