PRIVATE COMMISSION - USA
 
Favorite Feeling is an interpretive portrait oil painting honoring Frida Kahlo, one of the most enduring figures in modern art. Painted by Yana Evans, this work is not a literal copy but a symbolic portrait rooted in tradition, cultural memory, and emotional truth, the same foundations that defined Frida’s own practice.
 
Frida Kahlo used portrait painting as autobiography. After a life shaped by illness, injury, and political conviction, she turned her own image into a visual language of resilience and identity. Flowers, animals, and birds appear throughout her paintings as carriers of meaning rather than decoration. In Mexican culture, the hummingbird is a powerful symbol of vitality, endurance, love, and the soul’s persistence. In Frida’s work, hummingbirds often represent survival through pain and the refusal to disappear.
 
This oil painting portrait draws from that visual vocabulary. The rich florals echo traditional Mexican symbolism, while the hummingbirds act as quiet witnesses, suspended between fragility and strength. The oil medium allows for depth, texture, and permanence, aligning with classical portrait painting while remaining emotionally contemporary.
 
Favorite Feeling represents the type of oil painting portrait Yana Evans creates for private clients. Each commission is developed individually and never repeated. New portrait commissions and animal drawings are created from original concepts, personal symbolism, and thoughtful collaboration, rather than copies of existing artworks.
This artwork is intended to present artistic direction and craftsmanship for collectors and clients seeking custom oil painting portraits grounded in art history, symbolism, and lasting quality.