Australia is presenting a wonderful exhibition, Frida & Diego: Love & Revolution (Jun-Sep 2023) in South Australia’s Art Gallery from Jacques and Natasha Gelman's collection of Mexican modernism. But what about Kahlo’s own Mexican home, la Casa Azul/Blue House?
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The couple were keeping separate homes and studios for years, yet despite the many affairs, they always returned together. In 1937 they helped Leon (and wife) Trotsky, exiled rival of insane Soviet leader Joseph Stalin. The Riveras welcomed the Trotskys into their Blue House where Frida and Leon had a brief affair. But when the Trotskys relocated, Leon was tragically assassinated.
In 1938 Kahlo befriended Andre Breton, a Surrealist who helped her create a successful gallery exhibition in N.Y. In 1939 Kahlo was invited by Breton to Paris to exhibit her work. There she was befriended artists Marc Chagall, Piet Mondrian, Marcel Duchamp and Pablo Picasso, and loved it.
The couple divorced in Nov 1939, then remarried in Dec 1940 when she showed her perspective in Diego on My Mind (1940). Even then they had separate lives, both of them cheating. Kahlo painted some of her most famous paintings after her homecoming, including The Two Fridas (1939) and Self-Portrait with Thorn Necklace & Hummingbird (1940).
Before Frida’s father Guillermo's death in 1941, the couple moved to the Blue House, and quickly adapted it. The Blue House was given a bigger garden and brighter colours, especially the blue painted walls seen today, enclosing the courtyard completely. Juan O’Gorman did the redesign work in 1946. To separate the new from the old, a stone wall divided the patio area in two, with a fountain, stepped pyramid, pre-Columbian artefacts, pool and their archaeological collection. They built a sunny art studio and covered its white façade in cobalt blue paint.
Diagnosed with foot gangrene in 1950, Frida was bedridden for another 9 months, in hospital for surgeries. Still, she continued to work in her parents’ home, her biographical paintings revealing a new approach to exploring feminism. The Blue House welcomed intellectual and avant-garde activity; the couple hosted a special array of stars from Mexico and abroad. The house together had some of her most famous works eg Portrait of My Father (1951).
She had a solo exhibition and despite the pain, Frida arrived by ambulance, welcomed the attendees and opened the 1953 ceremony from bed. Months later, her right leg was partly amputated to stop the gangrene. Thus her last political outing was in 1954!
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Frida and Diego had wanted to leave her house as a museum for all Mexicans to enjoy. So the widower paid out the mortgage, and paid off the health debts for them both. Rivera set up a foundation for to preserve the house and convert it to a Museum dedicated to her life and works. Its administration was assigned to a trust under the central Banco de México, and constituted by Rivera in 1957. He had the Museum formally dedicated to her life in 1958, including its gardens.
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Visitors queuing to enter Frida Kahlo Museum
The house was built in 1904 with a French-inspired design in the Coyoacán neighbourhood, a rural and arty part of the Federal District of Mexico City. Guillermo Kahlo completed the family home there before Matilde gave birth to their daughter Frida (1907-54).
Frida contracted polio at 6 and was bedridden for 9 months. The disease caused her right leg to losing weight, limping forever. So she wore long skirts for life! Her beloved father encouraged her to do sports to help her recover: soccer, swimming, wrestling!
She attended Mexico City’s famous National Preparatory School in 1922 where only 35 female students were enrolled. This confident lass first met and admired the famous Mexican Diego Rivera who was working on the school’s assembly hall mural.
That year, Kahlo joined students who shared leftwing political views, loving the leader Alejandro Gomez Arias. She and Arias were on a bus when it collided with a tram and a steel handrail impaled Frida's hip. Her spine and pelvis were fractured, leaving endless pain. She had to stay in the Red Cross Hospital Mexico, then went home in a full-body cast for months. Her parents loved art, bought her brushes and paints, and made her a special bed-based easel. So she painted her first self-portrait in bed.
Frida contracted polio at 6 and was bedridden for 9 months. The disease caused her right leg to losing weight, limping forever. So she wore long skirts for life! Her beloved father encouraged her to do sports to help her recover: soccer, swimming, wrestling!
She attended Mexico City’s famous National Preparatory School in 1922 where only 35 female students were enrolled. This confident lass first met and admired the famous Mexican Diego Rivera who was working on the school’s assembly hall mural.
That year, Kahlo joined students who shared leftwing political views, loving the leader Alejandro Gomez Arias. She and Arias were on a bus when it collided with a tram and a steel handrail impaled Frida's hip. Her spine and pelvis were fractured, leaving endless pain. She had to stay in the Red Cross Hospital Mexico, then went home in a full-body cast for months. Her parents loved art, bought her brushes and paints, and made her a special bed-based easel. So she painted her first self-portrait in bed.
Frida's bed
with a mirror above, set into the canopy
Kahlo re-found Rivera in 1928, asking him to evaluate her work and he encouraged her, professionally and romantically. Frida was young (21), dressy, physically handicapped and living with her parents. Rivera was middle-aged (42), totally famous and messy. Despite parental objection, Frida and Diego married in 1929 then moved around, based on Diego's work in the US.
In 1932, Kahlo painted more surrealistic components. In Henry Ford Hospital (1932) she was lying on a hospital bed naked, surrounded by a foetus, flower and pelvis, connected by veins and floating. She was pregnant but suffered a heart-breaking miscarriage from earlier injuries.
In 1933, Nelson Rockefeller commissioned Rivera to paint a mural at Rockefeller Centre. Rivera included Vladimir Lenin, but Rockefeller had Lenin painted over and the couple quickly escaped to Mexico!
In 1932, Kahlo painted more surrealistic components. In Henry Ford Hospital (1932) she was lying on a hospital bed naked, surrounded by a foetus, flower and pelvis, connected by veins and floating. She was pregnant but suffered a heart-breaking miscarriage from earlier injuries.
In 1933, Nelson Rockefeller commissioned Rivera to paint a mural at Rockefeller Centre. Rivera included Vladimir Lenin, but Rockefeller had Lenin painted over and the couple quickly escaped to Mexico!
Frieda and Diego Rivera, married in 1929,
She painted this wedding portrait in 1931
In 1938 Kahlo befriended Andre Breton, a Surrealist who helped her create a successful gallery exhibition in N.Y. In 1939 Kahlo was invited by Breton to Paris to exhibit her work. There she was befriended artists Marc Chagall, Piet Mondrian, Marcel Duchamp and Pablo Picasso, and loved it.
The couple divorced in Nov 1939, then remarried in Dec 1940 when she showed her perspective in Diego on My Mind (1940). Even then they had separate lives, both of them cheating. Kahlo painted some of her most famous paintings after her homecoming, including The Two Fridas (1939) and Self-Portrait with Thorn Necklace & Hummingbird (1940).
Before Frida’s father Guillermo's death in 1941, the couple moved to the Blue House, and quickly adapted it. The Blue House was given a bigger garden and brighter colours, especially the blue painted walls seen today, enclosing the courtyard completely. Juan O’Gorman did the redesign work in 1946. To separate the new from the old, a stone wall divided the patio area in two, with a fountain, stepped pyramid, pre-Columbian artefacts, pool and their archaeological collection. They built a sunny art studio and covered its white façade in cobalt blue paint.
Diagnosed with foot gangrene in 1950, Frida was bedridden for another 9 months, in hospital for surgeries. Still, she continued to work in her parents’ home, her biographical paintings revealing a new approach to exploring feminism. The Blue House welcomed intellectual and avant-garde activity; the couple hosted a special array of stars from Mexico and abroad. The house together had some of her most famous works eg Portrait of My Father (1951).
She had a solo exhibition and despite the pain, Frida arrived by ambulance, welcomed the attendees and opened the 1953 ceremony from bed. Months later, her right leg was partly amputated to stop the gangrene. Thus her last political outing was in 1954!
They lived in the house for the rest of Kahlo's short life. At 47, Frida died in 1954 at her beloved Blue House from a pulmonary embolism. The Blue House physically displayed the colourful life she left and represented her admiration for the indigenous Mexicans. Crutches and medicine displayed her years of suffering, plus toys, jewellery and clothing. Was she a hoarder? Probably - after all, it took years to discover that 6,500 photos and c22,000 documents were left in the Blue House, along with magazines, books, paintings, drawings, etc.
Frida and Diego's kitchen
Frida and Diego had wanted to leave her house as a museum for all Mexicans to enjoy. So the widower paid out the mortgage, and paid off the health debts for them both. Rivera set up a foundation for to preserve the house and convert it to a Museum dedicated to her life and works. Its administration was assigned to a trust under the central Banco de México, and constituted by Rivera in 1957. He had the Museum formally dedicated to her life in 1958, including its gardens.
Kahlo gardens
Museo Frida Kahlo presents the house how it was in the 1950s. In addition to the couple’s works, the museum also collects their Mexican folk art and pre-Hispanic artefacts. There are ten rooms. On the ground floor is the kitchen where her Mexican culture was really visible. It was traditionally decorated with clay pots, in bright indigenous Mexican colours. The second room has Frida’s letters, notes and photos, while on the walls are Frida’s trademark pre-Hispanic necklaces and folk dresses. The third room has Rivera’s art. The fourth room has contemporary paintings by Paul Klee, José María Velasco and others. The fifth room has monsters from Teotihuacan culture that Kahlo used in her art. Her top bedroom-studio was in the wing Rivera built, with a painted plaster corset worn to support her damaged spine, and a mirror still facing down.
In the 1970s interest in her work and life was renewed due to feminism; she was viewed as an icon of female creativity. In 1983, Hayden Herrera published the excellent Biography of Frida Kahlo. And from 1995, read The Diary of Frida Kahlo: and The Letters of Frida Kahlo.
In the 1970s interest in her work and life was renewed due to feminism; she was viewed as an icon of female creativity. In 1983, Hayden Herrera published the excellent Biography of Frida Kahlo. And from 1995, read The Diary of Frida Kahlo: and The Letters of Frida Kahlo.
Today, the Blue House is one of the most visited museums in Mexico City.
Self portrait with thorn necklace and hummingbird,
www.FridaKahlo.org, 1940