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In The Dove Made a Mistake, It Was Used to Making Mistakes, Frida Kahlo (1907–1954) replaces her own head and arms with the head and wings of a dove, freeing herself from her own body. Due to an accident and polio, Frida’s right leg was permanently impaired and eventually had to be amputated. At first, she refused to wear the prosthesis, and it took her three months to learn to walk with it.
This series of drawings taken from her diary illustrates her trauma and resignation during a period of life that left her restless and disturbed. Along the lower edge of the drawing are the lines from Rafael Alberti’s poem The Dove Made a Mistake.