“I hope the exit is joyful. And I hope never to return.”

Late Life and Death

In 1940 Kahlo became ill and by 1946 could not support herself in an upright position. Four years later she was hospitalised for nine months. Kahlo’s last exhibition was in 1953 at Lola Alvarez Bravo’s gallery. Arriving in an ambulance she set up her four post bed directly in the centre of the exhibit. On June 13, in 1954 Frida drew her last breath in La Casa Azul, the same place took her first breath. The house is now a museum.

Gisèle Freund, “Frida in the Garden, Casa Azul” (1951) (courtesy Throckmorton Fine Arts)