Diego and Frida's house

Way back in 1984 when Harry and I first came to Mexico City we took the metro out to Coyacan to see Frida and Diego's house. It was a long trip and when we got there we discovered that the museum was closed that day. (Most museums in Mexico still close on Mondays). At that time not many people had heard of Frida Kahlo but their house looked really interesting. Of course since then Frida has exploded into the public consciousness and seems to be icon of Arty Mexico.

While I enjoyed the movie Frida and love the colours and the Mexican handicrafts I must say I'm somewhat baffled at the adulation given to her work. I find it overly dramatic and self-serving. I know that she was in constant pain and tortured by her relationship and I sympathize. But I don't really see her work as groundbreaking particularly.  Ok, now I'm waiting for some nasty comments.

Still I admire her spirit and the bohemian life she and Diego created. It was a pleasure to finally be able to see the Casa Azul. Behind those blue wall is another world with gorgeous gardens and rooms full of incredible handicrafts and artwork.

This is the colour of the house on the outside--a gorgeous blue that would  look terrible in Victoria but shines here in the bright Mexican sun. Below are a couple shots of the garden, one showing a temple style structure and the other a fountain. the blue wall looks fantastic behind the plants I think.

Inside there are photos and paintings by Frida and images of her and her family. this early drawing (unfinished) caught my eye. You cana see she has talent and is learning about drawing and shading.

I like this photo of Frida. Here she looks confident and a bit sassy. Maybe this was taken before she was so badly injured in the streetcar accident.

Here's the wall of the kitchen where Frida and Diego's names are on each side of the chimney.

And this is their dining room where they entertained the intelligentsia of the day.

Finally a photo of her easel and paints and the wheelchair where she sat.

This is one painting of Frida's that I really like. 

It was nice after all these years to see her house. In the intervening time the museum has become a big deal, with security all over the place and lineups and big prices. While most museums here are between 40 and 75 pesos to enter, this one was 200 plus 30 pesos for a permit to take photographs.
The good thing was that because we're over 65 we got in for only 15 pesos each. I couldn't believe it when she gave me the change.

Our day was stressful as we decided to take the hop-on/hop-off bus to Coyacan--a big mistake. It was a long way and the traffic was horrible. We sat on top in the open air and almost choked to death on the smog. I think that this way of travelling, while worthwhile in many places, doesn't really work for Mexico city. It took us twice as long as it was supposed to to get there.

When we got out of the museum it was thundering and raining buckets so we ended up taking a taxi back to town, using up most of the pesos we'd saved from the museum entry fee. But totally worth it.

I think that the rainy season has begun here in CDMX. Last night it rained and thundered and then again today. One bonus is that it's much cooler. Tonight we'll sleep comfortably even without the fan I think.

Mexican Muralists--especially one

The Mexican muralist movement was at its height in the 1920s after the Mexican Revolution and Mexico City's public buildings are full of dramatic murals by a number of different artists. The big three are Jose Clemente Orozco, David Alfaro Siqueiros, and Diego Rivera. These three men were all socialists and painted huge murals with social and political messages.

We've visited several grand buildings featuring large murals and they really are strongly political and nationalistic. The buildings themselves are gorgeous, being mostly Colonial structures that are now either museums or public buildings. Yesterday we went to the Antiquo Collegio de San Ildefonso, formerly a Jesuit college started in 1588. It closed in the 1970s and opened in 1992 as a museum. It's a beautiful building, as you can see with its central courtyard and cloisters.

But it's the murals that set it apart. It has murals by several artists including Orozco and Rivera plus some others. This one on the stairs is by someone whose name I've forgotten, but I've included it to show you the scale of the art.

Here are a couple more. The artists painted on the walls, in niches, and on the ceilings too. The one on the left is by Orozco.

               

Here's another one. To me they are very heavy and dark with a lot of symbolism that I don't really understand.

I have to say that the murals that entrance me most are those done by Diego Rivera. He is perhaps known best now at Frida Kahlo's husband, but I think he is the much better painter.  Today we went to the Ministry of Education building to see the murals that he painted there in the 1920s.  His work also focuses on the social history of Mexico but with a much more humanistic view.  The entire building was painted with large murals celebrating the workers and the peasants and criticizing the aristocracy and the capitalists.  Take a look at these:

 He celebrates the lives and work of the people all over the country, both men and women.

This one shows workers coming out of a mine shaft and being frisked to make sure no gold was taken.

Others picture contrasts between the rich and the poor.

This one is called "The Death of Capitalism"

Still others commemorate revolutionary victories.

These murals were painted in the 1920s so they've faded quite a bit in the last 90 years. We saw one fellow obviously doing some restoration work, a painstaking business for sure.

I put this photo in so you can see just how large these paintings are. It was hard for me to get good photos because I had to angle the camera up to get the entire scene in.

And this last one I'm including because the bottom part of the painting is based on a pencil drawing that I admired in the show at the Museum of Modern Art. You can see it here if you're interested.

 Not wanting to bore you here, but I'm going to add a few more photos from a huge mural Diego did called "An Afternoon in Alameda Park".  This looks at first glance like a painting of people peacefully strolling in a park but it actually is coded history of Mexico with each figure actually portraying people throughout the country's history. Because I don't know the history that well I can't explain much, but here again are the themes of the powerful and the poor.  

Here's the entire mural and below it some close-ups. Sorry about the picture quality. These were taken with the iPad.

Here we see the contrast between the spoiled rich girl and the Indian child who is afraid of the dog.

And here the policeman is yelling at the child's father while the well-dressed people watch and smirk.

In this one a woman of the streets engages with a stuffy man who is next to a skeleton figure. 

well dressed ladies sneering while a child sells pastries

Here's the skeleton figure again and to the left is Frida Kahlo and in front of her is a young Diego Rivera.

These figures represent historic figures including Cortez and the King and Queen of Spain, plus many others. Note the young boy picking the pocket of one of the gentlemen.

Finally here's a photograph of Diego and Frida taken at their home in Coyacan. 

Tomorrow we plan to take a bus down to Coyacan to see the Frida Kahlo Museum to see where they lived. 

Templo Mayor and the Casa de los Amigos

Just to be clear, the Templo and the Casa are two different things. Yesterday we went down to the Zocalo on the metro to see the amazing excavations of the "major temple" discovered in the centre of the city in 1978. This was the ruin of the Aztec city called Tenochtitlan at the hands of the Spanish. And the beginning of Mexico City and indeed Mexico itself.

The excavations have taken many years but now there's an extensive site that visitors can explore on roped off pathways as well as a stunning museum. Here are a few photos.

This is an extensive site that sits right in the middle of the historic centre of the city. You can see huge carves snakes, stairways, altars, walkways and crypts, many of which contained human skulls and sacrificial knives.

This obsidian knife was used to cut out the hearts and sever the heads of people who were sacrificed to the gods.

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I love the juxtaposition of these two cultures: one the warlike Aztecs whose religion demanded human sacrifice, and the other the conquering Spanish who subjugated the native peoples and used the stones from their destroyed temples as the foundation for their churches. Out of this comes the complex society that we see today as Mexico.

That was yesterday. Today we took the metro down to the Revolution Monument.

Its history is really interesting too. president Porfirio Diaz planned a grand legislative palace and commissioned a French architect to build a neoclassical building starting in 1897. Ten years later it was still being built but the money ran out. Then the Mexican Revolution happened in 1910 and everything changed. For twenty years the iron skeleton remained and then in 1938 it was completed as a monument to the revolution.  Its design is monolithic and feels a bit like a Soviet monument.

We took an elevator to the top to view the city and the massive sculptures at each corner. Then we walked down inside the cement brickwork where we saw the original metal structure. Fascinating.

But the main purpose of today's trip was to visit the Casa de los Amigos, a hostel, educational facility, and refugee centre run by a Quaker group in Mexico City. In January 2016, Harry spent a month here while volunteering to teach Spanish. This building was formerly the studio of famous Mexican muralist Jose Clemente Orozco and was designed by iconic Mexican architect Luis Baragan. we took a look around at this sanctuary and community centre and I was really impressed at the work they are doing.

Here's Harry talking to one or the residents. And here are some views of the building, showing stairways, outdoor courtyards and Harry in a large room, probably formerly the studio, now a Quaker library.