On our last day in Mexico City, we travelled on the (superb) subway to see Frida Kahlo's "blue house" in Coyoacán (about 10km south of the centre of town). The suburb itself is gorgeous - tree-lined streets, peaceful and quiet, nice little cafés and shops. And Frida's blue house is, indeed, very blue - a striking, vivid royal blue, quite spectacular. The house has been set up as a museum, and you are able to walk through each room which in turn shows collections of her artwork (and some of her husband's - Diego Rivera), as well as the dining room, kitchen, bedroom, studio and courtyard which have all been preserved as they were when she was living there. A lot of what you can see evokes the pain she must have experienced in her life (which resulted from ongoing issues after an accident with a streetcar when she was a teenager), as well as the volatile and intense relationship she had with her famous artist husband. Her studio, for example, has her wheelchair in front of an unfinished still life painting, she has a mirror above her bed that she used when she began painting self-portraits. And it was fascinating to learn more of her and her husband's leftist political leanings - including their close relationship with Leon Trotsky, during his time in exile in Mexico City (where he lived just a few blocks from the Blue House. Interestingly, the museum didn't mention anything of the affair Frida apparently had with Leon (though stressed the anguish caused by Diego's affair with Frida's sister)!
Photograph of Frida Kahlo in New York, 1939, by Nickolas Murray
Frida's studio - left exactly as it was at the time of her death
"Marxism will bring health to the sick"
"Viva la Vida" - "Long live life"
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