Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo House Studio Museum

While Frida Kahlo’s Casa Azul in nearby Coyoacan may be the more iconic abode of the Mexican surrealist, she also resided and worked at another Casa Azul, her blue-painted house in the compound she shared with her husband Diego Rivera, in twin houses connected by an elevated bridge.

The twin houses were designed by the famed painter and architect Juan O’Gorman, a friend of Rivera, and constructed in 1932. They combine a bold functionalist style with more traditional Mexican forms and touches, including the colors and rows of cacti (O’Gorman is considered the father of Mexican functionalism).

The left house belonged to Diego. In his studio, it’s possible to see the painter’s “judas” collection, a collection of papier-mâché cartonería figures of humans, skeletons, and animals, all assembled in the studio where he first constructed them. A showcase with small archaeological pieces that he collected, his bedroom and an office.

The right house belonged to Frida. The only thing that retains the original furniture is the bathroom. There the tub that appears in the painting “Lo que el agua me dio/What the water gave me” (1938) remains intact, where Frida painted a portrait of her feet from the bathtub. In this house, Frida painted the best of her work.

The couple inhabited the houses in 1934. When Frida’s father died, she returned to Coyoacán in April 1941 until her death. On the contrary, Rivera lived here until his death in 1957.