Frida Kahlo’s roots as an artist are closely associated with Casa Azul, the famous blue house in Coyoacán that has become a pilgrimage site and museum devoted to her life and work. Museo Casa Kahlo is a new museum in the nearby Casa Roja, the former home of her parents that was later inherited by Frida and her sisters, including Cristina, with whom she was especially close. Centered on the creative force of the Kahlo household, Museo Casa Kahlo highlights the profound influence of Frida’s family and domestic environment on both her personal life and artistic practice. 

The new museum was developed with the guidance of Frida’s great-niece and closest living relative and heir, Mara Romeo Kahlo. It is a project of the Fundación Kahlo, a newly formed nonprofit established by the Kahlo family to preserve Frida’s legacy and promote Mexican, Indigenous, and Latin American art and culture.

The identity, signage, and exhibition graphics by Pentagram help immerse visitors into Frida’s world. Pentagram worked closely on the project with the Kahlo family, curator and exhibition designer Adriana Miranda, and Ileen Gallagher, creative director at Fundación Kahlo. Architect Mariana Doet Zepeda Orozco transformed the residence into a museum. Rockwell Group designed the museum’s courtyard and a display of letters and artifacts in a lower level that was a private refuge for Frida.

Museo Casa Kahlo frames Casa Roja as the site of Frida’s origin story: her father, Guillermo Kahlo, a celebrated photographer, helped nurture her early artistic ambitions there. Members of the Kahlo family continued to live in Casa Roja after Frida’s death in 1954, remaining in the home until 2023.

The experience of the museum closely reflects what the house was like during Frida’s lifetime. Each space is furnished exclusively with objects owned by the Kahlo family. Visitors enter through the original doorway into the courtyard and garden, where a small introductory gallery provides context before leading into spaces dedicated to members of the household.

On view are Guillermo’s darkroom; the family kitchen—featuring the only mural Frida ever painted—the bathroom; and Cristina’s bedroom. Another gallery examines Frida’s distinctive sense of style, presenting traditional Mexican dress and jewelry from her collection. Additional displays explore her role as a teacher, with works by her pupils—known as Los Fridos—alongside drawings and archival footage of them painting a mural. The museum also recounts the story of La Ayuda (“The Help”), the nonprofit founded by Cristina to support single mothers in the neighborhood.

The visual identity is rooted in a spectrum of reds, lettering inspired by Mexican modernist typography, and a typeface based directly on Frida’s distinctive lettering, a collaboration with type designer Connor Davenport. The custom wordmark features hand-crafted letterforms that echo the bold, expressive vernacular type of the period. A pair of Illustrated icons depict the pets cherished by Frida––a small deer and a Xoloitzcuintli, the ancient, hairless Mexican dog breed. 

Signage, graphics, and interpretive elements are seamlessly integrated into the interiors of the residence in inventive ways that deepen the immersive experience without overpowering the space. Quotes from Frida are delicately embroidered onto curtains, while in the bathroom, a visual narrative is projected into the bathtub, inspired by Frida’s famous 1938 painting, What the Water Gave Me (Lo que el agua me dio). 

Promotional materials for the museum use personal ephemera to convey the intimate, lived-in experience of the house. Family portraits—including a 1926 photograph taken in the courtyard, picturing Frida in men’s clothing—are paired with the identity’s striking typography. Pentagram also developed a line of merchandise that features charming motifs like the animal icons and “Aguayo 54,” the home’s street address.