The Museo Frida Kahlo “Casa Azul” in Mexico City
The family of legendary Mexican artist Frida Kahlo will open a new museum in Mexico City dedicated to the artist’s early life.
The main museum dedicated to Frida Kahlo in Mexico City is the Casa Azul, or the Blue House. Located in the city’s Coyoacán neighborhood, the Casa Azul had been the artist’s childhood home. It is also the house in which she died in 1954; her family established the Museo Frida Kahlo in 1957. The Casa Azul contains work by Kahlo, her husband Diego Rivera, and various other artists. It also displays the couple’s collection of Mexican folk art, artifacts, and antiquities, and educates the public on the vibrant artistic and intellectual circle of which Kahlo was a significant part. With nearly 300,000 visitors per year, the Casa Azul is one of the most-visited museums in Mexico City. However, while the Casa Azul focuses on Kahlo as a great artist and as a partner to Diego Rivera, the new museum plans to examine Kahlo both as an individual and as a member of a larger creative family.
The new museum will be located in another repurposed private residence called the Casa Roja, or the Red House, located on Aguayo Street, a few blocks away from the Casa Azul. Kahlo’s parents, Guillermo and Matilde, originally purchased the property before passing it on to Frida’s sister, Cristina. The current owner is Mara Romeo Kahlo, the artist’s grand-niece and closest living heir. The Casa Roja museum plans to focus on Frida’s upbringing and her artistic influences, including her father, who worked as an architectural photographer. The Casa Roja, which will be renovated and built out by the New York architectural firm the Rockwell Group, will also dedicate exhibition spaces for showcasing the work of contemporary Latin American and female artists. Mara said that she hopes the new museum will humanize her great-aunt so that the public will come to know “the human being, my aunt.” Her daughter, Frida Hentschel Romeo, stated, “This museum isn’t just about her work – it’s about her world. It’s about how the people closest to her shaped who she became.” The new museum is set to be headed by Adán García Fajardo, who currently serves as director of Mexico City’s Museum of Memory & Tolerance.
The Museo Frida Kahlo plans to expand its activities in several other ways apart from the expansion to the Casa Roja. To oversee the museum, Kahlo’s estate, and new projects, the artist’s family has established the Fundación Kahlo. It also intends to fund the Kahlo Art Prize and a series of grants called Las Ayudas, which will honor contemporary artists who embody Frida Kahlo’s spirit and work.
The Casa Roja space of the Museo Frida Kahlo will open in Mexico City on September 27th.