Mexican Muralists | Diego Rivera´s Murals in the National Palace, Part II: Some of Mexico's Original Civilizations

When we recently entered the National Palace to view Diego Rivera's mural of The History of Mexico, we didn't know that we would encounter another whole series of Rivera murals portraying what might be called the pre-history of Mexico, that is, of some of the indigenous civilizations that existed prior to the arrival of the Spanish in 1519.

On the right side of the stairwell housing "The History of Mexico"
is a mural portraying some of the elements of indigenous civilization.

At the top, the Sun god, Tonatiuh, watches everthing.
To the left, a volcano, perhaps Popocatépetl, the Smoking Mountain, erupts.

Floating in the sky to the right is Quetzalcóatl, the Plumed Serpent,
god of knowledge and culture.
Below him, to the right, a corn festival is celebrated.

In the center, wearing a green tocado (headdress) made of quetzal bird feathers,
is the tlatoani (speaker, i.e. chief), surrounded by his council of elders.

Below the council, a group grinds corn on a metate and makes tortillas,
the Mexican staple food for 10,000 years.

To their left, porters or tradesmen (pochtecas) carry large packs.

Lower left, a battle is fought between rival groups.
Those in elaborate costumes are likely Aztecs/Mexicas of Tenochtitlan.

Walking up the staircase below the mural, to the second floor and turning left, we encounter a series of murals portraying various regional civilizations.

Tenochtitlan
City of the Aztec/Mexica

A lord watches, possibly supervising
the tianguis, the open-air market below him where trade flourishes.

Above, men form large rolls of unknown material and purpose.

Behind is the Templo Mayor, the Great Temple
dualy dedicated to Huitzilopochtli, God of War and patron of Tenochtitlan,
and Tlaloc, agricultural god of all waters.

Beyond stretches the city, with its canals and many other temples.
To the right, above, in the far distance, is the Templo Mayor
and the sacred district around it.
The causeway leads to Tlacopan (now Tacuba),
along which Cortés and his men were to flee
on la Noche Triste, the Night of Sorrows.

At the upper right corner, are the snow-covered volcanoes that form Iztaccíhuatl,
the Sleeping Princess.

(The mural actually stretches farther to the left and right, beyond our photo:
the narrow balcony prevented standing far enough away to take in the whole.)

Detail of the tianguis
(left side)

Detail of the tianguis
(middle)

Detail of the tianguis
(right side)
The woman in white, selling calla lillies, is an image much used by Rivera.
However, calla lillies are native to South Africa; hence, their presence is anachronistic.

Zapotecs of  Oaxaca
Portraying various crafts,
including feather art for headdresses
and the refining and working of gold.

Totonaca of El Tajín, Veracruz

Tradesmen (left) arrive from the central highlands, possibly Toltecs from Tula,
which was contemporary with El Tajín (600 to 1200 CE), likely a Totonaca city.
They seek to trade for tropical products such as vanilla and rubber
that grow along what is now the west coast of the Gulf of Mexico.

In the background is the city of El Tajín, with its
Pyramd of the Niches,
voladores, flying dancers in bird costumes, and
ball court (far left; El Tajín has 20 courts, by far the most found
at any Mesoamerican site).

Maíz, corn cultivation,
Chinampas, artificial islands in the lakes,
such as Xochimilco and Chalco,
 of the Valley of Anahuac
(now Valley of Mexico).

Chalchiuhtlicue,
goddess of springs, lakes and rivers,
stands mid-left.

Purépecha culture of Michoacán

Rivera portrays them cultivating cotton (rear left),
and weaving and dying fabrics.
A Purépecha lord oversees.

Lake Pátzcuaro is in the background.

The Purépecha were contemporaneous with the Axteca/Mexica,
but were never conquered by them.

Mexican Muralists | Diego Rivera´s Murals in the National Palace, Part I: "History of Mexico"

Confronting the Daunting National Palace

We admit it. Although we initiated our Ambles around the City in the Zócalo, the huge plaza in Centro Histórico that is the heart of Mexico City, we have stayed away from the National Palace dominating its east side. Similarly, we had stayed away from the Metropolitan Cathedral, on its north side, until we were able to come to terms with, and write about Mexican Baroque architecture, of which the inside of the Cathedral is the quintessential example.

Like the Cathedral, the National Palace is intimidating in its grandeza, grandeur, and off-putting because of its associations with the history of Mexican authoritarian governments. The fact that this symbolic center of Mexican democracy is called a palace is indicative of the paradox of Mexican government: is it, or is it not, a democracy?

The Palace—first of Cortés, then the Spanish Viceroy,
then of the Mexican government—has been
rebuilt and expanded many times over nearly 500 years.
The third story was added in the 1920s, after the Mexican Revolution. 

Nevertheless, as we were recently publishing some posts on Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo borrowed from our spouse, Jane's "Jenny's Journal of Mexican Culture", we decided it was time to cross the threshold into the Palace to see Rivera's mural of the History of Mexico. We had also read that one could see through a window on the floor a part of what was once the private prayer room of Moctezuma the Younger in what had been his "New Houses". After destroying the house of Moctezuma, Cortés built the Palace on that site.

At the Center of Mexico's Heart, Tranquility

Visitors to the Palace enter via a side door on the north side, on Moneda (Coin) Street (the former mint was just behind the Palace). We had often glimpsed the inner courtyard as we passed by on our way to other destinations in East Centro. It looked inviting. When we finally enter, we find a beautifully landscaped, tranquil garden, an oasis in the very center of the City's bullicio, hubbub.

Inner courtyard,
in the rear of the Palace.

Formal, front courtyard,
used for Presidential speeches and other formal events.
Rivera murals are in the stairwell from this courtyard and on the second floor.

Diego Rivera's Vision of Mexico's Complex and Complicated History

The History of Mexico
by Diego Rivera
1929 to 1935

Our initial reaction is one of being visually and mentally overwhelmed.
There are a huge number of figures, all apparently jumbled together,
with no obvious organization.

Then we notice five arches overhead. Looking more closely,
we see that within each are group portraits of various people,
apparently in 19th century dress, recent Mexian history at Rivera´s time.

Below these five groups, across the middle of the mural,
we realize there are a series of scenes of Spanish colonial life.

At the bottom, within a triangle, is a portrayal of the Spanish Conquest.

So, to "read" the mural and grasp Rivera's vision
of Mexico's compleja y complicada, complex and complicated, history,
we must start at the bottom, and move upward. 

Part I: The Violent Spanish Conquest (1519-21)

The Spanish Conquest of the Aztecs/Mexicas

The History begins in the bottom, triangular space.
It portrays the Spanish attacks on indigenous warriors.
This section of the mural also requires visually separating it into parts in order to truly "see" it, i.e., take in and experience it in a comprehensible manner.

Starting from the left, we see Spanish soldiers and some of their indigenous allies
attacking Jaguar Warriors, an elite Aztec/Mexica corps. 

Middle portion of the Conquest section of the mural.

We are viscerally struck by the military and cultural differences
between the Spanish cavalry and indigenous warriors in symbolic garb. 

Right-hand portion of the Conquest section.
Rivera pulls no punches in portraying the violence of the Conquest.

Part II: Life in Spanish Colonial New Spain (1521-1823)

"Reading" from the left, across the middle band
we see portrayals of Colonial Nueva España, New Spain.

At left, an indigenous man is branded as a slave.
At right, the Franciscan Diego de Landa Calderón burns Mayan books in the Yucatán.
Above them, indigenous workers build Nueva España, New Spain, for the Spanish.

Next, under a canopy, the Viceroy and the Archbishop
oversee autos de fe, trials and executions of supposed heretics,
i.e., persons not maintaining the Catholic Faith.

In the fourth scene (we'll return to the third shortly),
Spanish friars carry out the conversion and baptism of the indigenous peoples,
the so-called Spiritual Conquest whose vestiges we have been exploring in many posts
on the Original Indigenous Villages of Mexico City.

In the fifth scene, indigenous men labor as virtual slaves in the mines.
Mexican silver financed the expansion of Spanish power in Europe.

In the third, middle, scene, at the center of the grand mural,
Father Miguel Hidalgo, proclaims the War for Independence from Spain.

Immediately to the left of Hidalgo is Ignacio Allende (in Spanish Army uniform);
to the right is Jose María Morelos, who took leadership of the rebellion
after Hidalgo and Allende were captured and executed.

Far left, with red crown, is Agustín Iturbide,
Spanish Army general who joined the almost elimnated rebels in 1821,
defeated the Spanish, and had himself declared Emperor of Mexico.

To the right of Iturbide is Guadelupe Victoria
 (in red vest, holding the Mexican flag),
a rebel who, after Iturbide was deposed, became the first President of Mexico.

The other figures are other persons who played roles in the War,
but their identification is beyond us.

Part III: Mexico of the 19th and early 20th Centuries

The top row of the mural, under the arches, portrays scenes from 19th and 20th century Mexican history, primarily one of foreign army interventions (the U.S. and France), and civil wars between wealthy conservatives—supporting the privileges and powers of the Army and the Catholic Church—and liberals seeking a democratic, egalitarian government (the mid-19th century War of Reform and the early 20th century Mexican Revolution). For some reason, Rivera did not not present them in chronological order. He placed the Mexican Revolution at the center, above the War for Independence.  We present them in historical order, to make the story more comprehensible to extranjeros, foreigners. 

Defense of Chapultepec Castle
from U.S. forces in 1847
during the War of the U.S. Intervention (aka Mexican-American War in the U.S.).
It is the American eagle arriving, holding arrows in its claws.

The fall of the castle, which served as the military academy,
was the last battle in the U.S. capture of Mexico City.
President James Polk intitiated the war to gain California from Mexico,
which had refused to sell it. 
So, losing the war, Mexico's was forced to surrender half of its territory,
virtually all of the currnent U.S. Southwest and west. 

Benito Juárez and the Laws of Reform

Conservative President Santa Ana, 
a Spanish Army general who had joined Iturbide to win the War of Independence,
but then joined the rebellion to overthrowm him as Emperor,
had been president several times since 1833. 
He had lost Texas in 1836 and the War of the U.S. Intervention in 1847,
and had gone into exile abroad each time.
Nevertheless, he was called back from exile by conservatives 
to be president once again in 1853 to oppose a liberal uprising.

In 1855, liberal forces succeeded in deposing him. 
They established a new government and issued a series of Laws of Reform, 
mostly written by Benito Juárez, a lawyer and President of the Supreme Court
 ( the moreno, dark-skinned Zapotec indigenous man, holding laws in his hand). 
These laws took autonomous power from the Army and property from the Catholic Church.
(Note fat friar, Army general and Bishop, and others with their hands in the kitty.)

In 1857, conservative generals, in turn, overthrew the liberal govenment. 
Upon the surrender of liberal president, Ignacio Comonfort, Juárez became president.
He took the government to various cities in Mexico 
and engaged in the War of Reform (1857-61).
Defeating the conservatives at the end of 1860, Juárez and his government
returned to Mexico City on Jan. 1, 1861.

Figures on each side of Juárez are other persons in the Reform Period (1855-1876).

The French Intervention
1861-1867

In reaction to the liberal victory in the War of Reform, 
conservatives went to Emperor Napoleon III of France 
and asked that he select some European royal to become Emperor of Mexico.
Prince Ferdinand Maximilian Joseph of Austria, younger brother of Emperor Franz Joseph I,
accepted Napoleon's offer and came to Mexico to become Emperor Maximillian I.

The liberals, led by Juárez, waged war against him. 
In 1866, Napoleon, under pressure from the U.S. and others factors in Europe,
 withdrew French troops, leaving Maximillian with only the support of 
conservative Mexican generals and their troops.
The next year, in mid-May 1867, Maximilian
(red-haired, bearded figure, far right) was captured and executed a month later.
.
Mexican conservative Generals Miguel Miramón and Tomás Mejía were executed with him.
The fleeing eagle is evidently that of the Austrian Empire.

Mexican Revolution (1910-1917)

President and dictator Porfirio Díaz (1876-1911), 
(at left, in military uniform, many medals and presidential sash)
was overthrown by forces led by Francisco Madero 
(light-skinned, bearded man, wearing presidential sash, right of center).
Madero was overthrown and assassinated in Feb. 1913, by Victoriano Huerta
(military figure, at right of Díaz, wearing presidential sash).
  
Then, Venustiano Carranza (white-bearded figure, wearing presidential sash, lower right), 
Pancho Villa (dark-skinned figure in sombrero behind Carranza), and
Emiliano Zapata (mustached figure in sombrero, upper right)
waged war to overthrow Huerta in 1914.
Carranza subsequently fought and defeated Villa and Zapata, 
becoming President in 1917, and ending the formal series of wars. 

Mexican Revolution and Beyond

In 1920, Carranza was overthrown and assassinated by his former general, Álvaro Obregón, 
because Carranza overlooked him in choosing a successor.
In 1924, Plutarco Calles (far left figure holding eagle standard) became president. 
After the assassination of Obregón, who had been reelected president in 1928, 
Calles maintained power as "chief boss."
In 1934, Lázaro Cárdenas (at right of Calles, wearing presidential sash) 
became president and sent Calles into exile. 

The mural was finished in 1935, just after Cárdenas took power.
He was seen as a liberal, even socialist, 
who implemented many of the labor and land reforms sought by the Revolution
and written into the new Constitution of 1917, but not carried out.
In back,
Emiliano Zapata (killed by agents of Carranza in 1919) and an
industrial worker in blue overalls, hold the banner "Land and Liberty".

This represents Rivera's hope for a true, communist revolution,
such as he portrayed in his mural, "Ballad of the Revolution"
in the Secretariat of Education.

Rivera's Vision of a True, Marxist-Communist Revolution

The Mexican Revolution was a very ambiguous series of conflicts between los de abajo, those from below (represented by Pancho Villa and Emiliano Zapata) and los de arriba, those from above, represented by Carranza). The outcome was, likewise, ambiguous. Carranza became president, but was forced to accept a Constitution that included a list of "rights", such as to work and an education, sought by the popular forces. Much power, however, was given to the president, such that, despite a Congress and a Supreme Court, he could essentially ignore the liberal articles of the Constitution. 

Like many other Mexican artists and intellectuals, Rivera was a communist and was disappointed by the authoritarian path the post-revolution government was taking. (In 1936, he painted a mural entitled "The Dictator", in which he portrayed Calles as a Fascist; the mural is now in Bellas Artes.) He continued to hope for a real revolution of the agrarian and working class that would overthrow the capitalist powers. As he had done in his "Ballad of the Revolution", here in the National Palace, the very seat of government, in the stairway to the left of The History of Mexico, he also painted a vision of that hope.

A Strike,
like one that actually occurred in the Cananea copper mine,
in the northern state of Sonora, in 1906.
The mine was owned by a U.S. company,
and the strike was suppressed by Mexican soldiers
and volunteer "rangers" from Arizona.
The men who have been hung are labeled
"anarchist" and "communist".

Call for a Communist Revolution of Workers (hammer) and Farmers (sickle),
suppressed by soldiers wearing gas masks (like those used in World War I)

Corrupt, immoral Capitalist Class,
focused entirely on money (scrutinizing stock market ticker tape, upper left).
Note the priest, engaged with a prostitute, at left.

Karl Marx and the Communist Manifesto
(at very top of mural).

"All of the history of human society, up to today,
is a history of the struggle of the classes.
For us, it doesn't have to do precisely
with transforming private property,
but to abolish it.
It doesn't have to do
with blurring the differences between the classes,
but of their destruction.
It doesn't have to do
with reforming the present society,
but of forming a new one."
Karl Marx

Needless to say, Rivera's vision was never realized in Mexico. Led by Calles and then Cárdenas, the Party of the Institutional Revolution (PRI) (an oxymoron of a name) consolidated power into a one-party political system, not unlike what also actually happened in Russia. This system lasted until 2000, when Vicente Fox of the National Action Party won the presidency. However, the PRI returned to power in 2012, led by Enrique Peña Nieto. The mixture of democratic forms with authoritarian ways of operating, which goes all the way back to the beginning of an independent Mexico, is ongoing.

Diego Rivera's and Frida Kahlo's 'Twin Houses' and Studios

Revolutionary Architecture

Nothing Diego Rivera or Frida Kahlo did was remotely conventional. So when Diego set out to build a house to be shared with his wife, Frida, in Colonia San Ángel, it is not surprising that he asked his friend and fellow muralist, the young architect Juan O'Gorman, to design it.

A recent graduate of the National Autonomous University of Mexico, O’Gorman began his architectural career designing spare, rectilinear houses and buildings in the style of the Functionalist architect Le Corbusier. The result: completion in 1932 of the Casas Gemelas, Twin Houses. Diego's is the red and white house; Frida's is the blue. A bridge famously connects the two houses. The building is distinguished for being one of the first constructed in the Functionalist style in Latin America.

'Twin Houses' of Diego Rivera (red and white) and Frida Kahlo (blue) 
famously connected by a  footbridge!
The cactus fence is traditional in Mexican rural pueblos.

Functionalism sought to meet the basic needs of its users, but it was also a movement in rebellion against the excessive ornamentation of the 19th century. During the Porfiriato, the reign of dictator Porfirio Díaz (1876-1911), who was an avid Francophile, the preferred styles in Mexico City were ornate French Second Empire and Beaux Arts. Wealthy Mexicans even continued to build homes in these styles after the Revolution (1910-17) in La Roma and other neighborhoods west of Centro that had been created at the beginning of the 20th century. O'Gorman and other leftist architects sought to break with these traditions and create a post-revolutionary, modern style. 

The embodiment of this radical change in the "Twin Houses" is strikingly evident in their contrast with their neighbors in Colonia of San Ángel, due west of Coyoacán. As in Coyoacán, the dominant architectural style in San Ángel is Spanish Colonial. Remarkably, the houses are not particularly jarring aesthetically vis-a-vis the surrounding ones, perhaps because of the traditional Mexican cactus fence that separates the house and property from the street.

Ornate Spanish Colonial door—
the very ornamentation 
the Functionalists rebelled against.

Historical Context

When the Mexican Revolution (1910-1917) led to the development of a new government during the 1920s, it was time not only to rebuild the country but to generate a new image of unity and change. An earlier post discussed Diego's time in Europe and his return (1921) to Mexico at the request of President Obregón and Secretary of Public Education Vasconcelos in order to develop a public art to foster national identity. Diego threw himself passionately into the work, which resulted in what is recognized today as the Mexican Mural Movement.

It makes sense that all the arts would be called upon to contribute to this national project. As a new architectural concept, Functionalism seemed to serve not only these interests, but the needs of a new generation as well. Not only did the Functionalists seek to use new construction materials (cement, glass and metal), but they tended toward an aesthetic that was industrial and modern—an aesthetic that could open the door to new construction methods and new styles of life for a new age.

Diego Rivera's Studio at Casas Gemelas

One enters the property facing Diego's House. When I saw the ascending spiral, I immediately thought of Frida's severe mobility issues and thought, "Oh, this is great—no stairs!"

Spiral Entryway to Rivera's House-Studio

But I was wrong!

Spiral Staircase.

On both first and second floors, doors open from landings to give entry to the house. All I could think was, "How on earth did Frida Kahlo—with her serious mobility issues—ever manage these stairs?" The short answer is: She didn't—or at least, she didn't for very long. (See: Frida Kahlo House Museum for the full story)

Walking into Diego's studio, I had an unexpected—and very positive—visceral reaction to the space. The studio is two stories tall, and the light is extraordinary. The east wall is glass, but light also enters the room from windows mounted in soffit-like structures next to the roof. The effect is nearly indescribable—diffuse yet remarkably full.

Diego Rivera's Studio
floor to ceiling windows, 
and full of Diego's collected art objects.

The hardwood floors are brilliantly waxed. I had the feeling the artist was expected to return at any moment.

Diego's Studio is upstairs; 
in the window are Judas figures.

Diego had a large collection of papier mache Judas figures (ritually burned the night before Easter Sunday) and calaveras (skeletons).

Judas figure

Calaveras, skeleton figures

Lovers of everything 'Mexican', Diego and Frida collected prehispanic pieces (about 59,000!); folk art from all parts of Mexico; Judas and calaveras figures; and many juguetes (toys, miniatures). 

Many prehispanic pieces are now in the garden of Frida Kahlo's Casa Azul, Blue House, in Coyoacán, but the majority of the pieces are housed in the Diego Rivera Anahuacalli Museum, also in Coyoacán. One exception is this object, below, exhibited in Diego's studio. It must have been in the studio when Rivera was alive because it appears in the painting he made of his own studio (below).

Cha'ac mool (Mayan name)
prehispanic altar for hyman sacrific

Diego's painting of the jumble in his studio, including the cha'ac mool (bottom right), calaveras, Judas figures, and a beautiful, reclining woman—possibly Dolores Olmedo?

Rivera's painting of his studio

Rivera's Painting 

In this studio, Diego Rivera painted over 3,000 portraits and portrayals of everyday Mexican life. Of Rivera's style, it has been said:

Rivera defines his solid, somewhat stylized human figures by precise outlines rather than by internal modeling. The flattened, simplified figures are set in crowded, shallow spaces and are enlivened with bright, bold colours. The Indians, peasants, conquistadores, and factory workers depicted combine monumentality of form with a mood that is lyrical and at times elegiac.

Indigenous Woman
a painting in the studio

Niña, little girl

Diego lived and worked in this house until his death in 1957.

Frida Kahlo at Casas Gemelas

When in 1934 Diego and Friday returned from a three-year stay in the United States, they moved into Diego's houses. Frida lived and painted there for six years. I actually asked a guard how on earth Frida managed all the stairs. The guard smiled as she answered—clearly, it was not the first time she had answered the question! She said that Diego had full-time help whose job it was to make it easier for Frida to move around the house.

Frida Kahlo at Casas Gemelas

But Frida did important work at the Casas Gemelas, including her paintings Lo que el agua me dio (What the water gave me), El ojo avizor (The Lookout), and El difunto Dimas (Dead Dimas). Only one of Frida's paintings remains in her house at Casas Gemelas:

Frida painted this surreal set of images 
while sitting in the bathtub. 
Her feet are reflected in the water. 

The Empire State Building 
rises from an erupting volcano; 
Below, left, is one of her corseted dresses.
She lies nude beside it. 
Her German father and Mexican mother 
are portrayed standing (lower right). 
In front of them is a couch 
where Frida reclines with a woman 
(Frida was bisexual). 

Days after her father's death in 1941, Frida moved back to the Casa Azul in Coyoacán, where she had grown up and where she died in 1954.

Originally published in Jenny'a Journal of Mexican Culture.

Still Curious?

Related Jenny's Journal posts:

• Diego Rivera: European Apprenticeship and Mexican Homecoming; 
• Diego Rivera: Artist for Mexico's People; 
• Frida Kahlo Museum: Behind the Green Door;
• Dolores Olmedo Museum: Olmedo was an enterprising businesswoman who made a fortune in bricks and cement at a time when most Mexican women remained at home; she modeled tens of times for Rivera paintings. Diego directed her acquisition of important prehispanic artifacts now housed, with an important collection of paintings by Rivera and Frida Kahlo, at the museum she established on her Spanish hacienda in Xochimilco.  

Interesting discussion of Diego Rivera's impact on public art in the United States.

The Rivera-Kahlo House Museum
(red/yellow star)
is in Colonia San Ángel Inn,
just east of Colonia San Ángel (red)
in Delegación Álvaro Obregón,
in western Mexico City.

Frida Kahlo House Museum: Behind the Green Door

Like most Mexican houses, the walls of Frida Kahlo's and Diego Rivera's Casa Azul (Blue House) rise straight up along the sidewalk. Reed and I are forever trying to catch a glimpse of what's behind the doors.

Muséo Frida Kahlo, Coyoacán 

But we were not at all prepared for what awaited us when we walked through the green door of Frida Kahlo's Casa Azul.

Secret Garden

The Garden, unexpectedly large,
opens out to the right;
at the left, is Casa Azul.

Several large trees grow
in well-tended plantings.  

Winding paths 
lined with pedregal (volcanic stones) 
beckon visitors to wander. 

Pre-Columbian stone sculptures are set among the plantings; 
stone benches invite quiet reflections.

'Ring' used in Mesoamerican Ball Games

Dramatic piece of pedregal (volcanic stone) 
showing curving flows of lava.

And more than one fountain. 
The staircase is from Frida's day room. 
The studio juts out to the left.

This property first belonged to Frida Kahlo's parents. Frida's father was a well-known portrait-photographer of Jewish-Hungarian descent; her mother's family was Spanish born in Mexico. Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo lived in this house from 1929 to 1954, during which time they imprinted it with their artistic and aesthetic sensibilities.

They also left remnants of their passionate love-hate for each other—captured in this short poem.

"El diablo es rubio

Y en sus azules ojos

Dos estrellitas encendió el amor,

Con su corbata y sus calzones rojos,

El diablo me parece encantador."

Frida Kahlo

"The devil is blonde

And in his blue eyes

Two little stars, inflamed love,

With his red tie and underwear

The devil seems like a charmer."

Frida Kahlo

Frida's Early Life

Born July 7, 1907, Frida died July 13, 1954, at the age of 47. She died where she was born, in the Casa Azul, Coyoacán, Mexico. In 1913, at the age of six, she contracted poliomyelitis, which shriveled her right leg. 

In 1922, Frida was one of the first girls admitted to the National Preparatory (High) School (Escuela Nacional Preparatoria) of Mexico City—the most prestigious educational institution in Mexico. While there, her pranks propelled her to leader of a group of young rebels dedicated to playing pranks on their teachers.

While was attending Prepa (High School), she came into contact for the first time with her future husband, the well-known Mexican muralist Diego Rivera, who had been commissioned to paint a mural in the school's auditorium.

In 1925, she learned engraving techniques from Fernando Fernández Domínguez. However, in the same year, physical disaster struck again—this time it was a trolley car accident. Her spine, numerous ribs, and her neck were broken. Her pelvis was shattered. Her right foot and her shoulder were dislocated. The final insult was a railing that penetrated her abdomen from the left side. 

Frida underwent multiple surgeries, submission to numerous apparatuses designed to stretch her muscles, and wearing special corsets. Over her lifetime, Frida would endure 32 surgeries. Her life was marked by disability, accompanied by chronic physical pain. 

The need to remain supine during her lengthy convalescence brought on profound boredom that Frida relieved by beginning to paint. In 1926, still in her convalescence, she painted a self portrait that turned out to be the first in a long series in which she expressed the events of her life and her emotional reaction to them.

“Pinto auto retratos

porque estoy mucho tiempo sola”.

Frida Kahlo

"I paint self portraits

because I am alone much of the time."

Frida Kahlo

Painting Her Life of Pain

She painted the majority of her paintings stretched out in her bed or in her bathtub.  Her successful recuperation, including the ability to walk again, was made possible only because of  her tremendous energy and indomitable will to live, which might have crippled—if not killed—a lesser spirit.

Following her recuperation, a good friend introduced her to the Mexico City art scene, where Frida came into contact with numerous artists and photographers, including the muralist Diego Rivera.

In 1938, the poet and essayist André Bretón wrote the introduction for a showing of Frida's work at the Julien Levy gallery in New York City. In it, Bretón categorized Kahlo's work as 'surrealist'. In spite of the critical judgment of the famous Frenchman, Kahlo wrote much later, "He believed that my work was 'surrealist', but it wasn't. Never once did I paint my dreams or nightmares. I painted my own reality." ("Creían que yo era surrealista, pero no lo era. Nunca pinté mis sueños ni mis pesadillas. Pinté mi propia realidad.")

Viewing her paintings, who can doubt that reality as she experienced it was, in fact, 'surreal'?

Sin esperanza - Without hope

“El dolor no es parte de la vida, 

se puede convertir en la vida misma.”

Frida Kahlo

"Pain is not part of life,

one can convert it into life itself."

Frida Kahlo

El Árbol de la Esperanza - Tree of Hope

Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera

Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera were married in 1929. Diego was enormous, obese, whereas Frida was small, delicate, which led their friends to comment their marriage was the union of elephant and dove.

Frida and Diego—
The Elephant and the Dove

The relationship of Frida and Diego was a passionate mix of love, liaisons with others (Frida was bi-sexual), creative synergies, and hate, which culminated in divorce in 1939. Divorce, however, did not end their stormy relationship.  On December 8, 1940, they quietly remarried in San Francisco, California.

Before we moved to Mexico, Reed and I visited San Miguel de Allende as a potential home. While there, we went to an exhibit of Frida Kahlo's writings to Diego Rivera. Nothing I am capable of writing could possibly communicate the depth and passion of this complicated, powerful, love-hate relationship.

Of passionate love...

“Te quiero...gracias por que vives, 

porque ayer me dejaste tocar tu luz más íntima 

y porque dijiste con tu voz y tus ojos 

lo que yo esperaba toda mi vida.”

Frida Kahlo

"I love you...thankful for why you live,

because yesterday you carried me to touch your most intimate light

and because you spoke with your voice and your eyes

what I have wanted all my life."

Frida Kahlo

Of equally passionate hate...

Yo sufrí dos accidentes graves en mi vida, 

uno en el que un autobús me tumbó al suelo…

el otro accidente es Diego. 

De los dos, Diego es el peor."

Frida Kahlo

"I suffered two grave accidents in my life,

one was the trolley that slammed me to the ground...

the other accident is Diego.

Of the two, Diego is the worst."

Frida Kahlo

Life at Casa Azul

Personal Rooms

The personal rooms at Casa Azul permit us a glimpse into the personal lives of this larger-than-life couple. A long, gradual stone ramp provided Frida easy access to these rooms, which are one flight above ground level. A series of living rooms now house a representative collection of Frida's work and of Diego's as well.

Visitors enter the personal rooms through the comedor (dining room).

High ceilings, a skylight and generous windows 
create a welcoming, friendly space 
where Diego and Frida entertained such guests as
 the Chilean poet Pablo Neruda and David Rockefeller.

The comedor gives entrance to a stone stairwell which, in turn, leads to the doorway of the colorful kitchen.  Sun shining through generous high windows make this a bright, airy space. I love this kitchen.

Some cooking pots shown here are heirlooms;
they are no longer made.

The stove is traditional, wood-burning. 

Firewood burns in long 'shafts' 
set among the yellow tiles. 
Notice the metates for grinding corn
peeking out from under the cook stove. 

Diego Rivera's bedroom is at one side of the dining room.

Diego's bedroom is small, 
but with high ceilings and a large window

Dresser, 
with Diego's death mask in miniature

Frida's and Diego's Studio

Climbing some stairs leads to Frida's and Diego's sunlit studio.

Paints and brushes on Frida's desk.

Frida's wheelchair 
parked in front of her easel.

In the next room is Frida's bed. There is a mirror straight above the bed. Frida's mother had it installed during Frida's lengthy convalescence following the trolley car accident. Seeing herself reflected in the mirror made it possible for Frida to paint her first self portrait. 

Frida's bed

At the foot of the bed hangs Frida's gallery of heroes: 
Stalin, Unknown, Lenin, Marx, Mao.  
Like many other artists and intellectuals of the time, 
she and Diego were members of the Mexican Communist Party.

Sculpture of nude woman on Frida's dresser. 

Frida Kahlo is widely acknowledged as the first female artist to paint without inhibition about the female experience. We have visited the Frida Kahlo Museum many times. Our visitors always want to see it. Each time we have been struck by the youthfulness of the majority of visitors. Visitors of 'a certain age' make up a distinct minority. 

A Conflicted Life Goes On...

Despite Diego's affairs with other women, including Frida's own sister, the muralist helped Frida in many ways. It was Diego who suggested that she wear traditionally-inspired, colorful Mexican dress and exotic jewelry.

 When Frida wore traditional dress,
it took on added drama.

Combined with her unusual eyebrows, this dress style created Frida's inimitable image—recognized around the world even today.

Frida—elegant in a stylized traditional dress
—showcasing a pre-Columbian sculpture.

Beautiful example of Frida's style,
based on traditonal Oaxacan dress.

...held together always 
by the ever-present corset.

Diego loved Frida's paintings. He was her most devoted fan. For her part, Frida was the primary critic of Diego's work. In response to Diego's growing reputation in the United States, he and Frida lived in the U.S. from 1931 to 1934, principally in New York City and Detroit.

While in New York, Frida spontaneously aborted their child, which devastated her. Owing to her many injuries, Frida was unable to bear a child—a tragic reality that Frida was able to accept only after many years of deep emotional pain. As always, she dealt with the pain by painting it. These paintings are excruciating for their stark, brutal honesty, painful to view.

The political dissident León Trotsky, exiled by Stalin from Russia, was granted asylum in Mexico,  with the support of Rivera. Trotsky and his wife lived with Frida and Diego from 1937 to 1939. Actually, the Kahlo property is large, and the Trotskys lived in a small house at the opposite end of the garden from Frida's and Diego's house.

León Trotsky and his wife were guests in this small house

During this time, Frida had an affair with Trotsky. Subsequently, he moved to a near-by house. One might reasonably speculate that the affair with Trotsky was a contributing factor leading to Diego's and Frida's 1939 divorce.

Trotsky was assassinated in August 1940, by a supposed member of Stalin's secret police. Frida was accused of instigating the attack. Fortunately, at the last moment, the authorities relented, and neither she nor Diego were arrested. (Actually, the artist, David Alfaro Siqueiros, an anti-Trotsky communist, was the first to attempt to assassinate Trotsky, in May 1940. See: David Siqueiros: Twentieth Century Odysseus for the full, dramatic story.)

Frida's Final Years and Death

In the spring of 1953, the Galería de Arte Contemporáneo of Mexico City organized an important exhibit of Kahlo's work. It was the only exhibit mounted in Mexico during Frida's lifetime.

Unfortunately, Frida's health was very bad, and her doctors prohibited her from getting out of bed to attend the exhibit. In typical fashion, Frida devised a unique solution to the challenge. Minutes after guests were admitted to the gallery, sirens were heard in the distance. Arriving at the gallery in an ambulance with a police escort, sirens blaring, Frida was lifted from the stretcher onto a bed brought on a flatbed truck.

Then four strong men carried Frida on her bed into the gallery, where she held forth during the entire afternoon exhibition as the artist-diva she truly was. Her many fans gathered round to greet her. Frida made jokes, sang and drank tequila, just as she had always done. It goes without saying that the exhibit was a resounding success!

Later that year, it became necessary to amputate her right foot below the knee due to gangrene. At first, she showed resilience:

Below her amputated foot, Frida wrote, "Pies, para que los quiero si tengo alas para volar” ("Feet,  what do I want them for, if I have wings to fly"). 
On the right is a hatchling; breaking free of the egg, wings  outstretched, ready to fly.

Similarly, she wrote,

“Intenté ahogar mis dolores, 

pero ellos aprendieron a nadar”.

Frida Kahlo

"I tried to drown my pains, 

but they learned how to swim."
Frida Kahlo

The amputation was the final physical assault. Robbed of all mobility, a major depression descended upon Frida. Unable to do much of anything during this time, she wrote poems in her diary. Most of them dealt with  her pain and regrets. Here's her last entry:

“Espero alegre la salida 

y espero no volver jamás”.

Frida Kahlo

"I cheerfully await the exit

and I hope never to return."

Frida Kahlo 

When asked how she wanted her body buried after her death, she replied emphatically, "Not burial!  I've laid down long enough!" 

Frida Kahlo's Death Mask...resting on her Day Bed.

Upon her death, Frida's body was cremated, and her ashes were placed in a pre-Columbian urn that now rests at the Casa Azul, where she was born.

Still Curious?

Poking around the Internet, I came upon this excellent summary of Frida Kahlo's life.  At the end of the article is a UTube film (3:36 second) with rare live footage of Frida and Diego.

Set to Mexican music, the silent images are arresting.  Frida had a real dramatic flair, which is beautifully captured on the film.  Be patient, scroll down the text until you see the familiar UTube:
http://dejenmevivir.wordpress.com/2011/01/21/frida-kahlo-_-%E2%80%9Cyo-sufri-dos-accidentes-graves-en-mi-vida%E2%80%A6-el-otro-accidente-es-diego%E2%80%9D/

I also found this useful list of 'phrases' written by Frida Kahlo, also in Spanish:  http://listas.20minutos.es/lista/frases-de-frida-kahlo-294455/

For English-speakers, this tribute provides the introduction to a Frida Kahlo web site: http://www.fridakahlo.com/

Originally published in Jenny'a Journal of Mexican Culture.

The Frida Kahlo "Blue House" Museum is in Colonia Del Carmen, Coyoacán.