New Archives Reveal Frida Kahlo Used Her Iconic Prosthetic Only in the Final Months of Her Life

Frida Kahlo spent her final year moving between pain and persistence, and new reporting now clarifies one of the most misunderstood images of her life. An investigation published by Milenio, based on archival research led by photographer and co curator Cristina Kahlo, the great niece of the painter, has confirmed that the famous prosthetic leg associated with Frida was delivered during only the last three months of her life in 1954.

Cristina Kahlo’s work inside the historical archive of the American British Cowdray Hospital in Mexico City has surfaced original medical and financial records that correct decades of assumptions about when and how the prosthesis entered Frida’s life. The discovery reshapes the timeline of her final months and reframes the meaning of one of her most enduring images.

The Prosthesis That Arrived at the End

Documents located by Cristina Kahlo inside the hospital archive confirm that the prosthetic leg was paid for and delivered in April of 1954, only weeks before Frida’s death in July of that same year. The receipt, dated April 5 and issued by Dr. Rodolfo Martínez Errejón, details the construction of a prosthetic for the lower portion of Frida’s right leg following her amputation due to severe gangrene.

The record includes the cost of the prosthetic device, special boots, a pair of crutches, and professional medical fees. Diego Rivera paid 3,500 pesos at the time, a figure that would reach into the millions in present day value. For years, many believed that Frida had lived with the prosthesis for a long period, yet the newly uncovered receipt confirms that she used it only briefly.

Cristina Kahlo has explained that Frida is often permanently linked in the public imagination to that artificial leg, when in reality it entered her life at the very end. One of the most powerful pieces of evidence is a hospital photograph taken by Raúl Anaya that shows Frida seated with the finished prosthesis on her right leg, dressed in Huichol style trousers and holding a cigarette. The image had long been attributed to 1953. The newly discovered receipt confirms that the photograph belongs to 1954.

Cristina also pointed out the quiet contradiction of that moment, since Frida appears smoking inside the hospital, something that feels impossible under modern medical rules but reflected the era in which she lived.

A Body Shaped by Illness and Survival

Frida’s physical history was marked by illness long before the prosthesis ever reached her. Polio during childhood left her with a lifelong limp. The tram accident of 1925 shattered her pelvis, spine, and right leg, producing infections that later developed into gangrene. The amputation of her right leg in 1953 was a devastating blow that confined her to bed and deepened her emotional isolation.

In her diary, Frida wrote of despair, while also insisting that imagination could carry her where the body no longer could. The prosthetic leg restored only partial mobility, yet it allowed her to leave her bed one last time to attend her final solo exhibition before her death.

Cristina Kahlo has said that the prosthesis gave Frida a brief return to movement during her last season of life. The device itself was made of leather with a securing strap, a red high heel, ornamental details, and a metal foot. Frida altered it with personal flair, turning a medical instrument into an object of identity.

The Hidden Objects of the Blue House

After Frida’s death, Diego Rivera sealed the bathroom of the Casa Azul in Coyoacán. Inside were her corsets, crutches, medical devices, personal garments, and the prosthetic leg. The room remained closed for fifty years as an act of mourning and protection.

That sealed space was finally opened in 2004 after the death of Dolores Olmedo, trustee of Rivera’s estate. Inside were thousands of photographs and documents later catalogued by photographer Graciela Iturbide. The opening of the room revealed a private record of how Frida lived, healed, and endured.

The prosthesis is now preserved at the Blue House museum as part of that hidden collection, alongside the objects that supported her daily survival. It stands today as physical evidence of how she carried her body through suffering with intention and visual authorship.

A Legacy Reconsidered Through Material Truth

Milenio’s reporting and Cristina Kahlo’s archival work have corrected a historical error that shaped public memory for decades. The prosthesis now stands as both a medical artifact and a personal object rooted in precise documentation, financial sacrifice, and clinical care rather than myth.

Cristina Kahlo has stressed the importance of recognizing the doctors involved during this stage as essential figures in Frida’s survival rather than background characters in her biography. The prosthesis also reframes the photograph that long defined her final months by anchoring it in verified time and context.

Frida’s last year carried the full weight of a broken body and a determined will. The prosthesis did not represent a long chapter of adaptation, but a short and charged closing act that allowed her to move, attend her final exhibition, and continue shaping her image until the very end.

The device now rests as proof that her endurance was measured in days rather than decades, yet the intent that guided her never weakened. The prosthetic leg stands as one of the most intimate objects of her life, shaped by necessity and transformed by her into a declaration of presence.