Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera

Casa Azul was home to an extended Kahlo-Rivera family.

Even Frida’s sister Cristina was welcomed home after her affair with Diego that had caused the couple such heartache in 1935, that they separated for a year.

Diego’s children from other relationships were also part of the household. Frida’s stepdaughter, Guadalupe Rivera, wrote a book celebrating the recipes that Frida served to this endless stream of family and friends.

Throwing lavish parties, both Rivera and Frida would make a great fuss of their guests.

On the occasion of Trotsky’s birthday in 1937, Diego designed a special table setting which Frida then decorated with an ornate floral arrangement spelling out the words, ‘Long Live Trotsky’.

Frida had begun teaching in 1943 – along with Diego, at the influential ‘La Esmeralda’ School of Fine Arts – but was soon too ill to teach on campus. So, she began to teach from home.

Typically, she turned this into an opportunity, using the house and garden of Casa Azul – with all its plants, art and artefacts – as a resource for the core group of students who came to work with her.

Her little, but devoted, group of students was soon dubbed ‘Los Fridos’. She not only taught them painting, but mentored them – through countless lunches and dinners – in the art of living.

Home, to Frida, also meant bed. Often incapacitated, in her bed Frida painted, entertained and took lovers.

At the time of her final exhibition, Frida was so unwell she was advised not to attend the opening. But, never one to miss a party, she had four friends take her, in her bed, to the gallery, where she then celebrated for the rest of the evening.

Ever the hostess, even on her 47th birthday, just a week before she died, Frida got dressed in full costume, hair and makeup. After entertaining dozens of guests all day downstairs, in the evening when she was taken back upstairs, she continued to hold court all night from her bed.

Frida and Diego made more than a home at Casa Azul. They created a place that not only fed their unique creative identities during their lifetimes, but one that would come to hold a very special place in the hearts of Mexicans even today.

On Frida’s death, Diego gave Casa Azul to the nation. Today it is the Frida Kahlo Museum, one of the most popular sites in Mexico City.

Together, Casa Azul has become a place of pilgrimage, a place to reflect on the extraordinary artistic contributions made by this vital couple.