One of the best-known artists of the 20th century, Frida Kahlo produced art that was incessantly self-reflecting — 55 of her 143 known paintings were self-portraits. Her rocky years with Diego Rivera, whom she married twice, her near-fatal bus accident and the pain she lived with most of her life are reflected in her colorful, often surreal works, a pinnacle of Mexican art.

When a cache of her personal photographs was unsealed in 2007 at the celebrated Blue House where she was born and raised and returned to live until her death in 1954, the images unseen for more than a half-century showed glimpses into her life, from close family and artistic turns to intense personal relationships.

Mexican photographer and curator Pablo Ortiz Monasterio culled the more than 6,500 personal photographs for the Museo Frida Kahlo that inhabits the Blue House. He chose 240 images, facsimiles of which became “Frida Kahlo: Her Photos” which just opened at the Artisphere in Arlington County, its only U.S. stop.

Kahlo took only some of the shots; some were uncredited, others were by the most famous photographers of the day. Annotating some or sealing them with her lipstick, the fact that she saved them — for sentimental purposes or visual reference — was the important thing, says Artisphere curator Cynthia Connolly.

From them, we can glean a life.

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