Frida Kahlo (1907-1954) is best known as a feminist icon — a reputation that sometimes overshadows her activities as an artist. These captivating photos offer a unique perspective into this beloved artist and activist, her persona is more palpable through these images than through the paintings alone, which were highly influenced by her existence and conditions. We see how Frida meticulously crafted her own image, almost as though she were a third party to what she was looking at. For example, in one of the photographs she increased her brow; in another she changed her expression or erased a vein in her neck. Challenging classic beauty norms, Frida especially loved the photos where her monobrow and mustache are more prominent. She was always editing, refining her image, always analyzing herself.

The relationship between Frida and Diego comes from the photographs in all its realism, turbulence, and strength. The back of one of the photos of Diego, for instance, is marked with Frida’s own rouged lips, from having kissed the photo, which reveals the extent of the value of the photos themselves at a time when letters and photographs were amongst the strongest evidence of endearment, relationships, life, and the passing of time. Women were captivated by him, just as Frida was. She kept photos of them in her album – and there she is herself, amongst his other lovers. He was corpulent – she was fragile and petite. He was already an accomplished artist when they met – she was beginning to shape her individualistic form of art. His body of artistic production was made up of large paintings – her paintings were made on canvases, which could easily be held while lying in bed.

Frida Kahlo created art for a public audience, while this collection shows a very personal view and exposes her vulnerable side. We stand silent, looking at her photos; respectful of her suffering, yet awed by the grandeur of her persona, her strength, her battles, and her ability to transform her grief and pain into art, fueling her thought and attitude into a universal and potent message. Her vulnerability is most evident in photos where she is lying in bed, all bandaged up after a spinal surgery, or sitting in a wheelchair. Her passion shows when she wrote things on the back of photographs. And kissed them. The notes she wrote to Diego. These black and white photos are the reverse of the rich colors her art came to be known for. Her personal items, portraying the woman behind, next to, shadow and counterpart, of the artist the world has so far known.