Frida Kahlo Museum facts for kids
The Blue House in Coyoacan
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| Established | 1957 |
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| Location | Mexico City |
| Type | Art museum |
The Frida Kahlo Museum (Spanish: Museo Frida Kahlo) is also known as the Blue House (La Casa Azul). It gets its name from its bright blue walls. This special place is a historic house museum and art museum. It celebrates the life and amazing artwork of the Mexican artist Frida Kahlo.
You can find the museum in the Colonia del Carmen neighborhood of Coyoacán in Mexico City. This building was Frida Kahlo's birthplace. It was also the home where she grew up and lived with her husband, Diego Rivera. She later passed away in a room on the top floor of this very house. In 1957, Diego Rivera gave the house and everything inside it to be turned into a museum. He wanted to honor Frida Kahlo's memory.
The museum has many artworks by Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera, and other artists. It also displays the couple's Mexican folk art, ancient artifacts, photographs, and personal items. All these treasures are shown in the house's rooms, which look much like they did in the 1950s.
Contents
The Famous Blue House
The museum is in the Colonia del Carmen area of Coyoacán, Mexico City. This area has been known for its artists and thinkers since the 1920s. Many museums are located here today. The house itself is on the corner of Londres and Allende Streets. Its bright cobalt-blue walls make it stand out, giving it the name La Casa Azul.
Like many homes in the area, the house is built around a central courtyard with a garden. This style has been popular since colonial times. The house covers 800 square meters, and the central courtyard is another 400 square meters. It was built in 1904 and first had French-style decorations. Later, it was changed to the simpler look you see today. The building has two floors with bedrooms, a studio, a large kitchen, and a dining room.
Exploring the Museum
The Blue House was Frida Kahlo's family home. Since 1958, it has been a museum dedicated to her life and art. About 25,000 people visit each month, making it one of Mexico City's most popular museums. It's the most visited spot in Coyoacán. The museum gets its support from ticket sales and donations.
The museum shows what life was like for wealthy Mexican artists and thinkers in the early 1900s. Your ticket to the Casa Azul also lets you visit the nearby Anahuacalli Museum for free. Diego Rivera also started that museum. The house looks much like it did in 1951. It is filled with Mexican folk art, Frida's own art, ancient artifacts, traditional cookware, and personal items. You can see photographs, postcards, and letters. There are also works by artists like Paul Klee and Diego Rivera. Many items are kept in special display cases to protect them. The museum also has a café and a small gift shop.
The museum has ten rooms to explore.
Ground Floor Highlights
- The first room has some of Frida's artworks. These include Family Portrait (1934) and Marxism Will Give Health to the Sick (1954). This painting shows Frida throwing away her crutches. This room used to be the living room. Frida and Diego welcomed famous guests here. Visitors included filmmaker Sergei Eisenstein and businessman Nelson Rockefeller.
- The second and third rooms display Frida's personal items. You can see letters, photographs, and notes. The walls feature ancient necklaces and traditional Tehuana-style dresses. These dresses were Frida's signature look. The third room also has paintings by Diego Rivera.
- The fourth room shows paintings by artists like Paul Klee and José María Velasco. It also has a sculpture by Mardonio Magaña.
- The fifth room holds two large Judas figures made of papier-mâché. These figures were traditionally filled with firecrackers and exploded before Easter. You can also see figures from the ancient Tlatilco and Teotihuacan cultures.
Kitchen and Dining Room
- The sixth and seventh rooms are the kitchen and dining room. They are decorated in a classic Mexican style. They have bright yellow tile floors and blue and yellow counters. A long yellow table is where Frida spent a lot of time.
- These rooms are full of beautiful handmade items. You'll see earthenware pots, plates, and glassware from places like Metepec and Oaxaca. Papier-mâché Judas skeletons hang from the ceiling. The walls have tiny pots spelling out "Frida" and "Diego."
- Next to the dining room was Diego Rivera's bedroom. His hat, jacket, and work clothes are still hanging there. A stairwell leads from the courtyard to the upper floor. This area also has many folk art items. It includes about 2,000 votive paintings and more Judas figures.
Frida's Private Spaces
- The two rooms on the upper floor are Frida's last bedroom and studio. This part of the house was built by Diego Rivera. The original furniture is still there.
- In one corner, Frida's ashes are in an urn. It is surrounded by a funeral mask and personal items. Mirrors on the ceiling reflect the room. On her bed is a painted plaster corset she wore for her spine. A mirror above her bed helped her paint her many self-portraits.
- The head of her bed has a painting of a child. The foot of the bed has photos of leaders like Joseph Stalin and Vladimir Lenin. Her pillow is embroidered with "Do not forget me, my love." Her wheelchair is next to an unfinished portrait of Stalin. Stalin became a hero to Frida after the Red Army won against Nazi Germany in World War II.
The Garden Courtyard
- The museum tour ends in the large courtyard garden. It is surrounded by all four sides of the house. The garden has a stepped pyramid, a fountain, and a reflection pool. Diego Rivera added these in the 1940s when he built the fourth wing of the house.
- The walls of this new wing facing the courtyard are decorated with seashells and mirrors. You can also see sculptures by Mexican artist Mardonio Magaña. One wall in the courtyard has an inscription: "Frida y Diego / vivieron en / esta casa / 1929–1954." This means "Frida and Diego lived in this house – 1929–1954."
History of the Blue House
The house was built in 1904 in Coyoacán. At that time, Coyoacán was a rural area outside Mexico City. Wealthy people built country homes there. The Colonia del Carmen area became popular with artists and thinkers in the 1920s. The house's outside originally had a French style. This style was common in Mexico in the late 1800s and early 1900s.
Frida Kahlo was born in this house in 1907. It was her family home her whole life. She spent her last thirteen years here. Frida's father was Wilhelm Kahlo, who came from Europe. Her mother was Matilde Calderón y González, a Mexican native. Frida spent her childhood in this house. She said that during the Mexican Revolution in 1913, her mother would open the windows to give supplies to the Zapata army.
Frida also spent a lot of time recovering in the house. In 1918, she got polio, which made one leg shorter. When she was 18, a trolley accident badly injured her. She spent about two years in bed, wearing casts and braces. That's when she started to paint to pass the time. One of her paintings from this period shows her on what looks like a stretcher, bandaged, next to this house.
Frida met Diego Rivera when he was painting murals. She invited him to the Casa Azul to see her art. Rivera soon became a regular visitor. Other famous artists followed, making the house a meeting place. After marrying Rivera, Frida moved to another apartment. But Rivera paid off the mortgage on the Casa Azul for her family. Frida lived in other places for much of the 1930s. However, she visited her family in the home often. The house appears in her 1936 painting called My Grandparents, My Parents, and I.
Because Frida and Rivera helped, Russian leader Leon Trotsky found safety in Mexico. Trotsky and his wife, Natalia Sedova, first stayed in the Casa Azul starting in January 1937. The windows facing the street were blocked for Trotsky's safety. He was in danger from his political enemies. A high wall was also built between this house and the next one. Trotsky lived and worked here from January 1937 to April 1939. He wrote many political articles. This often caused security issues in the area. The house remained a meeting place for thinkers, especially those interested in Communism. In April 1939, Trotsky and Sedova left the Blue House. Trotsky and Rivera had disagreements about ideas. Trotsky moved to a nearby house.
Rivera and Kahlo divorced in November 1939. But they stayed in touch and remarried in December 1940. In 1941, Rivera moved into the house, just before Frida's father passed away. He also kept another home. During this time, Rivera built the wing that faces Londres Street. This completed the courtyard. This new section was made of local volcanic rock. It had ceramic vases set into it. A terraced roof was added, decorated with seashells and a mirror. Frida's studio and bedroom were moved here.
To separate the old from the new, a stone wall divides the patio. In front of it are a fountain, a stepped pyramid, and a reflection pool. There is also a room for the couple's collection of ancient artifacts. The outside of the house was also changed from its original French style. The redesign was done by Juan O'Gorman in 1946. As their home, the house continued to welcome important visitors. These included artists and singers from Mexico and other countries.
In 1943, Frida became a teacher at an art school. But her health meant she mostly taught classes at her home. Her students, called "Los Fridos," were only four people. They often worked and trained in the patio area. From 1945, Frida was again confined to bed in the house. She painted works like Flower of Life (1945) and Sun of Life (1947) during this time.
Frida passed away on the upper floor of this house on July 13, 1954. She was 47 years old. Her memorial service took place here. Then her body was taken to the Palacio de Bellas Artes and later cremated. Four years after her death, in 1958, Rivera gave the house to Mexico. He created a foundation to keep it safe. The house became a museum about Frida Kahlo's life and art. The first director, Carlos Pellicer, made sure the house stayed just as it was.
The museum was not very well known for many years. Frida Kahlo became famous outside the art world in the 1990s. A movement called Neomexicanismo helped promote her and her work. Since then, she has become a popular icon. Her images appear on many items, and her artworks are now very valuable. In 2006, Frida's 1943 painting Roots sold for US$5.6 million. This was a record for a Latin American artwork. Frida's popularity made the museum more famous. It closed for a short time in the early 1990s. It reopened in 1993 with a gift shop and café. Today, it is one of the most visited museums in Mexico City.
Restoration work was done on the building and its contents in 2009 and 2010. The German government helped by donating money for the project. The museum also contributed funds. The work focused on getting furniture for display and preservation. It also included roof repairs and restoring items in the collection. Many paintings were restored, including Viva la vida and Marxism Will Give Health to the Sick. An archive of 6,500 photographs of Frida, Rivera, and their friends was also preserved. These photos were taken by famous photographers like Nickolas Muray and Fritz Henle. This conservation work covered about 35 percent of the museum's total collection.
See also
In Spanish: Museo Frida Kahlo para niños
- Anahuacalli Museum
- List of single-artist museums
- List of historic house museums in Mexico
- List of paintings by Frida Kahlo
