YAŞAR UNIVERSITY

INSTITUTE OF SOCIALS SCIENCES

MASTER PROGRAMME OF ART AND DESIGN

ARDE 524 ART IN THE SOCIETY

FALL 2017

MIDTERM PAPER

TOPIC:
"La Casa Azul" and Frida Kahlo: Impact on the society of Mexico

NAME:
María José Cabezas Correa

STUDENT NUMBER:
16300003002
The definition of museum has evolved over the time along with the development of the
society.

Etymologically, the word comes from the greek museion (musaeum in latin) which means
“house of the muses”; these muses, daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne1, personified the
arts and sciences: Calliope was the muse of epic poetry, Clio was the muse of history,
Erato was the muse of love poetry, Euterpe was the muse of music, Melpomene was
the muse of tragedy, Polyhymnia was the muse of sacred poetry, Terpsichore was the
muse of dance, Thalia was the muse of comedy and Urania was the muse of astronomy2.
Their main reason to be was the protection of the arts aforementioned, and to offer
inspiration to the artists.

One of the first times the term museum was used was in century III A.D., in reference to
the complex palace of Alexandria that counted with several study and research rooms,
geology collections, a botanic garden, and a library, but in fact, it had nothing to do with
the current ones in the matters of free access and collection sample.

During the eighteenth century, a systematic change around the word museum happens;
the etymologic and diffuse refence that comes from the allusion of the palace, is enlarge
looking for the necessity of an architectonical space of public access and non-restricted
only to the aristocratic social class, where will be possible to appreciate a determinate
collection of artwork, but, it won´t be until the nineteenth century when the first
definitions will be develop: in1895 Goode define it as: “the institution for the preservation
of the objects that best explain the nature and the work of men ”. In spite that in that
moment the theorization advances at giant strides, the definition didn´t have any
institutional transcendency.

In 1946 The International Council of Museums (ICOM) is founded, it specifies that a

museum is “a permanent institution which preserves and exhibits collections of objects,
of cultural or scientific character, for study, education and delectation purposes”. Later
the definition is enlarged and the five basic activities that form the reason of being of such
centers are: conservation, exhibition, acquisition, investigation and education

Since the creation of the ICOM the definition has been updated several times in
accordance with the realities of the global museum community; now days, a museum is
“a non-profit, permanent institution in the service of society and its development, open to
the public, which acquires, conserves, researches, communicates and exhibits the tangible
and intangible heritage of humanity and its environment for the purposes of education,
study and enjoyment”3.

There is a wide variety of museums, depending of its nature, they may be classified in
two ways; by character of their contents, and by the purpose for which they are founded.

Under the first category they may be grouped as:

Museum of art, Museum of History, Anthropological museums, Natural history

museums, Technological museums, Commercial Museums

Museum of art, is a depository for the aesthetic products of man´s creative genius, such
as paintings, sculptures, architecture and illustrations of the application of art to
decorative uses.

1
Theoi Project. (n.d.). MNEMOSYNE. Retrieved February 19, 2017 from
http://www.theoi.com/Titan/TitanisMnemosyne.html
Mnemosyne was the Titan goddess of memory and remembrance and the inventress of language and
words.
2 The nine muses. Retreived February 19, 2017 from http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0881991.html
3 Museum definition- ICOM. (n.d.). Retrieved March 10, 2017, from http://icom.museum/the-

vision/museum-definition/
Museum of history, preserves those material objects which are associates with events in
the history of individuals, nations or races, or which illustrated their condition at different
periods in their national life.

Museum of Anthropology, includes such objects as illustrate the natural history of man,
his classification in races and tribes, his geographical distribution, past and present, and
the origin, history and methods of his arts, industries, customs and opinions, particularly
among primitive and semi-civilized peoples.

Museums of anthropology and history meet on common ground in the field of archeology.

Museum of Natural History, is the depository for objects which illustrate the forces and
phenomena of nature in all three kingdoms: animal, vegetable and mineral.

Museums of natural history and anthropology meet on common ground in Man.

Technological museum or industrial museum, is devoted to the industrial arts and

manufactures.

Commercial museum, has to do with salable crude material and manufactured articles;
with markets, means of commercial distribution, prices and the demand and supply of
trade.

Under the second category they may be classed as follow:

National museum, Local, Provincial, or City museums, College and school museums,
Professional or Class museums, Museums or Cabinets for special research owned by
societies or individual4.

In addition of the categories aforementioned there are also museums devoted to certain
artists: single-artist museums, house museums and studio museums. For instance, and to
mention only a few, we can talk about:

Rembrandthuis, the house of Rembrandt van Rijn, in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, was
bought by the City of Amsterdam in 1906, reconstructed, and opened to the public in
19115.

The Gala-Dalí Castle of Púbol, in Gerona, Spain, this castle became Salvador Dalí's last
studio and the mausoleum of his muse, it has been open to the public since 19966.

The Andy Warhol Museum, in Pittsburgh, United States, Warhol’s birthplace, opened its
doors in May 1994 about two and a half years after Warhol's death7.

The Fundació Pilar i Joan Miró, established in 1981 in Barcelona, Spain, after the artist's
death8.

The creation of a house museum, in particular, is due to the donation of the building by
one of the descendants or, more commonly, to its purchase by a public institution to
convert it into a space of exhibition, remembrance and tribute; they are the global keepers
of the artist legacy, allow privileged access to the fascinating environments in which great

4
Goode, G. B. (1896). On the Classification of Museums. Science, 3(57), 154-160
5
Museum Het Rembrandthuis. (n.d.). History – Rembrandthuis. Retrieved March 20, 2017, from
http://www.rembrandthuis.nl/en/rembrandt-2/rembrandts-house/history/
6 Gala - Salvador Dali Foundation. (n.d.). Gala Dalí Castle in Púbol. History. Retrieved March 20,

2017, from https://www.salvador-dali.org/en/museums/gala-dali-castle-in-pubol/historia/

7 The Andy Warhol Museum. (n.d.). About the Museum - The Andy Warhol Museum.

Retrieved March 20, 2017, from http://www.warhol.org/museum/about/

8 Fundació Pilar i Joan Miró. (n.d.). Fundació Pilar i Joan Miró Introduction. Retrieved March 20,

2017, from http://miro.palmademallorca.es/pagina.php?Cod_fam=2

art has been created, each and every one has its own unique story to tell; these places are
filled with the spirit and atmosphere that inspired their former occupants to produce some
of the world's best-loved art.

There are over fifty single artist museums all around the world, but among these, there is
one, located in Mexico, whose artist created and keeps creating tendency in many fields,
and whose house is the epitome of art, liberty, indigenismo, and culture.

Art historian Gannit Ankori described the dwelling as “a prominent manifestation

of mexicanidad.”9

I am talking about the Museum of Frida Kahlo; this typical neo-colonial house that stays
on the corner of London and Allende Streets in a beautiful neighborhood of Mexico City,
the quietly affluent neighborhood of Coayacán, is one of the most representative tourist
and cultural sites in the zone.

Also known as “La casa azul” (The blue house), because of the unending cobalt color of
its outer walls that the artist chose herself because it would drive the evil spirits away, is
the place where she was born, worked and died.

But in order to understand why the museum is so important for the culture, and the society
of Mexico, first is necessary to know Frida.

Magdalena Carmen Frida Kahlo Calderón was born the six of July of 1907 in Mexico
City, in the house that was property of her parents since 1904. Daughter of Wilhem
(Guillermo) Kahlo of German Hungarian ancestry and Matilde Calderón originally from
Oaxaca10, Frida is the third of fourth daughters. At the age of six she suffers of
poliomyelitis, a condition that later will be decisive in the deformation of her matrix and,
finally, in her inability to have children.

At age of eighteen, Frida was involved in a horrific road accident. The bus she is traveling
on is hit by a tram. The consequences are serious, they leave her with a number of life-
threatening injuries: her spine was broken in three parts, also suffering fractures in two
ribs, in the collarbone, and three in the pubic bone. Her right leg fractured in eleven parts,
her right foot was dislocated, her left shoulder disengaged and a handrail pierced her from
the left hip to came out through the vagina. After being hospitalized for three months, she
underwent a series of surgeries. Due to the immobility to which she is subjected during
the extensive amount of time she spent bedridden, Frida would draw and later began to
paint, following the purchase of an easel and paints provided by her parents

At the age of twenty-two she got married with the renowned painter Diego Rivera, this
was the star of fiery and tempestuous relationship, as Diego was often unfaithful. During
the time their marriage lasted, due Diego´s work, the couple had to move to different
cities of Mexico and even abroad, but Frida always came back to her house of Coyoacán.

Frida died in 1954 due pulmonary embolism, four years after her death, the house was
opened as a museum, the 12th of July1958, because both Kahlo and Rivera harbored the
idea of donating their work and goods to the people of Mexico.

Diego asked Carlos Peciller, great poet and museographer, to make the arrangements to
open the house as a museum. Since then, the atmosphere of the place remains as if Frida
still inhabited it.

9
Armstrong, K. (2014, January 21). Three days with Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera in Mexico City.
Retrieved March 20, 2017, from http://www.bbc.com/travel/story/20131230-three-days-with-frida-
kahlo-and-diego-rivera-in-mexico-city
10 Wikipedia. (n.d.). Oaxaca. Retrieved February 23, 2017, from https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oaxaca

The city and municipality of Oaxaca de Juárez, or simply Oaxaca, is the capital and largest city of the
Mexican state of the same name. It is located in the Centro District in the Central Valleys region of
the state
Rivera formed a trusteeship attached to the Bank of Mexico and appointed a technical
committee integrated by relatives and friends to look after the destiny of two museums:
La Casa Azul and Anahuacalli (The museum of Diego Rivera). Diego died three years
after Frida, but before, he named as manager and permanent president of both places to
his sponsor and longtime friend, Dolores Olmedo. Lola looked after keep the museums
open to the public and kept both places running, sometimes with her own resources and
with big effort given that the government did little to help her.

The relation between Frida, her artwork and her house is huge, her life as an artist did not
just create the look of La Casa Azul, but influenced the ways in which the garden was
used. For example, was regularly employed by Kahlo as a teaching aid in the art classes
she gave to her Fridos' students11. She also used the garden as a setting for her own art12.
The central courtyard of the house can well be considered of Kahlo's art; she does not
only paint, draws, write, but she intervenes and transforms everything around her,
including herself.

Everything in La casa Azul says something about the painter, all the objects and folk art
that surrounded her in the house formed part of her life: the crutches, the corsets and the
medicines are testimony of the suffering from the multiple surgeries she endured.

The oblations, toys, jewelry, personal photographs, pre-hispanic art, and her vast library
talked of Frida the collector. Different types of tablecloths and carpets have been
preserved and restored; they form part of a collection sample that display the skills and
good taste of the Mexican seamstresses, there are dinnerware sets from Puebla, Oaxaca,
Michoacán and Mexico City, and Kahlo´s collection of dresses, she liked a lot of the
traditional Mexican dresses, as a matter of fact she built her personality through her outfit.

Diego and Frida´s collection contains numerous samples of glazed clay from Patamban
and Michoacán: plates, cups, pots that shine their famous green color with dark
decorations, an ancient and colorful Vase from Guanajuato13, a large number of models
of crockery from Tzintzuntzan with ornamentations of lacustrine motives such as:
fishermen, fishes and ducks. The artist collected with affection and admiration everything
created by Mexican hands.

Nowadays the house is one of the three most visited museums of Mexico along with the
museum of Anthropology and the museum of Fine Arts; It receives nearly twenty five
thousand visitors each month, of which forty five percent are Foreigner tourists14, who
goes to Mexico only to visit La Casa Azul, and it is irresistible to famous people, from
Madonna to Bono15, everyone make an obligatory stop in the prestigious house of

11
Centro Cultural Los Fridos. (n.d.). Why Los Fridos. Retrieved March 25, 2017, from
https://www.losfridos.org/english/why-los-fridos/
In 1943 Frida Kahlo was named teacher of the School of Painting and Printmaking of the SEP. Soon
after, a group of outstanding students would be formed, called “Los Fridos”. The name was given to
the group by students Fany Ravinovich, Arturo Garcia Bustos, Guillermo Monroy, Tomás Cabrera
and Erasmo Vazquez, along with students Ramón Victoria, Lidia Briones and María de los Ramos
Angeles
12 Glass, D. (2011). Once upon a time in Mexico: Frida Kahlo's garden at La Casa Azul,

Coyoacán. Garden History, 39(2), 245-246.

13Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. (n.d.). Guanajuato City. Retrieved March 15, 2017, from

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guanajuato_City
Guanajuato (Spanish pronunciation: [gwanaˈxwato]) is a city and municipality in central Mexico and
the capital of the state of the same name. It is in a narrow valley, which makes its streets narrow and
winding.
14 Trujillo, H. (2009, June 13). La casa azul: El universo íntimo de Frida Kahlo - La Prensa.

Retrieved February 19, 2017, from http://www.laprensa.com.ni/2009/06/13/suplemento/la-prensa-

literaria/1746888-la-casa-azul-el-universo-intimo-de-frida-kahlo
15 Bio. (n.d.). Bono. Retrieved March 21, 2017, from http://www.biography.com/people/bono-

16257407
Coyoacán; this is a fact that helps to dimension the big popularity of which Frida enjoy
in other countries, and it also means it is need to get there early or expect queues.

The museum has ten exhibition rooms over two floors (five permanent with Frida's work,
and five for the temporal exhibitions). More than sixty Kahlo´s pieces are on display;
some of her most important works: Viva la vida watermelons (1954), Frida and the
cesarean operation (1931), Portrait of my father Wilhem Kahlo (1952), The Two Fridas
(1939), among others.

The collection was greatly expanded after the discovery of a cache of previously unseen
items, thousands of documents, books, photos, and dresses, that had been stashed in the
bathroom of Diego´s bedroom that had remained closed until 2007.

When talking about the museum I have emphasized its history, its origins, and collections,
but should not be forget that it also has a huge potential in the matter of Mexico´s
economic development by generating jobs and is an example for others private
enclosures.

Making a detailed analysis, it can be said that La Casa Azul is a symbol of cultural
identity; it contains a very relevant testimony of pictorial paintings, hence it holds an
important place in Mexican art and culture, also it preserves the integrity of all the objects
as elements of the Mexican patrimony, and in addition contributes to the evolution of this
society presenting its collections in a way that stirs the curiosity of the visitors, their
admiration, their desire of knowledge, and therefore they can recognized themselves in
each corner of the house, because Frida has in her a lot of elements that make different
social groups feel related with: feminists, those who advocate for sexual diversity, the
sick, women…

The house also meets a social and educative mission, work that is done through a
voluntary program of improvement of the environment nonprofit and without political
ends. This project invites the residents of Coyoacán to participate in the restoration of the
architectural, artistic, environmental and historical values of the neighborhood, by
painting the façades with the old lime method.

In this way, the splendour of Coyoacán will be recovered, and it will remain as one of the
most beautiful and most traditional neighborhoods in the city. The museum cooperates
with residents of the area, with volunteer artists and designers to make the improvements.
Nowadays, the district has been named as “Magic Neighborhood” due to its great cultural
and artistic value.

Has been one hundred and ten years since the world saw Frida being born, one of the
most celebrated painters of her and our time, pride of the Mexican culture and an example
to follow for many, thousands of visitors come in search of the woman who is an emblem
of feminism and the legendary figure that she herself helped to create.

“A brave, independent and creative woman; a woman of absolute vanguard, who,

unintentionally, was ahead of her historical period” says Hilda Trujillo, director of the
museum. The house of Frida represents the duality of human nature, it shows how she
was full of contradictions. Kahlo has become a symbol of the modern woman, didn´t
respect the social conventions, and did what she wanted and lived how she wanted.
Represents the values of contemporary women; she is free, independent and did not
subdue to anything

And the “fridomania” does not show signs of slowing down or disappear, the examples
multiply over and over again: the exhibition “From the intimacy of Frida Kahlo”, that
took place in the house of Coyoacán, had almost eighteen thousand visitors; but the
tendency goes beyond Mexico: “Frida Kahlo: art, garden, live, a recreation of the

Bono is the frontman of the Irish rock band U2. He's also known for participating in global charity
efforts.
courtyard of La casa Azul” in the Botanical Garden of New York between May and
November of 2015 received more than five hundred thousand people wiping out the
record of Claude Monet, surpassing the three hundred seventy three visits in the same
place16.

It is undeniable the influence that Frida and her “Casa Azul” has exerted in the world of
art, in the society and culture, both in Mexico and abroad to this day, all you need to see
a five hundred Mexican peso bill in which the face of the painter appears, or the amount
of people who visits her house daily to get to know her better, her art, her life, and by
extension the Mexican culture.

REEFERENCE LIST

16Zacharías, M. P. (2015, November 22). Fridamanía: el nombre propio que logró ir más allá del
mundo del arte. Retrieved March 25, 2015, from http://www.lanacion.com.ar/1847700-fridamania-el-
nombre-propio-que-logro-ir-mas-alla-del-mundo-del-arte
1. Theoi Project. (n.d.). MNEMOSYNE. Retrieved February 19, 2017 from
http://www.theoi.com/Titan/TitanisMnemosyne.html
Mnemosyne was the Titan goddess of memory and remembrance and the inventress of
language and words.

2. The nine muses. Retreived February 19, 2017 from

http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0881991.html

3. Museum definition- ICOM. (n.d.). Retrieved March 10, 2017, from

http://icom.museum/the-vision/museum-definition/

4. Goode, G. B. (1896). On the Classification of Museums. Science, 3(57), 154-160

5. Museum Het Rembrandthuis. (n.d.). History – Rembrandthuis. Retrieved March 20,

2017, from http://www.rembrandthuis.nl/en/rembrandt-2/rembrandts-house/history/

6. Gala - Salvador Dali Foundation. (n.d.). Gala Dalí Castle in Púbol. History.
Retrieved March 20, 2017, from https://www.salvador-dali.org/en/museums/gala-dali-
castle-in-pubol/historia/

7. The Andy Warhol Museum. (n.d.). About the Museum - The Andy Warhol Museum.
Retrieved March 20, 2017, from http://www.warhol.org/museum/about/

8. Fundació Pilar i Joan Miró. (n.d.). Fundació Pilar i Joan Miró Introduction.
Retrieved March 20, 2017, from
http://miro.palmademallorca.es/pagina.php?Cod_fam=2

9. Armstrong, K. (2014, January 21). Three days with Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera in
Mexico City. Retrieved March 20, 2017, from
http://www.bbc.com/travel/story/20131230-three-days-with-frida-kahlo-and-diego-
rivera-in-mexico-city

10. Wikipedia. (n.d.). Oaxaca. Retrieved February 23, 2017, from

https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oaxaca
The city and municipality of Oaxaca de Juárez, or simply Oaxaca, is the capital and
largest city of the Mexican state of the same name. It is located in the Centro District in
the Central Valleys region of the state

1. Centro Cultural Los Fridos. (n.d.). Why Los Fridos. Retrieved March 25, 2017, from
https://www.losfridos.org/english/why-los-fridos/
In 1943 Frida Kahlo was named teacher of the School of Painting and Printmaking of
the SEP. Soon after, a group of outstanding students would be formed, called “Los
Fridos”. The name was given to the group by students Fany Ravinovich, Arturo Garcia
Bustos, Guillermo Monroy, Tomás Cabrera and Erasmo Vazquez, along with students
Ramón Victoria, Lidia Briones and María de los Ramos Angeles

2. Glass, D. (2011). Once upon a time in Mexico: Frida Kahlo's garden at La Casa Azul,
Coyoacán. Garden History, 39(2), 245-246.

3Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. (n.d.). Guanajuato City. Retrieved March 15, 2017, from
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guanajuato_City
Guanajuato (Spanish pronunciation: [gwanaˈxwato]) is a city and municipality in
central Mexico and the capital of the state of the same name. It is in a narrow valley,
which makes its streets narrow and winding.

4. Trujillo, H. (2009, June 13). La casa azul: El universo íntimo de Frida Kahlo - La
Prensa. Retrieved February 19, 2017, from
http://www.laprensa.com.ni/2009/06/13/suplemento/la-prensa-literaria/1746888-la-
casa-azul-el-universo-intimo-de-frida-kahlo

5. Bio. (n.d.). Bono. Retrieved March 21, 2017, from

http://www.biography.com/people/bono-16257407
Bono is the frontman of the Irish rock band U2. He's also known for participating in
global charity efforts.

6. Zacharías, M. P. (2015, November 22). Fridamanía: el nombre propio que logró ir

más allá del mundo del arte. Retrieved March 25, 2015, from
http://www.lanacion.com.ar/1847700-fridamania-el-nombre-propio-que-logro-ir-mas-
alla-del-mundo-del-arte

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