Why Is Frida Kahlo On This $8 Nail Polish?

How the work—and famous face—of the beloved Mexican artist turned into a commercialized legacy.

- Kristen Bahler

IN 1946, SHORTLY BEFORE her 40th birthday, Frida Kahlo painted what might be her most tragic self-portrait. The Wounded Deer reimagines the Mexican artist as prey, pierced by a shock of arrows and left to die in a forest clearing. Her face, framed by those famous eyebrows, is stoic.

Kahlo suffered many hardships in her life—illness, chronic pain, a collapsing marriage—and her art was often a direct reflection of those struggles. How strange, then, to find a replica of that famous painting on a bottle of drugstore nail polish and a tube of lipstick for $7.99 each. And yet, at 3,000 CVS stores nationwide, así es la vida.

The tortured life of this long-dead artist—celebrated for her abandonment of Western ideals—and the fluorescent glow of one of the most American places you could find yourself in, is an odd pairing. But after years of seeing her image on everything from T-shirts to tequila, it’s also something of a milestone. We’ve hit peak Frida, baby.