A new museum dedicated to Frida Kahlo will open on September 27 in Mexico City’s Coyoacán district. The museum will be called Museo Casa Kahlo and will be located in a building known as Casa Roja. The red-colored house is just a few doors away from the well-known Museo Frida Kahlo, also called Casa Azul.
Casa Azul has been a museum since 1958 and displays artworks and personal objects from Kahlo’s adult life. In contrast, Museo Casa Kahlo will focus on her early years, the people around her, and the environment where she grew up. It will be the first Frida Kahlo museum operated by her family members.
Key Takeaways
- Museo Casa Kahlo, or Casa Roja, will open on September 27 in Coyoacán, Mexico City, just steps from the famous Casa Azul.
- This is the first Frida Kahlo museum operated by her descendants, focusing on her childhood, personal life, and influences.
- Visitors will see intimate items like Frida’s first oil painting, childhood embroidery, private letters, and a rare mural.
The Museum Is Set in Frida’s Family Home
Casa Roja has been in Frida Kahlo’s family for generations. It was originally owned by her parents, and later Frida bought the house from them. She gave it to her sister, Cristina Kahlo, to live with her family. Cristina was the only one of Frida’s siblings to have children. The house stayed in the family and was later home to Mara Romeo Kahlo, Cristina’s granddaughter and Frida’s grand-niece.
Now, the house is being turned into a museum by Frida’s descendants, including Mara Romeo Kahlo, her daughter Mara De Anda Kahlo, and Frida Hentschel Romeo, another of Frida’s great-grand-nieces. Together, they want to share more personal stories about Frida and show how her early life helped shape her as an artist.
Rare Artifacts Will Be on Public Display for the First Time
The museum will feature several items that have never been shown to the public. These include Frida Kahlo’s first oil painting, which she created before deciding to become a professional painter. There will also be a piece of embroidery she made when she was five years old, along with letters, dolls, jewelry, clothing, and childhood photographs.
One of the most unique items that will be on display is a mural that was recently discovered, which is believed to be the only mural Frida Kahlo ever painted. These objects will give visitors a closer look at Frida’s personal life before she became widely known.
Focus on Family and Early Artistic Influence
While Casa Azul focuses on Frida Kahlo’s life with Diego Rivera and her later career, Museo Casa Kahlo will explore how her family shaped her early years. It will show her connection to her sister, Cristina, and the role of her father, Guillermo Kahlo, who was a photographer. Frida learned to develop photos and retouch images while helping him in his studio, which may have influenced her artistic eye.
The museum’s creators want to explain how her home life and relationships influenced her development. They plan to present this through personal items, photos, and the design of the space itself.
Managed by Family and a New Cultural Foundation
Museo Casa Kahlo is being led by the artist’s family and will be managed by Fundación Kahlo, a nonprofit based in New York. The building is being redesigned for public use by the Rockwell Group, an architecture firm also based in New York.
The first director of the museum will be Adán García Fajardo, who is also the academic director at Museo Memoria y Tolerancia in Mexico City. The foundation plans to support Latin American and Indigenous artists through grants and cash awards, although the amounts of these prizes have not been shared.
The museum will also host rotating exhibitions of Mexican, Latin American, and women artists, giving space to new artistic voices while staying connected to Frida Kahlo’s legacy.
Two Museums, Two Sides of Frida’s Life
Casa Roja and Casa Azul will now offer two sides of Frida Kahlo’s life. Casa Azul shows her adult years, her work with Rivera, and the home where she died shortly before her 47th birthday. According to her death certificate, she died of a pulmonary embolism, though some have suggested other possible causes.
Casa Azul displays over 200 personal objects, including furniture, traditional clothing, and a special easel made by her mother that allowed Frida to paint while lying down after her serious bus accident.
Casa Azul is operated by the Fideicomiso de los Museos Diego Rivera y Frida Kahlo, a trust run by Mexico’s central bank. It is not managed by Frida’s descendants. The two museums are separate, and there are no current plans for them to work together, according to a spokesperson for Museo Casa Kahlo.
There have also been reports of missing artworks and diary pages from Casa Azul. These issues have been raised in the press, but Casa Azul has not responded publicly.
A New Space to Share Frida’s Beginnings
Museo Casa Kahlo will give visitors a chance to learn about parts of Frida’s life that have rarely been shared before. It will focus on her early experiences, her family, and the environment that helped her become the artist she later was.
According to the family, this museum has been a long-time dream. They hope it will help people see how Frida’s background influenced her work and give a platform to new artists connected to the same cultural roots.
The museum will open to the public on September 27. It will offer a new and more personal way to understand one of Mexico’s most important artists, right in the neighborhood where she was born and raised.
