User:Blue House MFK

Frida Kahlo Museum

Established	1957
Location	Mexico City
Type	Art museum
Website	https://www.museofridakahlo.org.mx/

The Blue House Museo Frida Kahlo

l Museo Frida Kahlo es el recinto cultural más representativo de la artista mexicana, además de contener una parte importante de su legado artístico y conceptual. Es una casa museo histórica ubicada en Colonia Del Carmen; uno de los barrios más bellos y tradicionales de la Ciudad de México, en el Municipio de Coyoacán. El centro de Coyoacán se encuentra a pocas cuadras del Museo.

Also known as the Blue House, it is one of the busiest museums in the area. The property, which now holds and exhibits a collection of pieces of various kinds, has belonged to the Kahlo family since 1904. Four years after the death of the artist, in July of 1958, the doors of this residence were opened to the public as a house museum.

Frida Kahlo (1907-1954) lived in the Blue House most of her life. Initially, with her family and years later, with Diego Rivera (1886-1957). Furthermore, people that formed part of the artistic and intellectual scene of the first half of the 20^th century, both Mexicans and foreigners, stayed at the residence, attracted by the captivating couple of artists.

Many different figures participated in the construction of the property, among them the painter and functional architect Juan O’Gorman, a great friend of both Diego and Kahlo. The writer, poet, exhibition designer and politician from Tabasco, Carlos Pellicer - who was equally a close friend to the couple - was responsible of the museum design. The museum management was entrusted to the Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo Museums Trust, seconded by the Bank of Mexico and formed by Rivera himself in 1957. In this regard, this entity affirms that the planning of the function of the site was developed “for the purpose of exhibiting work, illustrating the personality and perpetuating the memory of Frida Kahlo”.

Frida wanted her house to serve as a museum, meant for the learning and enjoyment of her beloved Mexico. For this reason, Diego founded, in the painter’s home, the Frida Kahlo Museum. Following his wife’s wishes, the muralist began this project a few months after the death of Frida Kahlo, namely, during the last few months of 1954.

Since the Museum inauguration the in July 1958, the Blue House showcases the ambience that inspired Frida’s artistic creation, as well as her personal objects. The latter took a long time to be fully unveiled. Before he died, Diego ordered that the bathrooms in the Blue House were to remain closed until 15 years after his death. In these spaces, Rivera had safeguarded some of the couple’s documents, as well as some of Frida’s belongings. Obeying Rivera’s instructions and extending the time period, Dolores Olmedo, patron of the muralist, declared that while she lived, these spaces would not be opened. For this reason, it wasn’t until 100 years after Frida’s birth and 50 years after Diego’s death that the objects that Rivera had locked up were finally opened to the public. These pieces are known today as the Treasures of the Blue House.

Today, along with certain paintings by both artists, the Casa Azul displays remarkable works of popular art, pre-Columbian sculptures, elements of Frida's daily life, part of her magnificent collection of votive paintings (ex-votos), photographs, documents, books and furniture. Likewise, two traveling exhibitions commissioned by the Museum, entitled "Frida Kahlo, her Photos" and "Appearances can be Deceiving,” are excellent quality art shows that disseminate nationally and internationally the legacy of Frida and Diego safeguarded in the Blue House.

The poet and historian Luis Roberto Vera, admits that visiting the house where Frida matured both professionally and personally, is of great interest because "there is a concordance between her pictorial universe and the reality that she actually lived”.

The residence’s beautiful garden also has a peculiar history and is an essential part of the Blue House. Today, while crossing, leads to Frida's dresses exhibition.

The Coyoacán of the Blue House

Red Courtyard, Blue House

The Blue House is located on a corner of the Del Carmen neighborhood, a 170-hectare neighborhood that was once part of the Hacienda San Pedro Mártir. Around 1890, this place received its name in honor of Doña Carmen Ortiz Rubio de Díaz, the wife of President Porfirio Díaz. It is located in the Coyoacán district, whose history dates back to pre-hispanic Mexico.

Its name comes from the Nahuatl word Coyohuacan meaning, "place of the owners of coyotes". According to Mexican philosopher and historian Miguel León-Portilla, the region was formerly consecrated to Tezcatlipoca, a deity with the power to transform into a coyote at night. The eruption of the Xitle volcano, which occurred between 245 and 315 AD, covered this region with ash and basaltic stones, as well as many others in the Anáhuac basin. These materials were later used in many buildings in the area.

Despite having had constant activity since pre-Columbian times and throughout the viceroy period, by the time Mexico's War of Independence came to an end, the Coyoacán territory had become largely uninhabited. It was during the Díaz administration that Coyoacán began to develop again, becoming what it is today.

Between 1917 and 1923, Los Viveros Park and the Outdoor Painting School were created. In 1926, the opening of Avenida México Coyoacán provided the connection between the Colonia Del Carmen and the Colonia Del Valle neighborhoods, as well as other localities nearby. A little more than a decade later, the paving of important avenues, such as Miguel Ángel de Quevedo, began. By 1929, Coyoacán was already considered one of the most important ciy halls (now boroughs) of the Federal District (now Mexico City).

In 1972, downtown Coyoacán was declared a historic zone and in 1990, a Protected Monument Zone. Today, Coyoacán is home to Mexico City's quintessential intellectual and cultural communities. Its streets have served as the backdrop for the life of outstanding figures of the Mexican cultural scenes, such as Rina Lazo, Emilio "Indio" Fernández, José Clemente Orozco, Aurora Reyes, Luis Buñuel, David Alfaro Siqueiros and Jorge Ibargüengoitia, among others.

Carl Wilhelm Kahlo, better known as Guillermo Kahlo, embarked for Mexico as an immigrant at the age of 19. The young German was motivated by the growing and economically successful German colony already existing in Mexico, which proliferated in the second half of the 19th century, as well as by reading the chronicles of the German explorer, researcher and scientist Alexander von Humboldt (1769-1869). Likewise, it is possible that reports of the expansion of the jewelry industry in Mexico may have prompted Guillermo to try his luck in the Aztec country. This, in addition to the fact that, according to Frida herself, his mother had passed away, and he never had a good relationship with his stepmother in Germany.

In 1891, Wilhelm arrived in the port of Veracruz, endowed with the knowledge inherited from a vast genealogy of jewelers. Accordingly, he began working at La Perla jewelry store, located in the center of the country's capital. In 1893, he married María Cardeña, who died shortly after giving birth to their third child in October of 1897. In February of 1898, Wilhelm married Matilde Calderón. It was most likely his new father-in-law, Antonio Calderón, who introduced Guillermo to the world of photography. Thus, the young Kahlo was soon working as a reporter for several national magazines.

His career as a photographer developed satisfactorily and in 1904, he was able to acquire an 800 square meter lot on the corner of Londres and Allende Streets, once owned by the Carmelite religious order. On this property, Guillermo, the name by which Wilhelm became known shortly after arriving in Mexico, built his house at number 75 of block 36, located on the northeast corner of the intersection of Londres and Allende Streets. According to the Mexican chronicler of Belgian origin, Luis Everaert Dubernard, there were not yet many houses in the area:

Facing both streets, a one-story house was soon built on the property, on a low basement, with a C-shaped floor planned around a courtyard to which the rooms overlooked, lined up one next to the next (...). For a long time, that building, which I remember with its facades always painted ultramarine blue, was the only one on the entire block.

Before Guillermo's arrival in Mexico, an enterprising and visionary German businessman, Segismundo Wolff, acquired the land of what was the then Hacienda de San Pedro. Thus, the transformation of Wolff’s new property, located in the Del Carmen neighborhood, began around 1886. It is possible that Wolff obtained this territorial concession precisely to promote the settlement of the Del Carmen neighborhood, planning to urbanize it a modern way. He facilitated the marketing of the lots through information agents and sales offices, with maps of the entire colony or fractions of it. He offered payment facilities and mortgage-based financing plans. His projects turned out to be an excellent investment, both for him and for the new owners. One of those drawings is an example of professional urban planning for the time and is preserved in the Historic Archives of Mexico City. Once in the Mexican capital, it was probably the knowledge of Wolff's generous contribution and its importance for the establishment of the Del Carmen neighborhood that prompted Kahlo to build his home there, as a way to stay close to his German roots. When Guillermo settled in Coyoacán, he found an area that obeyed the urbanistic canons present in European cities. According to Everaert:

The map shows an area with an orthogonal layout of very wide streets, that is, at right angles, with north-south and east-west orientation, and rectangular blocks of 60 by 100 meters on each side, with standard lots of 1000 square meters, a large public park in the center, and with the nomenclature of streets named after heroes of the Independence and European capitals.

The Blue House Building

Frida Kahlo Museum facade

The Blue House Building It is said that the original design of the property was rectangular in shape and included some outdoor spaces. According to Hayden Herrera, the structure of the house, its single story, smooth roof and c-shaped plan resembled a 19th century design.

It is not known exactly when, or why, the exterior walls of the house were painted blue. The residence already possessed this color as of October of 1932, according to the following quote from Lucienne Bloch's Diary: "What a house! All gleaming blue with pink corners, with green windows and a central courtyard with cacti, orange trees and Aztec idols". When this impression was recorded, the US female artist was visiting the residence in Coyoacan. She had generously accompanied Frida to witness the death of her mother, which also took place in September of that same year, 1932. It is also documented that in January of 1937, when Leon Trotsky and Natalia Sedova arrived to stay at the residence, the house was still painted blue. Thus, Trotsky's personal assistant at the time, Jean Van Heijenoort, narrates: "From the airport I took a cab to Coyoacan. In a blue house located on Londres Avenue, which was surrounded by police, I met with Trotsky and Natalia".

Undoubtedly, the color of the house is one of the attributes that facilitated its identification when it began to become nationally and internationally famous. Its popularity probably began with the arrival of the Russian revolutionary, Trotsky. This visit, which lasted for two years, attracted press as well as social and political activity to the building.

It is estimated that the beautiful garden of the house began to take shape in an indefinite period between 1933 and 1936. In 1937, Diego acquired the adjoining property, previously uninhabited, with an area of 1,040 square meters. This purchase was made possible thanks to an anonymous donation received by Diego Rivera, meant to finance the completion of measures that would guarantee Leon Trotsky’s comfort and security during his confinement. In addition, the windows overlooking the street were walled up on the inside with adobe blocks; also, a security tower overlooking Londres St. was built and the height of the perimeter fence was raised considerably. Thanks to these infrastructural modifications, Trotsky and Natalia managed to stay safely in the Blue House. The Soviet couple resided there from January 1937 to May 1939. During this period, Frida and Diego did not live in the Blue House, but in their residence in San Angel, known today as the Studio House Museum of Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo.

In 1941 Frida and Diego settled in the Blue House; the former permanently and Diego alternating with the San Angel residence. In the mid-1940s, Diego had the wing of the house on the Allende Street side built. In the garden he built a fountain, a stepped pyramid, a room containing archaeological pieces and a water mirror.

In 1946, advised by Juan O'Gorman, the muralist commissioned the use of basalt stone for the new studio, to be constructed according to avant-garde Mexican design. O'Gorman also collaborated with Rivera to make the architectural design the painter wanted for two new bedrooms possible, which were to be located adjacent to the studio, in addition to a new terrace. The latter was particularly impressive in terms of its dimensions and materiality. Rivera's intellectual trust in O'Gorman was born after having visited one of the houses that the Mexican architect designed during its functionalist period. Regarding this tendency, Master Rivera said:

“architecture realized by the principle of the most scientific functionalism, is also a work of art. And since by the maximum of efficiency and minimal cost (...), it was of enormous importance for the rapid reconstruction of our country and, therefore (according to the master Rivera himself), it gave beauty to the building”.

Eclecticism in the aesthetics of the Blue House

View of the Studio, from the Museum Garden

The architectural and decorative style of the Blue House has been described as eclectic, perhaps due to the lack of the classification of each of its constructive additions. Nevertheless, if something can be seen as eclectic because of the melding of different trends, then the Blue House can be considered so.

The building is the result of the combination of two contrasting designs, without disqualifying one another: that of the wealthy middle class of the late nineteenth century (although the house was built at the beginning of the twentieth century, its visual is typical of the previous century) and the Mexican avant-garde style created by Rivera and O'Gorman. Today, both architectural categories and construction methods are unified in a single domestic setting.

At first, the house responded to the ornamental canons of a society that sought to absorb whatever was foreign. Thirty years after its construction, its modification began, with the objective that both the architecture and decoration of the house would be reflective of the national style. The most decisive changes can be classified into the following stages: the long initial period, from 1904 to 1936, the stay of Leon Trotsky, from 1937, and the construction of the studio, from 1946 onwards.

Stages of the Blue House

Initial Phase 1904-1936

The only photographs that exist of the residence, taken during Guillermo Kahlo's time, are in black and white. Nevertheless, this does not prevent us from knowing that the facade of the house, in its initial phases, was white or of a very faint pastel tone. Visual records of the house show a latticework, molding, doors and windows adorned with dark frames, possibly red ochre or sepia in color. This tonality was in accordance with the popular style of the Mexican country houses. There are authors, such as Adriana Zavala, who describe the house as neoclassical in it first stage. Beatriz Scharrer concurs with this proposal:

Although it may seem strange today, the exterior façade of the house was neoclassical and also displayed the duality of colors already explained. On a light background, there were contrasting darker elements such as the frieze of alternating brick heads, the corner of the house from which the south and west fronts started and the fretwork that ran along the entire length of the facade, delimiting the wall interspaces and crowning the windows.

Scharrer also points out that these features were representative of Porfiriato architecture, which makes perfect sense considering that the professional success of Frida's father, Guillermo Kahlo, occurred during that era.

The exterior view of the property was characterized by its rectangular windows that reached the floor: four windows were distributed on each side of the house's square and a distinctive window, belonging to the kitchen space, was on the façade facing Allende Street. The openings were richly decorated with false balconies and wrought iron railings. A border of volcanic stone adorned the lower part of the house and, on the other side, the cornice exhibited a row of bricks.

The Mexican Revolution dramatically changed the economic situation of the Kahlo-Calderón family. Thanks to the help of a downtown antiques dealer, they sold the French style furniture from the living room. Sometime later, the couple had to rent out rooms and even mortgage the house that had been built during more prosperous times. The property was in the name of Matilde Calderon, Frida's mother, so we know that such a decision had to have been made by both members of the couple.

Approximately one year after Frida married Diego, the painter paid off the debt on the house, which then became Frida's property. A document from the Federal District Treasury in 1930 confirms the change of ownership of the residence located at 127 Londres Street. It had ceased to belong to Matilde Calderon de Kahlo, and was now in the name of Frida Kahlo de Rivera.

After their union in1929, the artist couple did not live in the Blue House until 1931, when they temporarily moved in. After having spent a few weeks in Coyoacan, they traveled to New York and later to Detroit. In 1933, they went to live in the functionalist house designed for them by O' Gorman in San Angel. During this period of the couple's itinerant stay in different places, Frida's father, Guillermo Kahlo, lived in the house in Colonia Del Carmen with his youngest daughter Cristina and his grandchildren Isolda and Antonio.

Notwithstanding the above, and according to historian Beatriz Scharrer, it was Diego and Frida who, little by little, gave the residence the particular aesthetic that characterizes it to this day. They imprinted their admiration for the peoples of Mexico into the house by using colors and decorations characteristic of pre-Hispanic and popular art.

Second Phase: 1937 - 1945

Diego Rivera's room, Blue House

In the fall of 1936, Diego Rivera convinced the then president of Mexico, Lazaro Cárdenas, to grant the Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky political asylum in Mexican territory. At the time, and for many years after, Trotsky underwent the fierce persecution of Stalin.

With Trotsky's arrival in Mexico in January of 1937, and in anticipation of the constant threat to which he would be subjected, Diego had alterations made to the Blue House for security reasons. Thus, a watchtower and police hut were added. In 1938, the adjoining property was both, which prior to the acquisition was considered high-risk, as it was uninhabited.

The modifications were not only functional, but also stylistic. In opposition to the architectural customs of the Porfiriato, in the 1920s, the imitation of foreign models was abandoned. Instead, they sought to rescue and create a Mexican identity based on pre-Columbian culture and Mexican popular art. It is also likely that the search for a new aesthetic for the Blue House was partially motivated by the intention of aligning itself visually with the socio-political convictions of the Russian intellectuals, only in those aspects that were shared by the artist couple. In other words, it was necessary to get rid of everything that gave the appearance of being bourgeois.

A photograph taken in 1938 shows how the walls of the Blue House were flattened. The frieze and fretwork that once adorned the façade were removed. Only the upper finish was preserved. The wrought-iron bars on the windows were replaced by round bars and painted green. The flowerpots on the latticework were removed and replaced by magueys and pre-Columbian pieces.

In January of 1941, when Frida and Diego returned to live, more or less permanently, at the Blue House, the largest room in the building (now room 1 of the Frida Kahlo Museum) was Diego's studio. The next area was Frida's studio at the time; presently room 2 of the museum. It was in this particular chamber, the artist wrote that she was born; yet, to date, this fact has not been reliably documented.

The house also included a guest room, and another chamber containing Frida and Diego's beds. Frida's bed had been modified in 1925 by Matilde Calderón to accommodate her daughter's needs after the severe accident that left young Frida immobilized for many months. Guillermo Kahlo's then photographic studio occupied what was originally a bathroom, a pantry and the hallway. Part of the land acquired to ensure Trotsky's safety was used to enlarge the service patio and open a hallway towards Allende Street. A terrace, wine cellars and bathrooms were also added. Neither the dining room nor the kitchen underwent structural modifications, but rather aesthetic ones: the braziers and the backsplash were decorated with handmade talavera mosaic tiles. Wooden storage rooms that were painted yellow were also added and the couple acquired items that emphasized the Mexican style that they wanted to imbue their home with. Among the acquisitions that were used and displayed in the residence at the time, which are still on display today, are table linens, kitchen dishes, tableware, wooden spoons, copper pots, clay pans, blown glass vases and stone molcajetes. According to Graciela Romandía de Cantú, the couple not only used these objects in their daily lives, but they also collected popular art items, "which were pleasing to their developed artistic senses and nationalistic inclinations". They gave these artifacts a decorative function that continues to play a leading role in the house.

Third Phase: Frida and Diego’s Studio 1946

Blue House Studio

In 1945, Frida and Diego decided to design a new extension for the house. It was O'Gorman who was once again in charge of its construction and design. This building, completed in 1946, would encompass what had been the service patio during the previous stage and would be converted into two new bedrooms, a bathroom, and a new studio for the artistic couple. Today, in the Frida Kahlo Museum, this section is known as the Studio of the Blue House, where the materials and work spaces of both artists can be appreciated, just as they were arranged and used during this stage of their lives.

Juan O'Gorman, muralist and architect, met Diego Rivera around 1922. At the time, Rivera was almost twenty years older than him. They coincided when Rivera was working on the Bolivar Amphitheater mural at the Antiguo Colegio de San Ildefonso, formerly the National Preparatory School. At the age of 24, O'Gorman designed the first functionalist residential building in the country, which impressed Rivera with the new aesthetic order of modernity. Consequently, in 1931 the painter commissioned this architect to build his studio home in a neighborhood in the Alvaro Obregon district, known then as The San Angel Inn. Today, this home is known as the Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo House-Studio Museum. In 1942, Rivera again relied on his architect friend for the initial plans of what would become the majestic Anahuacalli. At the end of the day, Rivera counted on O'Gorman's professional collaboration throughout the design and construction process of his posthumous work, which would be inaugurated 22 years later as the Diego Rivera Anahuacalli Museum.

Returning to the third stage of the Blue House, a deposit of basaltic stones was located in the vicinity of Coyoacan. It was a relatively inexpensive material that required little maintenance. Diego, inspired by the volcanic stone that had been used by the Aztecs to build pyramids and carve ceremonial pieces, asked O'Gorman to cover the new construction with carefully cut blocks of this stone. This decision, as well as several of the stylistic choices that can be seen today in this third stage of the house, were a reflection of Frida and Diego's preference for settings that clearly referenced the Mexican aesthetics of modern Mexico; whether traditional or pre-Columbian.

The Studio was decorated with sculptures, also pre-Columbian. Outside The Studio, 4 patios were built; 2 uncovered and 2 covered. In the covered patios, which served as meeting rooms and outdoor dining areas, Frida and Diego literally "embedded" their style. Both artists designed original mosaics for the soffits. The one that illustrates the eye, the clock, the moon and the sun was Frida's design, while the one with the sickle and the hammer was Diego's conception. Both artists also embellished the walls of these outdoor patios by adding sea shells and other decorative elements to the walls, such as embedded jars.

This new architectural space and the original house were connected by an internal staircase made of basalt, built adjacent to the exterior of the kitchen, which in turn frames a room below the ground level; a very original design for the time. Due to its geometry, this space is currently known in the Frida Kahlo Museum as the "staircase cube".

In 1953, after having part of her right leg amputated, Frida had ramps added to the garden atrium to facilitate her access to the original section of the house. She began to have difficulty getting to the new studio because it could only be reached by stairs. She solved this by moving to the smaller of the two new rooms, located next to the studio, from which she could move by herself. Frida died in this room on July 13, 1954.

The Blue House Garden

View from Frida's Bedroom, Museo Frida Kahlo

The original garden of Guillermo Kahlo's house emulated the nineteenth-century European style. The layout of the house around a central atrium harkens back to the tradition of interior courtyards in the houses of the first generations of Spaniards living in Mexico, which were in turn inspired by the Moorish atriums of cities such as Seville, Cordoba and Cadiz.

The earliest evidence of a garden in Frida's childhood home comes from family photographs taken in the early 20th century. They show the lower balcony and the patio below it. Among its elements, plants such as roses, cordylines, philodendrons, palms and banana trees stand out. According to the fashion of the time, the garden should harmonize with the architectural structure of the residence. Accordingly, in the Coyoacan house, numerous terracotta pots lined the edge of the balcony.

Photographs taken in the 1930s reveal that orange trees, carved columns and new potted plants were added. Although Diego and Frida did not inhabit the Blue House during that time, Guillermo would most likely have been documenting the changes that the artistic couple made.

With Trotsky's arrival at the Blue House and the previous purchase of the lot that stood next to it, the wall that divided the two plots was demolished and the garden was extended an extension of 800 square meters. Among Frida's books that remained in the collection of the Frida Kahlo Museum, there are some botanical tomes. It’s likely that the artist acquired these volumes in order to document the possibilities offered by an extensive garden. Frida and Diego planted both domestic and imported plant species; among them, a great variety of cacti (magueys, nopales, 'viejitos', biznagas and yucca), fruit trees (orange, quince and pomegranate trees) and flowers of diverse origins. Frida and Diego's pets were also incorporated into the garden, including two spider monkeys, a pair of parakeets, another pair of turkeys, an eagle, a deer named Granizo and six dogs, mostly "Mexican hairless dogs" or xoloitzcuintles.

The year after Frida and Diego married for the second time, in 1941, Rivera supervised the construction of a stepped pyramid to permanently exhibit a selection of his pre-Columbian sculptures. At the central point of the entrance to the garden, a monolithic figure in the form of a stone hoop, also of pre-Hispanic origin, was erected, one of those that were used as a basket in the pre-Cortesian ball game. There is also a small altar to Tlaloc in the garden and a kind of baptismal font decorated with a border of quincunxes. This symbol was used by the ancient inhabitants of Mesoamerica to designate the universe directions: east, south, west and north, in addition to the center, which functioned as the axis of the world, or axis mundi.

Finally, the couple had a pond and a small room built with a front inlaid with stones in the shape of Tlaloc's heads and two serpent heads in the corners.

In 1946, a series of patios were built, some covered and others exposed, as described earlier in this text. Sections of the walls of the garden patios were covered with stucco, painted blue and framed with tezontle. Towards the end of her life, Frida moved to the room with the best view of the garden. Ramps were installed to allow the artist to move between the original section of the house and the central atrium. "The meandering paths in the garden, which still exist today, were designed specifically so that (Frida) could traverse them in a wheelchair."

Shortly after the Museum's inauguration, an interest in learning about the plant species that exist in Frida's garden arose and continues to this day. This research has been nourished by the fact that many of the artist's masterpieces include lively representations of plants that still inhabit the Blue House garden. A 2018 census of the existing plants shows the wide variety of origins of the garden's living elements. The following have been recognized: jacarandas, bougainvilleas, magnolias, thunder trees, yuccas, avocados, cedars, ash trees, medlars, ficuses, oaks, Brazilian linden trees, acacias, lemons, pear trees, plum trees, laurels, and palms. Of the total number of botanical species growing in the Blue House garden in the year of the census, 56% originated from outside the American continent, 22% from Mesoamerica and the remaining 22% from other parts the American continent. Regarding the number of botanical specimens, the percentage ratio turned out to be interestingly different. Of the 100% of specimens that inhabit Frida's home garden, 45% are Mesoamerican, 41% are native to areas outside the Americas, and 14% are specimens of species from other parts of the American continent.

Some contents of the Museum House

Room 1, Frida Kahlo Museum

The Casa Museo allows visitors to discover the deep relationship between Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera, their paintings and their home. The rooms show part of the work of Frida and Diego Rivera, who also lived there.

Among the highlights of the Casa are Frida's beds: the day bed and the night bed. The first has a mirror on the lintel, which the artist used to paint her self-portraits while she was immobilized from the spine due to the terrible accident she had. The night bed was the one Frida occupied during the last years of her life, during which she spent most of the time prostrate, therefore, she needed to change her position every few hours to avoid injuries due to being in a horizontal position for a long time.

Another attraction of the Museum is Frida's Studio, where part of the residence's library can be appreciated, which gathers volumes that belonged to Frida, her family, as well as to Diego Rivera. The kitchen of the Casa Azul is one of the most traditional spaces of the Museum in terms of its aesthetics; the vessels, dishes and Mexican handmade kitchenware are beautifully displayed and reflect the gastronomic lifestyle of the artist and her family. Although gas was already being used in the kitchens at the time Frida and Diego lived there, the couple preferred to preserve the Casa Azul's wood-burning stove, probably to enjoy preparing meals in the traditional style.

Each room of the Casa reveals the couple's clear preference for Mexican aesthetics. Thus, for example, pre-Hispanic sculptures are displayed in several places throughout the Casa Azul. Likewise, there are more than ten representations in cardboard, called "Judas"; they are genial characters hanging on the walls. The artists' studio preserves paints, brushes, pencils, books and notebooks, just as they were once used. In this way, the personalities of Frida and Diego are represented in their home, leaving their essences in every place.

The works of art by Frida Kahlo on display in the exhibition rooms give an account of the artist's working process and pictorial evolution during her professional life. Many of these works, probably most of them, are unfinished. This is due to the fact that Frida Kahlo sold most of her paintings during her lifetime. However, in the Casa Azul there are three masterpieces of the artist's career that are finished: Portrait of my Father (1941), Viva la Vida (1954) and Naturaleza Muerta (Dead Nature); a very special painting in a round frame, from 1942.

During his lifetime, Rivera left everything arranged so that when he and Frida died, the house would be turned into a museum. The bathrooms of the residence were closed as storage rooms; the muralist indicated that they could be opened only fifteen years after his death. This time was extended to forty-eight years, and when these spaces were opened, hundreds of documents, photos, clothes, books and accessories were discovered. It was necessary to annex and condition the building next to the residence in order to exhibit the treasures found.

Gallery of images

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  Intersection between the Dining Room and the Blue House Studio.
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  Dining room of the Blue House.
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  Side of the Pyramid
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  Frida Kahlo bedside table detail
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  MFK Museum
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  Frida's dresses on display at the Frida Kahlo Museum