La Casa Azul

In 2018, Erin and I had the opportunity to visit the Frida Kahlo Museum in Mexico City: La Casa Azul. This vibrant blue home is where she was born, lived, created and ultimately died. Walking through her sunlit courtyard and rooms, we felt the presence of a woman whose life was defined by color and resilience.

Physical pain shaped Frida’s world. As a young girl, she took on the responsibility of assisting her father during his epileptic seizures. At 18, a bus accident shattered her spine, pelvis and left and thus altered her destiny. She was bound to her bed, encased in rigid corsets. In La Casa Azul, these corsets are decorated and painted and displayed along her medical braces and custom-designed wheelchair. These are reminders of her physical suffering but also speak to her strength and refusal to let pain silence her voice.

The home is filled with Mexican folk art and sculptures and reflects the mosaic of her life, her suffering and beauty, her discipline and brilliance. Visiting in person brought her story out of the art history books.  La Casa Azul is not only a museum, but a testament of a life vividly lived, courageously.