Episode 92: Frida Kahlo’s Secret Room - Art Mysteries, Episode 4

For 47 years after her death, a room in Mexican painter Frida Kahlo’s house remained sealed to the outside world. When it was finally opened in 2004, it revealed amazing insights into the painter and her life.

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Martina: On an April day in 2004, the famous Mexican photographer Graciela Iturbide approached the entryway to an electric blue house in Mexico City. She was at the former house of the painter Frida Kahlo…and today, Graciela had a very special assignment.

Graciela: Yo estaba en la casa de Frida Kahlo, una artista que hoy es muy famosa en Latinoamérica.​ Ella pintó unos cuadros muy impresionantes sobre su vida y su dolor. Muchos años después de su muerte, todavía había muchas cosas que no se sabían de su arte.

Martina: Frida Kahlo was born, lived, and died in this house — which is called “The Blue House.” Today, it’s also known as “The Frida Kahlo Museum.” Every year, thousands of people visit, to learn about the artist and her life. But on that April day, Graciela wasn’t there as a tourist, and the museum wasn’t open to the public.

Graciela: Ese día yo estaba allí porque había recibido una llamada de la directora del museo para tomar unas fotos de un lugar que había estado cerrado por muchos años… un baño.

Martina: For 47 years, the bathroom had remained sealed. Whatever was in there, was a mystery — even to the curators of the museum. Now, for the first time since Frida’s death in 1954, the bathroom had been opened. Nobody knew what this secret room might reveal about Frida’s life…but Graciela was about to find out.

Graciela: Durante la visita, exploré la casa y finalmente llegué a la habitación de Frida. Caminé por el cuarto hasta llegar frente a su baño. La puerta estaba semiabierta y… entré.

Martina: Bienvenidos and welcome to a special edition of the Duolingo Spanish Podcast. I’m Martina Castro, and this season, we’re digging into some of the greatest mysteries of art and literature in the Spanish-speaking world.

As usual, the storyteller will be using intermediate Spanish and I’ll be chiming in for context in English. If you miss something, you can always skip back and listen again. We also offer full transcripts at podcast.duolingo.com.

Today, we’re taking you behind the scenes of the life and work of one of Latin America’s most famous painters, Frida Kahlo.

Martina: We’ll come back to Graciela Iturbide in a moment, but first let’s take a trip through time to the earliest days of Frida’s life. The Blue House is located in a charming neighborhood called Coyoacán — one of the oldest and most beautiful in Mexico City. And it’s the neighborhood where Frida Kahlo grew up. Marta Turok is an anthropologist who studied Frida Kahlo’s life, including the clothing, or vestimenta, and other objects that still populate her home.

Marta: Frida tenía mucha ropa indígena y se sentía muy orgullosa de ella. Descubrí a Frida a través de su vestimenta y me pareció una mujer fascinante, fuera de lo común.

Martina: When she was first studying Frida Kahlo, Marta learned that Frida had spent her childhood and teenage years in the Blue House surrounded by plants and animals. She had a normal, uneventful life, until she was involved in an accident on September 17, 1925. Frida was 18 years old.

Marta: Ese horrible accidente cambió su vida y su personalidad como artista.

Martina: Frida had been riding a bus when a streetcar…plowed into it. She broke her spine, among other things.

Marta: A Frida la operaron muchas veces después de ese accidente, al menos treinta y dos veces. Ella tuvo que usar corsés ortopédicos de distintos tipos. Todo el dolor y sufrimiento que sintió lo transformó en arte. Ella era la protagonista de sus cuadros.

Martina: One of Frida’s most famous paintings captures the aftermath of her accident. It’s called What the Water Gave Me, and it's a self-portrait of sorts, showing Frida’s feet emerging from a bathtub full of water. She’s clearly in a bathroom, but for years, art experts didn’t know where that bathroom was…

Marta: En el cuadro Lo que el agua me dio se ven las piernas de Frida en una bañera llena de agua. Las uñas de sus pies están pintadas de color rojo, como la sangre. Además, se ve que uno de sus dedos tiene una herida. Era una referencia directa a su sufrimiento después de aquel grave accidente.

Martina: Bedridden much of her life, Frida used mirrors to paint her famous self-portraits, or autorretratos.

Marta: En la habitación de Frida, detrás de su estudio, el tiempo se congela. Hay dos cuartos con dos camas de madera, y una de las dos camas tiene un gran espejo en el techo. Frida lo usaba para verse cuando estaba acostada y, de esta manera, pintar sus autorretratos.

Martina: Despite her injuries, Frida still had a rich social life…and love life. In 1929, when Frida was 22 years old, she married Diego Rivera, who was two decades her senior…and already a famous mural painter.

Marta: Frida y Diego vivieron en la Casa Azul, pero ese lugar era mucho más que una casa; era donde Frida pintaba y donde coleccionaba obras del arte de todo México. La decoración de los jardines y el interior de la casa tienen los colores de México. Allí vivió Frida, hasta que murió en una de sus camas.

Martina: Frida and Diego lived in the house together for the next 15 years, making art, entertaining friends, and holding political meetings…until Frida's death in 1954. Five years after her death, Diego turned the Blue House into a museum to honor his wife's legacy. Marta remembers her first visit.

Marta: La Casa Azul es el lugar donde los objetos personales de Frida revelan su más íntimo universo. En la casa se ven obras muy importantes y, también, la vida diaria de la artista. Es realmente mágico estar allí adentro y, además, es una experiencia imposible de olvidar.

Martina: Even though the house was open to the public…there was one room that was not. Before his death, Diego Rivera issued a request specifying that Frida’s bathroom should not be opened for 15 years… The reasons for this request are still a mystery…

Marta: Nadie sabe exactamente por qué Rivera decidió cerrar ese baño. Quizás simplemente sintió la necesidad de preservarlo como un lugar íntimo de la artista. Algunas personas creen que quizás quería esconder algo allí, pero nunca se supo nada. Él murió sin explicar su decisión.

Martina: But Rivera’s request was respected. In fact, the executors of his will went far beyond his wishes, and left the bathroom sealed not for 15 years…but 47. During this time, Frida’s art and legacy spread all over the world, turning her into a global icon. And yet, important details about her personal history remained hidden away in the sealed room at The Blue House…that is, until April 2004.

Marta: En el 2004, el Museo Frida Kahlo tomó la decisión de abrir el baño otra vez. Llamaron a varios expertos, incluida yo, para analizar los objetos que estaban en ese baño. Nadie se imaginaba lo que íbamos a encontrar ahí y mucho menos que íbamos a descubrir más cosas sobre la fascinante vida de Frida Kahlo. ¡Era increíble! Nadie había entrado allí desde la muerte de Frida.

Martina: Opening Frida’s bathroom wasn’t as easy as just opening a door. The museum had to catalogue everything inside…and no one was sure what they would find. That was when the museum director decided to call up Graciela Iturbide, who is one of Mexico’s most prestigious and respected photographers.

Graciela: La directora del museo es mi amiga y ya había trabajado con ella. Fue un gran honor cuando me llamaron y fui con mucho gusto. Yo había visitado la casa de Frida muchísimas veces, incluso había ido cuando Frida todavía no era tan famosa.

Martina: What had most interested the museum’s curators when they opened the bathroom was a wardrobe inside, which contained a lot of Frida’s clothing.

Graciela: La ropa de Frida era muy famosa. Está en sus cuadros y en sus fotos. Es algo muy característico de ella y de su arte. A través de sus telas se podía conocer mucho más sobre ella. Por esta razón, tomar esas fotos era tan interesante.

Martina: When Graciela arrived for her photoshoot, Frida’s’s clothing had already been removed from the bathroom. Her job was simply to document the fabrics, then leave. But Graciela ended up wandering around the house. The place is huge.

Graciela: Entré por el patio y comencé a caminar dentro de la casa. Exploré la cocina y la sala donde ella pintaba hasta que llegué a su habitación… Ahí vi dos camas, la que tenía un espejo en el techo y la otra con mariposas. También vi objetos de su vida diaria.

Martina: On the right side of the bedroom, at the bottom of two steps, Graciela saw a green metal door leading to the famous bathroom that had been sealed for so many years. She decided to sneak inside…

Graciela: Al llegar cerca del baño, lo primero que me llamó la atención fue el olor. Era una mezcla entre humedad, medicinas y polvo. Era muy fuerte, pero igual entré…

Martina: The bathroom was about 80 ft²…and its most striking feature was a white tile bathtub.

Graciela: Yo creo que esa bañera era importante porque Frida se bañaba allí y era el lugar en donde se relajaba. Era su espacio de intimidad y de creación.

Martina: Graciela began to uncover objects that offered an intimate glimpse into Frida’s life. She saw an iron stick in the bathtub, which Frida had likely used for some kind of physical therapy. Graciela also saw a robe, or bata, stained with blood and paint. To Graciela, these items were a major discovery: they provided real, tangible evidence of the physical pain that had inspired some of Frida’s greatest paintings.

Graciela: Esa bata con sangre era importante porque Frida la usaba cuando pintaba. Y porque como muchas de sus obras de arte, esa bata también era un símbolo de su dolor y sufrimiento.

Martina: There were also several body casts. Graciela recognized them, because Frida had taken some very famous photos in them during the worst days of her injuries…

Graciela: Esos corsés eran importantes porque eran parte constante de su vida. Frida los usaba todos los días para sostener su columna y los representaba en muchas de sus pinturas.

Martina: Graciela was really excited about what she had discovered in the bathroom. Her eyes, trained in photography, knew that the bathroom was a goldmine.

Graciela: Estuve mirando todo por mucho tiempo y luego pensé: “Yo estoy aquí para tomar fotos de las telas, no del baño”. Sin embargo, decidí hablar con la directora del museo y proponerle tomar fotos del baño también.

Martina: Immediately after leaving the bathroom, Graciela ran to speak with the museum’s curator.

Graciela: Hablé con la directora sobre las cosas que había visto en el baño y le dije que eso era lo que yo quería fotografiar.

Martina: The director accepted Graciela’s proposal. She was thrilled! The next day she returned with her best camera.

Graciela: Mi meta era analizar los objetos que estaban en el baño porque todos estaban mezclados y era difícil identificarlos. Entonces mi desafío fue combinar algunos de ellos.

Martina: Graciela got special permission to move the objects around. So she decided to arrange them in a way that would help tell the story of Frida’s life. She put the crutches inside the bathtub; and a corset against the wall, next to the blood-covered smocks.

Graciela: Mi idea con las fotos era mostrar cómo, a pesar del dolor, ella seguía pintando. Yo quería reflejar que la pintura era su verdadera terapia.

Martina: Graciela spent two days, back-to-back, photographing the bathroom. She was alone with her camera, moving around the contents of the room. At one point, when she was photographing the bathtub without anything in it, she thought:

Graciela: Tuve la idea de entrar en la bañera para fotografiar la perspectiva desde allí. Ya adentro, me di cuenta que se veían mis pies y uno de ellos estaba recién operado.

Martina: There, lying in Frida’s bathtub, Graciela felt a special connection with the artist.

Graciela: Sentí una conexión con Frida a través de mi dolor y creo que, en mi lugar, cualquier persona habría sentido lo mismo.

Martina: Afterwards, when she saw the printed photos, Graciela realized that this was the exact same bathtub where Frida had painted her famous self portrait, What the Water Gave Me. Until now, no one had been able to confirm where this self portrait was painted.

Graciela: Yo conocía el cuadro Lo que el agua me dio. Fue algo inconsciente, pero luego me gustó.

Martina: With all the photos she took, Graciela published a book called Frida’s Bathroom in 2006.

Graciela: Cuando tomo fotos, nunca pienso qué va a pasar con ellas o qué impacto van a tener. Pero sentí que, gracias a estas fotos y a esos objetos característicos de su dolor, pude conocer incluso más a esta mujer que logró transformar su propio arte en terapia.

Martina: Graciela's book was a huge success. And the objects she captured are now a crucial part of Frida's collection at the Blue House.

Graciela: Mis fotografías viajaron por muchas partes del mundo y las personas las recibieron muy bien porque les gustó descubrir esa parte de la historia de Frida. Ese baño transmite su dolor de una manera muy directa.

Martina: What started out as a simple request to photograph some clothing, turned into an opportunity to preserve Frida's life, and essence, in one room. The room's discovery served as a way to present Frida not just as an icon, but as a person.

Graciela: Y todo ocurrió porque decidí entrar a un baño. Desde que tomé aquellas fotos, creo que se conoce algo más de la vida de Frida Kahlo, de su dolor y su arte.

Martina: Today the objects found in Frida’s bathroom are on display in the museum. Graciela and Marta both continue to study Frida’s life and work. Marta is focused on the fabrics Frida wore and Graciela is regularly consulted about her book — which has become a piece of art in itself.

This story was produced by Tali Goldman, a journalist and writer based in Buenos Aires.

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Martina: Here’s a message we got from Vivica:

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Martina: Thank you so much for including us in your Sunday morning routine, Vivica!

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The Duolingo Spanish podcast is produced by Duolingo and Adonde Media. I’m the executive producer, Martina Castro. ¡Gracias por escuchar!

Credits

This episode was produced by Duolingo and Adonde Media.