Photos of Frida Kahlo's locked-away belongings go on display in London

Marie-Louise Gumuchian, Reuters, May 15, 2015

For 50 years, the colourful wardrobe and personal belongings of Mexican artist Frida Kahlo were hidden away in a bathroom.

 

Her husband, muralist Diego Riviera, stored them after her death from pneumonia in 1954 at their Mexico City home, "The Blue House", stipulating that the room stay sealed until 15 years after his death.

 

It was. Rivera died in 1957 but the room remained unopened until 2004 when the Frida Kahlo Museum, housed in the couple's old home, began to catalogue its contents and invited Ishiuchi Miyako to take photographs of the more than 300 items.