While many are familiar with Frida Kahlo, this self-portrait focuses on a particular moment in the artist’s life, revealing how her art, politics, and personal life were closely entwined. Self-Portrait Dedicated to Leon Trotsky commemorates Kahlo’s affair with the Russian revolutionary and was created on the occasion of his 58th birthday. When Trotsky was exiled from Russia, he and his wife fled to Mexico, where they stayed at the home of Kahlo and her husband. During this time, Kahlo and Trotsky began a brief romantic relationship, and she also learned more about his politics. The way Kahlo presents herself in this portrait reveals the two sides to her own politics. Her letter to Trotsky is in the middle of the composition, centering their relationship and her interest in the international movements of communism and Marxism. Yet she depicts herself wearing a rebozo, a shawl-like garment with many uses, typically worn by women in Mexico. Kahlo’s more traditional clothing choices indicate her allegiance to Mexicanidad, a movement that favored a return to Indigenous Mexican roots and folk traditions.