In the suburbs of Mexico City, Casa Azul, provides a uniquely personal insight into Frida and Diego, who purchased the house from the Kahlo family. No wonder it is a top attraction for art lovers in Mexico City.
One can visibly see the way Frida dealt with tragic health issues throughout her life. She frequently wore the traditional dress of her mother’s family from Oaxaca. Its distinctive style also hid her body brace due to polio at a young age. In her teens, she was in a bus accident that impaled her. With chronic pain, she said that art saved her and proved her resilience and fight. Toward the end of her life, she painted from her bed with the use of a mirror.
Despite personal challenges, she and Diego, an artistic prodigy, had a steamy relationship of love and affairs during the volatile era of global politics in Mexico City.
Leon Trotsky and his wife moved to Mexico City in exile and resided temporarily with the Rivera's. Leon and Frida became close with shared devotion to Marxism amidst radical politics and passion for revolution. Frida painted "Two Fridas, a double self-portrait 1939, after she found out about Diego's affair with her sister with whom she was close. Leon Trotsky was assassinated by ice axe in his home just blocks from Casa Azul on the orders of Stalin in 1940.
The neighborhood of Coyoacán is charming to walk around. Highly recommend La Casa de los Tacos on the main street in town for its freshly grilled tortillas with shrimp and guacamole.
