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What Frida Kahlo Kept in Her Bathroom
In 2005, two Mexican artists met across space and time
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Untitled, 2007, Graciela Iturbide. Dye imbibition print, 11 3/4 × 11 7/8 in. Getty Museum, 2014.89.3 © Graciela Iturbide
Body Content
After artist Frida Kahlo’s death in 1954, her husband, painter Diego Rivera, blocked off two bathrooms in their home, La Casa Azul, on the condition that they not be opened until at least 15 years after his death.
In 2005, La Casa Azul, now part of Museo Frida Kahlo, invited fellow legendary Mexican artist Graciela Iturbide to photograph the space and the belongings inside. (Leánlo en español.)
Untitled, negative 2005; print 2007, Graciela Iturbide. Dye imbibition print, 11 3/4 × 11 7/8 in. Getty Museum, 2014.89.6 © Graciela Iturbide
Iturbide spent a week photographing the contents the two rooms—a dressing room cum library and a bathroom—but this was not her first visit to Kahlo's home.
“I’ve been coming to this house since. . . I believe Frida wasn’t even famous,” said Iturbide in an interview with Museo Frida Kahlo. “I loved to come here to the garden with my children and visit and read the diary that was there. So, for me it was really a privilege to touch these objects, to touch them with my eyes, and to reinterpret them in the same bathroom.”
Untitled, 2007, Graciela Iturbide. Dye imbibition print, 11 3/4 × 11 7/8 in. Getty Museum, 2014.89.3 © Graciela Iturbide
The rooms contain roughly 300 of Kahlo’s belongings that invite an intimate look at the artist’s personal life. Gathered together in this tub are many assistive devices, and a poster of Joseph Stalin—perhaps one of the many images of revolutionaries that once adorned Kahlo’s bed.
Untitled, negative 2005; print 2007, Graciela Iturbide. Dye imbibition print, 11 3/4 × 11 7/8 in. Getty Museum, 2014.89.1 © Graciela Iturbide
Over the course of her life, Kahlo endured over 30 surgeries, and long periods of bedrest. Consequently, many of these personal items are medical aids like the ones on this table.
“When I photographed all this,” said Iturbide, “it was very unconscious. Later on, I realized that these were objects of suffering, because there was the Demerol, there were her crutches…”
Untitled, negative 2005; print 2007, Graciela Iturbide. Dye imbibition print, 11 3/4 × 11 7/8 in. Getty Museum, 2014.89.4 © Graciela Iturbide
Here, a hot water bottle is mounted on the wall for easy access, likely a tool for soothing Kahlo’s constant pain. Below is a railing, one of many from all over La Casa Azul, installed to help Kahlo get around her home.
Untitled, negative 2005; print 2007, Graciela Iturbide. Dye imbibition print, 11 3/4 × 11 7/8 in. Getty Museum, 2014.89.5 © Graciela Iturbide
This gown, from one of Kahlo’s long hospital stays, is stained with both paint and blood. It is a garment that portrays a very different image than the technicolor Tehuantepec dresses that were the artist’s signature style in public.
Untitled (Corse sobre la repisa), 2007, Graciela Iturbide. Gelatin silver print, 17 7/8 × 18 1/8 in. Getty Museum, 2014.88.6 © Graciela Iturbide
In 2006 Iturbide returned to La Casa Azul, this time to arrange and capture Kahlo’s belongings in the photographer’s signature black-and-white style.
“Her corsets caught my attention,” said Iturbide, “because they are very aesthetic, even though they reflect pain.”
Untitled (Tres irrigadores), 2006, Graciela Iturbide. Gelatin silver print, 18 × 18 in. Getty Museum, 2014.88.8 © Graciela Iturbide
Here, a trio of containers, likely used to make Kahlo’s ablutions more manageable with her limited mobility, now sit on a shelf.
Untitled (Lo que el agua me dio), 2006, Graciela Iturbide. Gelatin silver print, 18 × 18 in. Getty Museum, 2014.88.7 © Graciela Iturbide
This photograph is Iturbide’s homage to Kahlo’s 1938 painting Lo que el agua me dio. Kahlo described her famous artwork as “an image of passing time about time and childhood games in the bathtub and the sadness of what had happened to her in the course of her life.”
This image also captures Iturbide’s pain. The marks on her left foot are from a recent operation.
Untitled (Ofrenda a las cenizas de Frida), 2007, Graciela Iturbide. Gelatin silver print, 18 1/2 × 18 1/8 in. Getty Museum, 2014.88.2 © Graciela Iturbide
In the photograph Ofrenda a las cenizas de Frida, Iturbide pairs a freshly picked flower with the urn containing Kahlo’s ashes. Said Iturbide in a 2014 interview, “My photography about pain is very catholic, related to my Catholic education.”
Untitled (Tortuga en la Tina), 2006, Graciela Iturbide. Gelatin silver print, 18 3/4 × 18 in. Getty Museum, 2014.88.3 © Graciela Iturbide
However, not all the images in this collection reflect Kahlo’s pain. This turtle placed in the tub injects whimsy into the series.
