"What the water gave me" is an oil painting by Frida Kahlo that was completed in 1938. It is sometimes referred to as "What I saw in the water". The style of this painting is considered to be Surrealism, even though Frida Kahlo herself is not actually considered a Surrealistic painter.

Kahlo released her unconscious mind through the use of what seems to be an irrational juxtaposition of images in her bathwater. In this painting, Frida paints herself, precisely her legs and feet, lying in a bath of grey water. Some of the elements one sees in the water are then re-used in other paintings that Frida Kahlo painted later on. Most of Kahlo’s paintings had a central element, but this is not the case in this painting.

She was born in Mexico on July 6, 1907. Frida was one of four daughters born to a Hungarian-Jewish father and a mother of Spanish and Mexican Indian descent. As a child Kahlo suffered from both polio and spina bifida of which she was not diagnosed until she was 23.

It was never her intention to become an artist; however, at eighteen, she was seriously injured in a bus accident and spent over a year in bed recovering. She always admired her father’s box of oil paints so she she decided to put that admiration to use.

Despite the trouble she faced with her health that left her physically crippled, it was her marriage to famous Mexican muralist Diego Rivera that crippled her emotionally.

Frida related all her works to physical and emotional pain.

More Info: en.wikipedia.org