MEXICO CITY | Frida Kahlo Museum

June 2022. Although I have been in Mexico before, the last time was in 1994-1995. Twenty-seven years later, Oriol and I are doing a classic tour of the United Mexican States, featuring Mexico City (CDMX); Palenque in Chiapas; Villahermosa in Tabasco; Uxmal, Mérida, Chichen Itza, Ek’ Balam, Valladolid, and a few cenotes (waterholes) in Yucatán and Tulum in Quintana Roo. We returned via Cancún to CDMX and Amsterdam Airport Schiphol.

The Frida Kahlo Museum or Museo Frida Kahlo, also known as the Blue House La Casa Azul for the structure’s cobalt-blue walls, is a historic house museum and art museum dedicated to the life and work of Mexican artist Frida Kahlo (1907-1954).

It is located in the Colonia del Carmen neighborhood of Coyoacán in Mexico City. The building was Kahlo’s birthplace, 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 in order to turn it into a museum in Frida’s honor.

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, and more.

The collection is displayed in the rooms of the house which remains much as it was in the 1950s.

The Blue House

The Colonia del Carmen area has had an intellectual and avant-garde reputation since the 1920s, when it was the home of Salvador Novo, Octavio Paz, Mario Moreno and Dolores del Río.

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.

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.

The house covers 800 m2 and the central courtyard is another 400 m2.

As it was built in 1904, it originally had French-style decorative features but later it was changed to the plainer façade seen today. 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.

As a museum

The museum demonstrates the lifestyle of wealthy Mexican bohemian artists and intellectuals during the first half of the 20th century.

According to records and testimony, the house today looks much as it did in 1951, decorated with Mexican folk art, 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.

The museum consists of ten rooms. Some rooms are more museum than house, other more house than museum.

A visit

We booked tickets online a day before the visit. The place is very crowded, and visiting feels like you’re part of a ‘human sausage’. And no, it’s not a kink. By the way, to be allowed to take photos – no videos! – yo must pay 30 peso per person.

The main house exhibits some of her work and aspects of her life. Kahlo was very interesting person. As a person with a disability myself, I feel some relatability. But the visit is somewhat underwelming. It would be nice to see some more of Frida.