What lies beneath Frida Kahlo’s belongings locked away in a room for 50 years

Frida Kahlo’s belongings had been locked away in a room in her home on the outskirts of Mexico City for 50 years. It took four years for historians to catalogue the 6,000 photographs, 12,000 documents and 300 items found. Now they are on show at the V&A as part of its summer exhibition. Suzanne Harrington takes a look.

“I am my own muse, I am the subject that I know the best,” said Frida Kahlo, revolutionary artist, feminist icon, and arguably the originator of selfies. But instead of presenting herself through a flattering filter, her self-portraits were painted in pain, the creative processing of emotional loss and physical agony fiercely channelled. Frida’s indomitable spirit, trapped in an increasingly broken body, was released first through her work, and then through her death, aged just 47, in 1954.