Wikipedia

Frida Kahlo Museum

The Frida Kahlo Museum (Spanish: Museo Frida Kahlo), also known as the Blue House (La Casa Azul) for the structures cobalt-blue walls, is a historic house museum and art museum dedicated to the life and work of Mexican artist Frida Kahlo. It is located in the Colonia del Carmen neighborhood of Coyoacán in Mexico City. The building was Kahlo's birthdplace, the home where she grew up, lived with her husband Diego Rivera for a number of years, and where she later died in a room on the upper floor. In 1957, Diego Rivera donated the home and its contents to turn it into a museum in Frida's honor.

Frida Kahlo Museum
The blue House in Coyoacan
Map
Interactive fullscreen map
Established1957
LocationMexico City
Coordinates19°21′18.112″N 99°9′46.238″W / 19.35503111°N 99.16284389°W / 19.35503111; -99.16284389
TypeArt museum
DirectorPerla Labarthe Álvarez
Websitemuseofridakahlo.org.mx
Façade of the house
Leonardo Daniel Pérez Bautista - Cortesía del Museo Frida Kahlo. https://museofridakahlo.org.mx/

The museum contains a collection of artwork by Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera, and other artists along with the couple's Mexican folk art, pre-Hispanic artifacts, photographs, memorabilia, personal items, ad more. The collection is displayed in the rooms of the house which remains much as it was in the 1950's. It is the most popular museum in Coyoacán and one of the most visited in Mexico City.

The Frida Kahlo Museum is the cultural venue that is the most representative of the Mexican artist, as well as containing an important part of her artistic and conceptual legacy. It is a house museum located in Colonia Del Carmen; one of the most beautiful and traditional neighborhoods of Mexico City, in the Municipality of Coyoacán. The center of Coyoacán is located a few blocks from the Museum.

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,[1] 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 20th 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.[2] 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.[2] 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”.[3]

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 of 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 be 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 6 . 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.[4]

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)[5], 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 the 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”.[6] 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

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Walkway in the courtyard

The house/museum is located in Colonia del Carmen area of the Coyoacán borough of Mexico City. Coyoacán, especially the Colonia del Carmen area, has had an intellectual and vanguard reputation since the 1920s, when it was the home of Salvador Novo, Octavio Paz, Mario Moreno and Dolores del Río. Today, the area is home of a number of the borough's museums.[7] The house itself is located on the corner of Londres and Allende Streets, and it stands out for its cobalt-blue walls, giving it the name La Casa Azul (The Blue House).[8][9] Like most of the other structures in the area, the house is built around a central courtyard with garden space, a tradition since colonial times. Originally, the house enclosed only three sides of this courtyard, but later the fourth side was added to enclose it entirely.[8][9] The house covers 800m2 and the central courtyard is another 400m2.[10] As it was built in 1904, it originally had French-style decorative features but later it was changed to the plainer façade seen today.[9][10] The building has two floors with various bedrooms, studio space, a large kitchen and dining room. The entrance hall was decorated by a mosaic in natural stone by Mardonio Magaña of the Escuela de Pintura al Aire Libre in Coyoacán, inspired by the murals done by Juan O’Gorman at the Ciudad Universitaria.[9]

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,[11] the wife of President Porfirio Díaz. It is located in the Coyoacán district, whose history dates back to pre-hispanic Mexico.

It's 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.[11] The eruption of the Xitle volcano, which occurred between 245 and 315 AD,[12] 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.[13]

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.[14]

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.[15]

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 giving birth to their third child in October of 1897.[16] 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.[17]

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.[18] On this property, Guillermo, the name by which Wilhelm became known shortly after arriving in Mexico,[19] 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.[20]

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.[21] 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.[20]

Once in the Mexican capital, it was probably the knowledge of Wolff's generous contribution and it's 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

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Frida Kahlo Museum Facade

Originally the house was the family home of Frida Kahlo, but since 1958, it has served as museum dedicated to her life and work. With about 25,000 visitors monthly, it is one of Mexico City's most-visited museums, and the most-visited site in Coyoacán.[10][22][23] The museum is supported solely by ticket sales and donations.[10][24]

The museum demonstrates the lifestyle of wealthy Mexican bohemian artists and intellectuals during the first half of the 20th century.[8] The entrance ticket to the Casa Azul allows for free entrance into the nearby Anahuacalli Museum, which was also established by Diego Rivera.[10] According to records and testimony, the house today looks much as it did in 1951, decorated with Mexican folk art,[9] Kahlo's personal art collection, a large collection of pre-Hispanic artifacts, traditional Mexican cookware, linens, personal mementos such as photographs, postcards and letters, and works by José María Velasco, Paul Klee, and Diego Rivera. Much of the collection is in display cases designed for their preservation. The museum also contains a café and a small gift shop.[22][23][24]

The museum consists of ten rooms. On the ground floor is a room that contains some of Kahlo's mostly minor works such as Frida y la cesárea, 1907–1954, Retrato de familia, 1934, Ruina, 1947, Retrato de Guillermo Kahlo, 1952, El marxismo dará salud, 1954 (showing Frida throwing away her crutches), with a watercolor Diario de Frida in the center.[9][10] This room originally was the formal living room, where Frida and Diego entertained notable Mexican and international visitors and friends such as Sergei Eisenstein, Nelson Rockefeller, George Gershwin, caricaturist Miguel Covarrubias, and actresses Dolores del Río and María Félix.[8]

 
Frida Kahlo Rock

The second and third rooms are dedicated to personal effects and mementos and to some of Rivera's works. The second room is filled with everyday items Frida used, letters, photographs, and notes. On the walls are pre-Hispanic necklaces and folk dresses, especially the Tehuana-style ones that were Frida's trademark.[8][9] Paintings in the third room include Retrato de Carmen Portes Gil, 1921, Ofrenda del día de muertos, 1943, and Mujer con cuerpo de guitarra, 1916.[9]

The fourth room contains contemporary paintings by artists such as Paul Klee, José María Velasco, Joaquín Clausel, Celia Calderón Orozco, and a sculpture by Mardonio Magaña. The fifth room contains two large Judas figures, "mujeres bonitos" figures from Tlatilco, State of Mexico and figures from the Teotihuacan culture.[9] The large papier-mâché Judas figures and other papier-mâché monsters were traditionally filled with firecrackers and exploded on the Saturday before Easter.[8]

The sixth and seventh rooms are the kitchen and dining room. Both are in classic Mexican style, with bright yellow tile floors, blue and yellow tile counters and a long yellow table, where Frida's stepdaughter Ruth stated that Frida spent much of her time. The two rooms are filled with large earthenware pots, plates, utensils, glassware, and more which came from Metepec, Oaxaca, Tlaquepaque, and Guanajuato, all known for their handcrafted items.[8][9] Decorative features include papier-mâché Judas skeletons hanging from its ceiling, and walls with tiny pots spelling the names of Frida and Diego next to a pair of doves tying a lovers’ knot.[8]

 
Pyramid in the courtyard displaying pre-Hispanic pieces

Off the dining room was Rivera's bedroom, with his hat, jacket, and work clothes still hanging from a wall rack. Next to this is a stairwell that leads from the courtyard area to the upper floor. This area also contains a large number of folk art items and includes about 2,000 votive paintings from the colonial period to the 20th century, other colonial era work, and more Judas figures.[9][24]

The two rooms of the upper floor which are open to the public contain Frida's final bedroom and studio area. This is located in the wing that Rivera had built. The original furniture is still there. In one corner, her ashes are on display in an urn, which is surrounded by a funeral mask, some personal items, and mirrors on the ceiling.[9] On her bed is a painted plaster corset she was forced to wear to support her damaged spine, and under the canopy is a mirror facing down which she used to paint her many self-portraits. The head of the bed contains the painting of a dead child, and the foot contains a photo montage of Joseph Stalin, Vladimir Lenin, Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, and Mao Zedong. The pillow is embroidered with the words "Do not forget me, my love."[8] Her wheelchair is drawn up to an unfinished portrait of Stalin, on an easel which is said was given to her by Nelson Rockefeller. Stalin became a hero to Kahlo after the Red Army victory over Nazi Germany on the Eastern Front in World War II.[8][22][23]

The tour of the museum ends at the large courtyard garden which is completely enclosed by the four sides or wings of the structure. The courtyard area is divided by a stepped pyramid, a fountain, and a reflection pool. These were built in the 1940s when Rivera first moved into the house and built the fourth wing enclosing the house. This wing's walls which face the courtyard are decorated with marine shells and mirrors.[9] There are also sculptures by Mexican artist Mardonio Magaña.[24] One side of the courtyard contains the inscription "Frida y Diego / vivieron en / esta casa / 1929–1954" (Frida and Diego lived in this house – 1929–1954).[9]

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. [25]

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".[26]

When this impression was recorded, the US female artist was visiting the residence in Coyoacán. 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 Coyoacán. In a blue house located on Londres Avenue, which was surrounded by police, I met with Trotsky and Natalia".[27]

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.[28] 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.[29] 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.[30]

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.[31]

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.[32] 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”.[33]

Eclecticism in the aesthetics of the Blue House

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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.[34]

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.[35]

Initial Phase (1904-1936)

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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.[36] There are authors, such as Adriana Zavala, who describe the house as neoclassical in it first stage.[37] 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.[38]

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.[39] 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.[40]

Approximately one year after Frida married Diego, the painter paid off the debt on the house, which then became Frida's property.[41] 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.[42]

After their union in 1929, the artist couple did not live in the Blue House until 1931, when they temporarily moved in. After having spent a few weeks in Coyoacán, 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.[43]

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.[44]

Second Phase: 1937 - 1945

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Diego Rivera's room, The 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.[45] 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.[46]

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 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.[47]

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.[48]

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;[49] 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.[50] 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.[51] According to Graciela Romandia 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".[52] 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)

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Blue House Study

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.[53] 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.[54] 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.[55] 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 Álvaro Obregón district, known then as The San Angel Inn. Today, this home is known as the Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo House-Studio Museum.[56] In 1942, Rivera again relied on his architect friend for the initial plans of what would become the majestic Anahuacalli.[57] 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.

 
View from Frida's Bedroom, Frida Kahlo Museum

Returning to the third stage of the Blue House, a deposit of basaltic stones was located in the vicinity of CoyoacÁn. 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,[58] 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.[59] 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”.[60]

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.[61]

History

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New section or wing added on by Diego Rivera in volcanic stone and encrusted shells

The house was constructed in 1904 in Colonia Del Carmen in Coyoacán, which was established on lands that belonged to the former Hacienda del Carmen, a property of the Carmelites in the colonial period.[9] At that time and during the first half of the 20th century, Coyoacán was officially part of the Federal District of Mexico City, but was still relatively rural and separate from Mexico City's urban sprawl. Since the late 19th century, a number of Mexico City's wealthy had built country homes in the area, often imitating the colonial designs of the past. Colonia del Carmen became popular with artists and intellectuals starting around the 1920s, due to the promotion of it by Francisco Sosa and the establishment of the Escuela de Pintura al Aire Libre (Open Air School of Painting) at the former San Pedro Mártir Hacienda in 1923.[7] Originally, the exterior of the house was decorated in a French-inspired motif, which was popular in Mexico in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.[10]

 
"(...) you should know, my little girl, that in the cell battery of my love there is enough energy (...), yet knowing that it was only five minutes ago that I found you and began to love you." – Diego Rivera

Frida Kahlo was born in this house in 1907, and it remained her family home throughout her life. She spent her last thirteen years of it here as well.[22][23] Frida was the daughter of Wilhelm (Guillermo) Kahlo, who immigrated from Europe to Mexico and native Mexican Matilde Calderón y González. Frida spent her childhood in this house. She stated that during the Mexican Revolution, her mother would open the windows of this house to donate supplies to the Zapata army when it was in the area in 1913. She also spent large amount of time in the house convalescing, first in 1918 when she was struck with polio which would leave one leg shorter than the other. When she was 18, a trolley accident left her badly mangled. She spent about two years confined to her bed in casts and orthopedic devices. It was then she began to paint as a way to pass the time. One of the works from this time has Frida on what appears to be a stretcher, her body bandaged and located to the side of this house.[9] Frida met Diego Rivera while he was painting murals at the Secretaria de Educacion Publica building and invited him to the Casa Azul to see her work. Rivera soon began to be a regular visitor to the house. Other notable artists followed, making the house one of the area's meeting places. After marrying Rivera, Frida moved from her childhood home to an apartment on Paseo de la Reforma, but Rivera paid off the family's mortgage on the Casa Azul. For most of the 1930s, Frida lived in other places in Mexico City or abroad, but visited her family in the home frequently and it appears in a painting done in 1936 called Mis abuelos, mis padres y yo also called Arbol genealógico.[9]

 
Inscription on wall that says that Frida and Diego lived at the house.

Because of intervention by Kahlo and Rivera, Russian Leon Trotsky obtained asylum in Mexico. Trotsky and his wife, Natalia Sedova, were first housed in La Casa Azul starting in January 1937. The windows facing the street were closed in with adobe bricks for Trotsky's safety as he was under a death sentence from Stalin. A high wall was built between this house and the adjoining one as well. From January 1937 to April 1939, Trotsky lived and worked here, writing treatises such as Su moral y la nuestra and his regular political articles. This would often cause security problems in the area, due to the hostility of Trotsky's political enemies. During all of this time, the house continued to be a meeting place for intellectuals, especially those associated with Communism. In April 1939, Trotsky and Sedova left the Blue House after Trotsky had a falling out with Rivera over ideology and Rivera's criticism of Trotsky's writings, moving to a nearby house on Viena Street.[9]

 
Garden courtyard of The Blue House—Museo Frida Kahlo, in Mexico City.

Rivera and Kahlo divorced in November 1939. However, the couple did not break all contact, and they remarried in December 1940. In 1941, just before Frida's father's death, Rivera moved into the house, although he maintained another residence in San Angel. During this time, Rivera constructed the wing which faces Londres Street and encloses the courtyard completely. This section was built of local volcanic rock with ceramic vases set into it. A terraced roof was built, decorated with marine shells and a mirror. Here Frida's studio and bedroom was moved. To separate the new from the old, a stone wall divides the patio area in two, in front of which is a fountain, a stepped pyramid, a reflection pool and a room for the couple's archeological collection.[9] The exterior was also changed from the original French style to the one seen today. The redesign work on the house was done by Juan O’Gorman in 1946.[10] As the couple's home, the house continued to receive distinguished visitors from both Mexico and abroad, including Fritz Henle, Concha Michel, Dolores del Río, María Félix, Lucha Reyes and Chavela Vargas.[9]

 
Image of Frida for Day of the Dead at the museum

In 1943, Frida became an instructor for the Escuela de Pintura y Escultura de La Esmeralda, but her physical condition required her to mostly give classes at her home. These students eventually numbered only four and were called "Los fridos": Fanny Rabel, Guillermo Monroy, Arturo "el Güero" Estrada and Arturo García Bustos, who mostly worked and trained in the patio area. Starting in 1945, Frida was once again confined to bed in the house. From then to 1947, she painted works such as Flor de la vida, in 1945 and El sol de la vida in 1947.[9]

Frida died on the upper floor of this house on 13 July 1954 at the age of 47. Her wake took place here before the body was taken to the Palacio de Bellas Artes then cremated. Four years after her death, in 1958, Rivera donated the house to the nation of Mexico and set up a foundation for its preservation. The house was converted to a museum dedicated to the life and works of Kahlo. The first director of the museum was Carlos Pellicer with the mandate to keep the house as it was.[9][10]

The museum was relatively obscure for many years as Frida Kahlo was little known beyond the art world until the 1990s.[8] In the 1980s, a movement called Neomexicanismo promoted her and her work.[62] Since that time, she has become a cult icon, with images of her appearing on many pop culture items, and many of her works now command high prices.[8] In 2006, Kahlo's 1943 painting Roots set a US$5.6 million auction record for a Latin American work.[63] The popularity of Frida affected the museum. It closed for a time in the early 1990s, then reopened in 1993, with the addition of a gift shop and restaurant/café.[8] Today, the museum is the most-visited in Coyoacán and one of the most visited in Mexico City.[10][22][23]

Restoration work was performed on the building and some of its contents in 2009 and 2010. The work was sponsored in part by the German government, which donated 60,000 euros for the effort, and in part by the museum itself, which contributed one million pesos. The effort concentrates on obtaining furniture for display and preservation, other equipment, roof work, and restoration of items in the collection. Restoration includes most of the paintings in the collection, including Viva la vida, El marxismo dará salud a los enfermos, Frida y la cesárea, Naturaleza muerta con bandera, Retrato de Marta Procel, Retrato de mi familia, Retrato de mi padre Wilhelm Kahlo and Los hornos de ladrillos as well as La quebrada and Paisaje urbano by Rivera, Retrato del niño Don Antonio Villaseñor and Retrato de niño muerto by unknown author, Composición by Wolfgang Paalenk, and Retrato de Diego Rivera by Leopold Gottlieb, along with an archive of 6,500 photographs of Kahlo, Rivera with the friends, family and colleagues done by Nickolas Muray, Martin Munkácsi, Fritz Henle and Gisele Freund. The conservation work only covers about 35 percent of the total collection.[24][64]

See also

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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Museo Frida Kahlo.

References

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  1. ^ Mateos-Vega, Monica (6 June 2017). "More than one hundred drawings of Frida and Diego are discovered". La Jornada Newspaper. Retrieved 3 December 2024. {{cite news}}: |archive-date= requires |archive-url= (help)CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  2. ^ a b Frida Kahlo Museum website, Frida Kahlo Museum (3 December 2024). "Frida Kahlo Museum website. Section "The Museum"". Frida Kahlo Museum. {{cite web}}: Check |archive-url= value (help)CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  3. ^ Bank of Mexico. Frida's Blue House; Anahuacalli Museum. Retrieved June 2022.
  4. ^ Carlos Phillips Olmedo, Isabel Grañén Porrúa, Carlos Monsiváis, et. al. Treasures of the Blue House Frida and Diego. Anahuacalli Museum. CDMX. Retrieved June 2022.
  5. ^ Culture section, Journalistic note (25 May 2011). ""Con veras de mi corazón" Exvotos de la colección Frida Kahlo en el Museo Frida Kahlo". Portal Político. TV. Retrieved 3 December 2024. {{cite news}}: |archive-date= requires |archive-url= (help)CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  6. ^ Luis Roberto Vera, p. 21. "Pre-Columbian Frida: A Guide for the Blind (from Neo-Mannerism and the Stridentist Avant-Garde to Syncretic Primitivism)" Archive of the Anahuacalli Museum and the Frida Kahlo Museum. Retrieved June 2022.
  7. ^ a b Alejandro Lerch (4 April 2010). "Fachadas con historia" [Façades with history]. Reforma (in Spanish). Mexico City. p. 6.
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Gale Randall (1 January 2006). "The Frida Kahlo Museum". Mexconnect newsletter. Retrieved 30 November 2010.
  9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v "Museo Casa de Frida Kahlo" [Frida Kahlo House Museum] (in Spanish). INAH. Archived from the original on 24 November 2010. Retrieved 30 November 2010.
  10. ^ a b c d e f g h i j "Museo Frida Kahlo" [Frida Kahlo Museum] (in Spanish). Government of Mexico City. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 30 November 2010.
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  12. ^ Lot, Antonio; Camarena, Pedro (2009). El Pedregal de San Ángel de la ciudad de México: reserva ecológica urbana de la Universidad Nacional [The city's Pedregal de San Ángel of Mexico: urban ecological reserve from the National University]. Ciudad de México: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  13. ^ Abigail Torres, 16 March 2022. "CDMX: History and names of the streets of Colonia Del Carmen." Televisa News. URL: https://www.televisa.com/noticias/cdmx-historia-y-nombres-de-las-calles-de-la-colonia-del-carmen-2/ Retrieved June of 2022.
  14. ^ 15 things you should know about Coyoacán. At http://hellodf.com URL: http://hellodf.com/coyoacan/ Retrieved June of 2022.
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  16. ^ Frida’s Father, p. 142. Gaby Franger / Rainer Huhle. Schirmer/Mosel, Germany, 2015. Spanish translation by Enrique García de la Garza.
  17. ^ Christhian Mares, 2021. "Guillermo Kahlo, Beyond FRIDA".Hello BLOG. URL: https://www.holaspanischschule.de/blog/guillermo-mas-alla-de-frida-frida-kahlo-mexico/ Retrieved June of 2022.
  18. ^ Frida’s Father, p. 40. Gaby Franger / Rainer Huhle. Schirmer/Mosel, Germany, 2015. Spanish translation by Enrique García de la Garza.
  19. ^ Frida’s Father, p. 2. Gaby Franger / Rainer Huhle. Schirmer/Mosel, Germany, 2015. Spanish translation by Enrique García de la Garza.
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  21. ^ Duncan, Veka (28 February 2020). "La huella porfiriana en Coyoacán". Este país. Tendencias y opiniones. Retrieved 3 December 2024. {{cite news}}: |archive-date= requires |archive-url= (help)CS1 maint: url-status (link)
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  23. ^ a b c d e Humphrey, Chris (2005). Moon Handbooks-Mexico City. Berkeley, CA: Avalon Travel Publishing. p. 73. ISBN 978-1-56691-612-7.
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  25. ^ Glass, Daniel (2011). "Once Upon a Time in Mexico: frida kahlo's garden at La Casa Azul, Coyoacán". JSTOR. 39 (2): 240 – via The Gardens Trust.
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  27. ^ Heijenoort, Jean Van. With Trotsky in Exile, From Prinkipo to Coyoacán. Page. 104. Harvard University Press, 1978.
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  32. ^ Frida Kahlo Museum. "Did you know..." Twitter, 25 February 2021. URL: https://twitter.com/museofridakahlo/status/1364982528839462919?lang=es Retrieved June of 2022.
  33. ^ Quote from Luna Arroyo, 1973, p. 102. In Luz María Pérez García, p. 23. "The architecture of Juan O'Gorman: an interpretation of the Mexican landscape.” Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana, December 2011. URL: https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/48393639.pdf Retrieved June of 2022.
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  40. ^ Frida’s Blue House, page 168. Text “The Blue House”, by Beatriz Scharrer. Bank of Mexico, 2007.
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  42. ^ Frida’s Blue House, page 165. Text “The Blue House”, by Beatriz Scharrer. Bank of Mexico, 2007.
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  56. ^ Frida's Father, p. 138. Gaby Franger / Rainer Huhle. Schirmer/Mosel, Germany, 2015. Spanish translation by Enrique García de la Garza.
  57. ^ Diego's Anahuacalli, page 116. "A space for life. The Anahuacalli, a neo-Indian and Wrightinian building" by Xavier Guzmán Urbiola. Bank of Mexico, 2008.
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  61. ^ Adriana Zavala, Mia D’Avanza, et. al., p. 38. “Frida Kahlo. Art, Garden, Life.” in Frida Kahlo’s Garden. New York Botanical Garden, 2015. Retrieved in June 2022.
  62. ^ Emerich, Luis Carlos (1989). Figuraciones y desfiguros de los ochentas. Mexico City: Editorial Diana. ISBN 968-13-1908-7.
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