MEXICO CITY: A new museum dedicated to Frida Kahlo reveals a warm and loving side of the famous Mexican artist.
The Casa Kahlo museum provides visitors with a look at her private life beyond the pain evident in her well-known works.
Kahlo’s descendants opened the museum in Mexico City just one week ago.
The museum captures the spirit of a family where women set the tone throughout the household.
“She’s aunt Frida, daughter Frida, a Frida situated in the intimacy and security of family,“ said Adan Garcia Fajardo, director of the new museum.
The museum occupies a building that once served as Kahlo’s parents’ home and later became her sister Cristina’s residence.
This house hosted lively gatherings of family and friends and functioned as a studio for young painters studying with Kahlo.
The exhibition features nine original artworks and countless personal items belonging to the artist.
Photographs taken by Kahlo’s father Guillermo also form part of the display.
“Visiting this museum, you learn more about Frida not as an artist, but as a woman,“ 19-year-old student Aranza Vazquez said after her visit.
“I feel like it was a place that belonged to her, where she could be herself,“ she added.
Kahlo’s close relationship with her sister Cristina represents a major theme throughout the museum.
Kahlo called Cristina “the other half of my life” in recognition of their deep bond.
The house served as a refuge for the painter who suffered from poor health and chronic pain.
Here, “Frida felt safe...she came to rest from the world, to distance herself, to listen to music, to create, to write, to draw,“ Garcia Fajardo explained.
Unlike Casa Azul, which showcases the home Kahlo shared with her husband Diego Rivera, Casa Kahlo aims to present a different perspective.
The new museum seeks to “dismantle the monopoly” of her history that has traditionally come from a male viewpoint. – AFP
