Context Travel
1308489
Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera—two of Mexico’s most important artists—helped to define Mexican modernism while engaged in a tumultuous romance. On this 3-hour Frida Kahlo Tour we’ll join a local artist or art historian to get a glimpse into the life and times of Mexico’s most enthralling and groundbreaking Mexican artists. Our visit will take us to the Frida Kahlo Museum, or Casa Azul, her former abode and where many of her self-portraits were created. We’ll pop to Leon Trotsky’s house, who influenced both Rivera and Kahlo’s life in different ways. We'll jump in a taxi to San Angel, stopping by a nearby Diego mural en route. We will finish up at Casa Estudio Diego Rivera y Frida Kahlo to see where this compelling and colorful couple created some of their most enduring works. Our tour starts at the Frida Kahlo Museum, formerly her home, as we get a sense of how she once lived and worked in this eclectic space. We’ll engage directly with her history as we surround ourselves by her artwork, her clothing, her photos, and even the prosthetics, casts, and corsets she wore as a result of childhood polio and a horrifying train accident in 1925. Our docent will discuss the many facets of her life: her accident, her personality and the great pride she shared with identifying herself as a Mexican woman. As well as sketchbooks, diaries, and costumes, the museum contains an array of charming courtyards, gardens, and fountains which will add to our overall aesthetic experience. We’ll leave the creative sphere of Frida’s house behind as we walk to the house of exiled Marxist and theorist Leon Trotsky. Here, our docent will discuss how during from the 1920-40s the Mexican elite were heavily influenced by communism, and the part Trotsky played in this. Stepping in the former communist abode (which has barely been touched), we will learn more about the unique Trostky lived for his short stay in Mexico. Our docent will describe how he Trotsky lived, loved, and was assassinated within the confines of this historic space, which is inseparable from the story of Frida and Diego. From here, we’ll jump in a taxi to a Diego Rivera mural en route to our final stop: the Museo Estudio Diego Rivera y Frida Kahlo, or the former home and studios of the lovers Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo. After absorbing the powerful story told from the mural on the side of one of the main Mexico City highways, we'll head to Rivera's former studio. Our docent will guide us around the magnificent architectural space and the objects within, including mache sculptures, photographs, and artifacts belonging to the creative duo. We’ll peep into the lives of both artists and discuss their epic love affair, tumultuous marriages (yes, they married twice), and the impact that their unique relationship had on Mexico City and the world. The place holds the presence of both Mexican celebrities and is the perfect locale to conclude our examination of the flamboyant pasts of Rivera and Kahlo. At the end of our 3-hour tour, we will have emerged with a better understanding of the life of these lovers, artists, and activists. We’ll have walked in their footsteps in the neighborhoods of Coyoacan and San Angel, exploring the key sites that paint the colorful picture of these revered characters.
