The Casa Azul (Blue House) was Frida Kahlo's private universe, according to the Museo Frida Kahlo . She spent most of her life there, first with her family and, years later, at Diego Rivera's side. Since its inauguration in July 1958, the Casa Azul has displayed personal objects and paintings by both artists, folk art, Pre-Columbian sculpture, photographs, documents, books and furnishings. The exhibition "Un lugar lleno de lugares: la Casa Azul", open since 28 July 2023, includes more than 200 works and personal objects of Frida's, exploring the unique meaning the home held in her life and artistic creation.








How did Frida Kahlo’s Mexico City house shape her art


According to the Museo Frida Kahlo, spaces in the house. In the "Artist's Bedroom" stands her four-poster bed, fitted with the mirror her mother had installed after the accident. The museum states that Frida lay immobile there for nine months and began to paint. In the "Studio" is the easel that Nelson Rockefeller gave her.




The museum adds that her crutches, corsets and medicines attest to the surgeries and physical ailments she suffered. Ex-votos, toys, clothing and jewellery speak of Frida as a collector and lover of beauty, while the "Kitchen", typical of traditional Mexican homes, reflects everyday life in the house. With the support of ADABI (Apoyo al Desarrollo de Archivos y Bibliotecas de México), the museum was able to organise, classify and digitise the documents, photographs, magazines, publications, books and drawings found in these spaces.










What does the Casa Azul exhibition reveal about Frida Kahlo’s life




The museum's new exhibition, "Un lugar lleno de lugares: la Casa Azul", explores Frida's artistic and personal legacy in her emblematic home. It has been open since 28 July 2023 and includes more than 200 works and personal objects of Frida's. According to the museum, it unpicks the unique meaning the Casa Azul held in her life and artistic creation, and it celebrates the museum's 65 years.




The permanent Casa Azul exhibition, installed in the late 1960s, preserves the ambience and treasured objects that surrounded Frida and Diego. The museum lists paintings such as Viva la Vida (Long Live Life) and Frida's first self-portrait, along with the collection of ex-votos. It also lists photographs and paintings from the sixteenth to nineteenth centuries that the artists inherited, folk art, toys, personal items, furniture, work tools and attire. It also includes an urn holding the artist's ashes, which rests on a dresser that serves as an altar.








What was discovered inside Frida Kahlo’s Casa Azul in 2004




In 2004, according to the museum, thousands of documents, photographs, magazines and books were discovered in the bathrooms and wardrobes of the Casa Azul. Dozens of paintings, personal objects, garments, corsets, medicine and toys were also found. The museum calls these finds the biggest in its history and says they revealed previously unknown aspects of Frida and Diego. They were shown in the exhibition "Treasures of the Casa Azul" in July 2007. Frida's wardrobe, found in her bathroom in 2004, was the subject of "Appearances Can Be Deceiving: Frida Kahlo's Wardrobe", which the museum describes as the first display of the artist's wardrobe. It features skirts, blouses, rebozos, headgear and shoes. The museum states that through her attire she revisited her family tradition, hid her disability and constructed her iconic image.




Other exhibitions drew on the house's holdings. "Frida Kahlo, Her Photos" (November 2009), curated by Pablo Ortiz Monasterio, highlighted more than 200 of the 6,500 photographs in the Casa Azul archives, grouped into six thematic categories. "With My Heart's Truths" (April 2011), curated by Graciela Romandía de Cantú, showed 138 of the almost 500 ex-votos that Frida and Diego amassed, a collection the museum regards as one of the most comprehensive in Mexico. The bright colours and popular flavour of these works served as models and inspiration for some of Frida's own.