Montezuma's Revenge subsided just long enough to explore a couple of other Mexico City neighborhoods. We took an Uber to see where Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo moved into space custom-designed for them by Juan O'Gorman five years after their 1929 marriage. All three had their own house and studio. Rivera needed the larger place, perhaps because of his work's size.
He slept alone in this tiny bedroom until 1957, the year of his death.
Rivera's death mask doesn't look much like a sculpture of him by Mauro Oittinen .
Papier mache sculptures--known as "cartonería popular"--fill his studio.
I love this painting by O'Gorman, although I didn't quite get its prominent display on an easel in Rivera's studio.
A narrow bridge on the roof patio connects Rivera's place to Kahlo's. How many other marriages would benefit from such an arrangement?
O' Gorman, Mexico's "father of functionalism" integrated landscaping into his architecture. Tall, evenly spaced cacti separate the complex from San Angel, an upscale colonial neighborhood.
Although O'Gorman believed in small living spaces, I'm guessing that the diminutive size of Kahlo's residence and studio had as much to do with her working in Rivera's shadow at the time.
Other than the bathroom fixtures, almost nothing touched by Kahlo remains although she did her best work here. In 1941, after the death of her beloved father, she moved into La Casa Azul where we had a 3 p.m. reservation.
O' Gorman lived next door.
We decided to walk at least part way to our next destination, in Coyoacán, another beautiful neighborhood.
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