Hi guys!
This video is all about iconic Mexican artist Frida Kahlo.
I’m going to talk about some of the places in Mexico City that you can visit that have
special significance to her.
Some of which might surprise you.
The first place is Palacio de Bellas Artes and this is important because you can see
the first self-portrait that ever painted.
And of course she became very famous for doing self-portraits later in life.
She was only nineteen when she painted this in 1926 and she actually gave it as a gift
to her student boyfriend whose name was Alejandro Gomez Arias and she was trying to regain his
affection and so gave this to him as a present so it’s really special to see this.
There are other paintings you can see at the Bellas Rates but, to me, this is the number
one thing to see.
If you’re interested in Frida Kahlo and you only have time to go to one place then
Museo Frida Kahlo is it.
It’s also known as Casa Azul or the Blue House and this is where Frida Kahlo was born,
where she died, and where she lived for a lot of her life.
It was built just a few years before she was born by her father Guillermo and it was turned
into a museum just four years after she died in 1958.
As the name implies, it’s a bright blue house with tall walls.
The rooms face onto a beautiful central courtyard with a garden and that’s where Frida spent
a lot of time with her exotic pets.
One major tip about visiting this museum is in order to avoid the massive line which just
seems to be permanently outside buy your tickets online in advance.
You can do it quite far in advance or at very short notice.
We actually bought them just a couple of hours before we left and we were able to just walk
right in.
It’s timed entry.
If you don’t do this you’ll have to wait in a line for probably at least half an hour.
So, if possible, get online and try to buy them in advance.
You’ll find a lot of Frida’s personal belongings in the house.
Furnishings like her four poster bed where she died.
You can see the mirror on the top which was put there so she could do her self-portraits
or other paintings while she was lying in bed like she did for a lot of her life.
Her art supplies, brushes, paints, her easel are there, the wheelchair that she used.
You can see her notepaper, her bookshelves, everything is there down to her childhood
toys in her childhood room.
You can see her beauty products, you can also see her death mask as well as her ashes which
are still in her childhood bedroom.
And they’re in an urn that’s shaped like a toad which represents Diego Rivera who referred
to himself as a toad.
When I was there I was lucky that there was a special exhibition of items that had only
been found recently in 2004 hidden in the house in Frida’s bathroom after Diego Rivera
had requested that they be locked away and not opened for fifty years.
So a lot of her dresses, her beauty products.
You can see her lipstick, her nail polish, her fashion accessories are there.
You can also see some of the various corsets of plaster and leather that she wore throughout
her life, her prosthetic leg, shoes.
Very personal items that were found just recently so that was very special to see.
She’s an iconic personality and has continued to be an inspiration for artists and fashion
designers today.
Next is the Leon Trotsky Museum which is also located in Coyoacán just a few minutes walking
distance from Museo Frida Kahlo and it’s really worthwhile to visit.
If you didn’t know already, the connection to Frida is that Frida and Trotsky had an
affair.
He actually lived with his wife Natalia at Casa Azul and then moved to this home where
the museum is thereafter.
So Diego and Frida had petitioned the Mexican government to grant Trotsky and his wife asylum
and in 1937 they began living with Diego and Frida at Casa Azul.
The Trotsky Museum feels very different to Museo Frida Kahlo.
That one feels very rich and you’ll find a lot of other visitors there.
There was almost no one else around when we visited the Trotsky Museum.
It feels very raw and unedited to me.
You don’t have the sense that it’s been very curated and you almost walking around
feel as though this is the way the house probably looked when it was actually lived in and occupied
by Trotsky.
It feels a bit like a bunker which makes a lot of sense as Trotsky was constantly under
threat of attack.
You can actually see the bullet holes from one assassination attempt in his bedroom.
He wasn’t killed by that but ultimately he was killed by an assassin in 1940 with
an icepick to the skull in his study.
His ashes are also kept there in a tomb with the hammer and sickle on it and, if you have
time, I would really recommend going there of course because of its connection to Frida
Kahlo but it’s also an interesting place to visit in and of itself.
Another stop is Museo Casa Estudio Diego Rivera y Frida Kahlo and this is in the neighbourhood
of San Angel and it definitely stands out from all of the surrounding structures.
It was designed by an architect named Juan O’Gorman who was actually a childhood friend
of Frida’s and Frida and Diego moved in in 1934.
You’ll notice immediately that there are two totally separate and distinct structures.
One for Frida is blue and the larger one for Diego is red.
They’re connected by a bridge going across the top and this had a lot of significance
and meaning for the couple.
It was meant to symbolize their independence both as people and as artists and it also
meant that they had privacy to conduct their various affairs throughout their marriage.
After Frida died, this is where Diego lived until his death in 1957.
Diego’s space has a large beautiful studio with enormous windows.
You can see a lot of his personal belongings, including his paint brushes, his art supplies,
a lot of the things that he collected throughout his life as well as furniture that he designed
himself.
He had a very tiny bedroom with just a single bed and he was a tall man so that must have
been a tight squeeze.
There’s also a loft space with a seating area as well as his office which leads out
onto the roof of the building where it connects the bridge to Frida’s house.
I actually visited this place twice because the first time I went Frida’s part was closed
because they were getting ready for an exhibition and I was really disappointed.
So I ended up going back because I wanted to see it and also be able to film it to share
it with you guys and I have to say that I was actually disappointed in the way that
they’ve set up Frida’s space.
Diego’s is full of his personal belongings and it really feels like his personal space.
It doesn’t feel that way in Frida’s.
There’s no furnishings.
You can see the kitchen and the bathroom which to me were the most interesting parts but
you don’t have any of her own artwork there and they’ve covered up the windows so that
you can’t really get a sense of the natural light that she would’ve had or her view
while she was working.
So I was disappointed in that but I’m glad that I got to see inside in this end.
Another striking feature of the property that you’ll notice right away is that the fence
is made of really tall individual cacti which are the same as when Frida and Diego and really
makes the property stand out from all the buildings around it.
Located in the neighbourhood of Xochimilco is Museo Dolores Olmedo.
Dolores Olmedo was a long time patron of the arts, especially of Diego Rivera, and she
donated her entire collection after she died to the people of Mexico.
The house where the museum is now housed is a 16th century hacienda which was actually
her private home and it’s well worth seeing in and of itself.
It’s absolutely stunning.
She has a massive collection of art also of Diego Rivera’s but of other artists as well
and Frida Kahlo’s artwork.
However, I was very disappointed when I arrived to find out that all of Frida’s artwork
was on tour abroad at a different exhibition so unfortunately I didn’t get to see any
of Frida’s artwork.
However, it is still well worth going.
I personally found seeing the hacienda itself was very beautiful and my favourite part was
actually seeing the animals on the grounds.
They have peacocks that are roaming around.
It’s insane.
I’ve never seen that many peacocks in one place and there’s also a very unique breed
of hairless dog that is pre-Columbian that Dolores had throughout her life and they still
have a large number of them living on the grounds.
This next museum would not exist without the generosity of Dolores Olmedo and her belief
in Diego Rivera.
It’s the Anahuacalli Museum and Diego Rivera with Frida were very passionate about preserving
the pre-Columbian history of Mexico and the artifacts in one place for future generations
of Mexicans.
So that’s why this place exists.
It looks like a pyramid and it’s built out of volcanic rock.
It was the special passion of Diego Rivera and it was left unfinished at the time of
his death.
And thanks to Dolores Olmedo it’s now finished and in existence today.
You can see over fifty thousand pre-Columbian artifacts that were the special collection
of Diego Rivera.
I remember hearing a quote from Lupé Marin who was his wife before Frida Kahlo.
She used to complain that they’d go to Teotihuacán to the great pyramid structures there and
that he would be super obsessed with looking for artifacts on the ground.
He’d pick it up, put it in his pocket, and bring it home and she was so sick of it.
Well that he must have done A LOT because that is all part of this special collection
that you can see there.
This next place is kind of a bonus because it’s the only one not located in Mexico
City.
It’s actually in Guanajuato, Mexico.
It’s Museo y Casa Diego Rivera.
It’s where he was born and lived the first six years of his life.
If you didn’t know already, Diego was actually a twin but his twin brother died when he was
just two years old.
After six years of living in this house in Guanajuato his family moved to Mexico City
but it’s great place to visit and if you’re interested in Rivera and his developing style
you can see some of his early works.
There’s also a painting of Frida Kahlo and they have rotating exhibitions as well.
If you’d like to learn more about Frida Kahlo I made a video ‘Ten Facts About Frida
Kahlo’ which I will link.
I was also really inspired by her beautiful words to make a video called ‘Frida’s
Words.’
I will link that as well.
I really hope that you enjoyed this video.
Give it a thumbs up if you did and, if you haven’t already, please subscribe to my
channel for more travel videos and I’ll see you in my next one!