Arts
On the 70th anniversary of the death of its most famous artist, Mexico set out to present unseen aspects of Frida Kahlo, born on July 13, 1954 and now a globally-celebrated icon, known as much for her art as for her personality. The Casa Azul (“blue house”) in Mexico City’s Coyoacan district, where Frida lived for 36 of her 47 years, remains a seemingly inexhaustible source of knowledge about the artist and her family.
“We have 10 of Frida’s works, but above all, we have all the archives, from her extensive correspondence and preciously annotated books, to her collections of Mexican folk and pre-Hispanic art and photos, including those of her father,” said Perla Labarthe, director of the museum, now managed by a cultural fund administered by the Bank of Mexico.
The exhibition, entitled “A Place Full of Places: Casa Azul,” reconstructs what this 800-square-meter home was for Kahlo: “A refuge for her many sorrows, a home with the muralist Diego Rivera [1886-1957], an ideological statement of her political commitments and a meeting point for her artist and activist friends who came to visit her,” the director said.
The 200 pieces on display, including some 15 never-before-seen pieces, have been largely drawn from the treasures of Casa Azul, the boxes locked away for almost half a century in the house’s two bathrooms, which were only opened and cataloged in 2003. They reveal Frida’s childhood, when she wanted to become a doctor and played with a microscope, the disability that accompanied her throughout her life, and her love of Mexican culture.
One room is dedicated to the transformation of the house into a museum by poet and museographer Carlos Pellicer (1897-1977) in 1958, under Rivera’s supervision, who had imagined it as a museum dedicated to her work and to bear hier name. “A tribute paid to this genial woman whom I have loved and admired most in life,” the muralist wrote in 1955.
Many months in hospital
The Museo Casa Estudio Diego Rivera y Frida Kahlo (“Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo Museum-House-Studio”), located in the San Angel district and recently reopened to the public, presents a second previously unseen exhibition, the work of her great-niece, photographer Cristina Kahlo (b. 1960), whose grandmother, Cristina, was Frida’s younger sister.
“I’m part of a family that’s interested in art, not money,” said the photographer, referring to her cousin Mara, who has turned Frida’s legacy into a profitable business, from Barbie dolls to tequila.
Cristina inherited her great-aunt’s deep black hair and hip problems, which led her to become a patient at ABC Hospital, where Frida underwent seven operations from 1950 onwards, eventually amputating her leg in 1953. She discovered that her grandmother’s medical records were still in the hospital archives, on microfilm. This discovery gave rise to museographic research to present Frida’s many months in the hospital and her intimate relationship with her doctors.
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