Happy New Year!
It's been months since I've written- far too long. I didn't want to write any new entries until I finished writing about Mexico, so then I didn't post at all. Now it's a new year and a return to my blog is high on my list of resolutions.
One of the highlights of my trip was a day immersed in the lives of Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera. My student and I went to San Angel to see the adjoining studios of the two artists. The buildings are connected by a rooftop walkway. Stairs run along the side of Frida's studio so that Diego could climb through her kitchen window. Given his size, I wonder how often he used those stairs. (Fortunately, there are also front doors!) The story is told that they both worked side by side until one day Frida came home to find Diego making love to her sister. Even though he had a reputation as a "womanizer", this was too much for Frida. She left and never returned.
Instead, she went to La Casa Azul, the "blue house", in Coyoacan. This family residence is now a museum, filled with furniture, artwork and artifacts from Frida's life. Nearby is the Trotsky home, now also a museum. When Leon and Natalia Trotsky first arrived in Mexico, they lived with Frida and Diego. Then, after a "falling out" (i.e. Trotsky's affair with Frida), he and his wife moved to a home a few blocks away. This was the home in which he was brutally attacked with an ice pick by Ramon Mercader on August 20, 1940. Trotsky died the following day.
After visiting La Casa Azul, Jay and I were joined by his wonderful girlfriend who lives nearby. We dodged the rain and ate a late lunch of soup, beer and mezcal. They went on to her house for a visit, and I headed back to the hotel in Mexico City to get ready for my departure to San Miguel de Allende the next day.
NB- The most recent novel by Barbara Kingsolver, The Lacuna, is set in Mexico. It is a mix of history and fiction. The main character is Harrison Shephard, a writer, who spends his youth with Diego, Frida, and Trotsky.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/08/books/review/Schillinger-t.html
"The most important thing about a person is always the thing you don't know." (p. 218)
One of the highlights of my trip was a day immersed in the lives of Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera. My student and I went to San Angel to see the adjoining studios of the two artists. The buildings are connected by a rooftop walkway. Stairs run along the side of Frida's studio so that Diego could climb through her kitchen window. Given his size, I wonder how often he used those stairs. (Fortunately, there are also front doors!) The story is told that they both worked side by side until one day Frida came home to find Diego making love to her sister. Even though he had a reputation as a "womanizer", this was too much for Frida. She left and never returned.
Instead, she went to La Casa Azul, the "blue house", in Coyoacan. This family residence is now a museum, filled with furniture, artwork and artifacts from Frida's life. Nearby is the Trotsky home, now also a museum. When Leon and Natalia Trotsky first arrived in Mexico, they lived with Frida and Diego. Then, after a "falling out" (i.e. Trotsky's affair with Frida), he and his wife moved to a home a few blocks away. This was the home in which he was brutally attacked with an ice pick by Ramon Mercader on August 20, 1940. Trotsky died the following day.
After visiting La Casa Azul, Jay and I were joined by his wonderful girlfriend who lives nearby. We dodged the rain and ate a late lunch of soup, beer and mezcal. They went on to her house for a visit, and I headed back to the hotel in Mexico City to get ready for my departure to San Miguel de Allende the next day.
NB- The most recent novel by Barbara Kingsolver, The Lacuna, is set in Mexico. It is a mix of history and fiction. The main character is Harrison Shephard, a writer, who spends his youth with Diego, Frida, and Trotsky.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/08/books/review/Schillinger-t.html
"The most important thing about a person is always the thing you don't know." (p. 218)
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