Few painters have been as celebrated and adopted into popular culture as Frida Kahlo--often to the detriment of her amazing achievements as a painter.

In this striking volume, one of the world's foremost scholars on Kahlo's art looks past the hype to focus on the artist's technique and motifs. Reproductions of Kahlo's paintings, along with selected details, are accompanied by illuminating observations about the role of physical and mental suffering in the creative process, Kahlo's mastery and reinvention of European traditions, and the wealth of coded and metaphorical elements hidden in so much of her work.

A rich and rewarding exploration of an artist all too easily reduced to a single narrative, this nuanced study is also an exquisitely produced celebration of Kahlo's genius.