Viva la Frida - The smells of Frida

For 58 years, the intimate details of artist Frida Kahlo's life were kept hidden behind a locked door. After she died in 1954, a bereaved Diego Rivera—the famous Mexican muralist and her husband—locked the doors to her closet and denied entry to anyone. Three years later, after Diego's death, the keys passed to patron and friend Dolores Olmedo, who promised to keep the closet locked for another 15 years. True to her word, and beyond, she decided to keep the doors locked until her own death, which came nearly 44 years later, in 2002.

I often find myself wondering what it would have been like to be present that day at the opening of Frida's closet. To be among the first to see her elaborate Tehuana dresses, bottles of old nail polish, her jewelry, and her shoes. Yet mostly I wonder: what would it have smelled like? At that moment of entry, when everything was an untouched capsule of time. Would there have been a whiff of stale cigarette smoke? Perspiration? Well-worn leather? The scent of her perfume? Old glass bottles of medicine?

Among the treasures discovered in those two locked rooms were dusty perfume bottles. They became part of the Brooklyn Museum's exhibit, Frida Kahlo: Appearances Can Be Deceiving—the first time any of these treasures were shown together in the United States. In the article Beyond the Canvas: 5 Fragrances Worn by Frida Kahlo, Gillian Edevane and Britt Stigler share those discovered bottles with insight from Brooklyn Museums Jessica Murphy. 

• Schiaparelli's "Shocking" (1936)
• Dana "Emir" (1936)
• Roger & Gallet's "Jean-Marie Farina" (1806)
• Guerlain's "Shalimar" (1925) — said to be her favorite, initially purchased while she was in New York
• Chanel No. 5 (1921) — the bottle in the exhibit had been relabeled: ACETONE

That last detail is such a meaningful glimpse into the world of the artist. 

I have been fascinated by Frida's life for years. In her honor, I planted a Frida Kahlo rosebush—a bare root pressed into the ground with no expectation of blooms the first year. Imagine my delight when a single beautiful rose appeared on July 6th: Frida's birthday.

I have been fortunate enough to see three of her exhibits: Frida & Diego: Passion, Politics, and Painting in Atlanta, Georgia; Mirror, Mirror: Photographs of Frida Kahlo in Santa Fe, New Mexico; and the Brooklyn exhibit in 2019. At each one, I was deeply moved—not just by the art, but by the visuals of her life, the objects she touched, the world she inhabited.

Someday I will visit Casa Azul, her home near Mexico City, and Diego's vision of the Anahuacalli Museum.

And if I ever return to creating perfumes,  I dream of creating a scent dedicated to Frida. Something leathery, smoky, with just a hint of Frida's Rose.

Photo credits: Frida; Nickolas Muray.

Frida Kahlo Rose: Stephaney Oberon