Mexico City, Mexico, 24 August 2016

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Frida Kahlo (self-portrait).

I presume that everyone reading this knows who Frida Kahlo was, but if you don’t or would like more information, have a look at this brief online biography.

These images are from a visit to the house that Frida grew up in, lived in for many years with Diego Rivera and died in.  It is now a museum.

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Puppet theatre near the front door.

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Painting by Diego Rivera.

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Frida Kahlo.

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Bedroom of Leon Trotsky during his exile in Mexico and of Diego Rivera towards the end of his life in the house.

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Dining room.

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Same view, but a wider angle with a fisheye lens.

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Staircase to the upper floor and recess with family portraits.

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Frida’s Studio.

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Frida’s bedroom.

An image I saw showed butterflies on the wall.  Perhaps they were removed because they were not there while she was alive.

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Toys of Frida’s infancy.

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Courtyard garden.

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Extension designed by Diego Rivera.

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Pyramid displaying pre-Hispanic pieces.

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Dresses that she wore.

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Jewellery and clothing items.

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Dresses.

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Undergarments.

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Apparatus to hold her together.  She had polio at 6, suffered lielong severe back injury from a traffic accident when she was 18 and had a leg amputated due to gangrene a year before she died.

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Poem by Patti Smith.  Perhaps difficult for some to read so it goes:

Naguchi’s Butterflies

I can not walk

I can not see

further than what

is in front of me

I lay on my back

yet I do not cry

transported in space

by the butterflies.

 

Above my bed

Another sky

with the wings you sent

Within my sight

all pain dissolves

In another light

Transported thru

Time

by the butterfly

 

This little song came to me

like a little gift as I stood

beside the bed of Frida.

I give it to you

with much love,

Patti Smith

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Meso-American assemblage in the courtyard.

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