I took a Frida Kahlo-themed tour around Mexico City (original) (raw)
I arrived in Mexico City thinking I was a Frida Kahlo superfan – my main portal was the monobrow, the flower crown and the Tehuana dresses, which have become her trademark. Yet, five days later, following what I loosely christened the “Frida trail” – taking in the places where she lived, worked and is represented posthumously – it became evident that there was so much more to the icon than I had realised.
Beginning at Museo Frida Kahlo in Coyoacan, also known as Casa Azul (blue house), my first impression was of the street sellers briskly trading in flower crowns outside the famous cobalt-coloured walls. I had booked the first entry slot of the day, at 10am (noting that it is closed on Mondays) and was keen to start my pilgrimage at what was both the artist's birthplace and her final residence.
The home was donated posthumously to the nation of Mexico in 1957 by her two-time husband, Diego Rivera, to preserve her legacy following her death in 1954. Today, the estate and gardens, which are located in the city’s Colonia del Carmen area, are open to the public, and they look much as they did when Kahlo was alive – holding both a significant collection of her artwork and a vast array of personal memorabilia.
Casa Azul in Mexico City is dedicated to Frida Kahlo and was her final residence (Mexico City Tourism Board)
Read more: How Mexico City’s humble taco went from market stall to Michelin star
Kahlo suffered a catastrophic accident aged 18 and was bedridden for months – her doctors didn’t think she would survive, so seeing the narrow bed with its mirrored canopy, devised by her mother to keep her occupied, and the oil paints she borrowed from her father that effectively set her on her artistic path, were quite emotional; the bedroom feels so stark and confined and her repeated self-portraits could be seen as less of an artistic choice and more as practical necessity, almost as a way of asserting control over a body that repeatedly failed her.
Elsewhere, there are nods to her tumultuous love affair with Rivera – yellow kitchen tiles spelling out their names; a vast folk art collection that reflects their shared commitment to Mexicanidad, along with personal letters, customised corsets and items of clothing.
Casa Estudio Diego Rivera y Frida Kahlo offers insight into the couple’s volatile dynamic (Sara Darling)
A short walk away, Casa Roja – which opened to the public in late 2025 – offers something altogether more intimate. The second home was purchased by Kahlo’s parents in 1930 and became the household of her sister, Cristina. Where Casa Azul feels like a show pony, Casa Roja feels lived-in, its atmosphere shaped less by mythology, more by memory. Until 2023, Mara Romeo Kahlo, Frida’s grandniece and a prominent heir to the Kahlo family lineage, resided here, and it is the place where Frida Kahlo helped single mothers in her neighbourhood by setting up a weekly food pantry to offer kitchen staples for women in need.
Here you can see Kahlo as a child, through photographs taken by her father Guillermo, as well as her early sketches, letters and personal belongings. This is a homage to Kahlo, rather than her relationship with Rivera, allowing a different version to emerge; one that is not yet fixed into iconography and is, perhaps, the closest my trail comes to revealing her without the weight of her own legend.
Read more: How Mexico City’s foodie scene got a serious upgrade
Leaving Coyoacán for Mexico City’s historic centre offers yet another perspective. At the Museo de Arte Moderno in Chapultepec Park, I came face-to-face with arguably her most recognised work, Las Dos Fridas. Despite being endlessly reproduced, it is larger, sharper and more confrontational than I expected. Painted in 1940 after her divorce from Rivera, it shows two versions of herself, hearts exposed and joined by a single vein. Often interpreted as portraying heartbreak, to me, it reads more as a deliberate act of self-definition – a presentation of multiple identities on Kahlo’s own terms.
Further south in San Angel, the Museo Casa Estudio Diego Rivera y Frida Kahlo offers one of the clearest insights into the couple’s volatile dynamic. Designed in the 1930s by Juan O’Gorman, the complex is made up of two stark, functional houses linked by a narrow bridge. It is architecture as biography: a space built for work over domestic life, and one that holds the fractures of their relationship. It was here that Kahlo discovered Rivera’s affair with her sister Cristina, a betrayal that would echo through her later paintings.
Within this enclave, Kahlo’s vivid blue studio sits alongside Rivera’s deep red counterpart, both enclosed by towering organ pipe cacti. Inside, Rivera’s space remains cluttered and alive with materials – the space is filled with his collection of cartonería (papier-mache dolls known as “Judas”), paintbrushes, palettes and easels. Kahlo’s is stark in contrast as much of her work has been moved to Casa Azul; however, her bathroom, left intact, inspired What the Water Gave Me (1938), a deeply personal reflection on time, memory and the physical toll of her life.
The former 17th-century monastery, San Angel Inn, has long drawn artists, writers and visitors (The Tate)
San Angel itself feels a world away from the intensity of the city centre, with its traditional haciendas, cobbled streets and vibrant Bazar Sabado (Saturday market), held in and around Plaza San Jacinto. Stalls spill across the cobbled square selling handwoven textiles, ceramics, jewellery and folk art.
Also worth a visit is the San Angel Inn. Behind its heavy wooden doors, this former 17th-century monastery has long drawn artists, writers and visitors, and still carries that easy, bohemian atmosphere. Come for a margarita in the courtyard, which will often be accompanied by live music, or settle in for a long lunch.
The penultimate part of my pilgrimage was to Xochimilco and the Museo Dolores Olmedo (which will reopen at the end of May after an extensive renovation), situated in stunning grounds where peacocks roam. This former hacienda houses the largest private collection of works by Kahlo and Rivera.
Olmedo was a friend to Kahlo and a lover to Rivera; the relationship was complex, but she supported them both, nonetheless. Some of the museum’s most important pieces include The Broken Column and Self Portrait with Small Monkey.
From here, it’s a short drive to the Museo Anahuacalli – a volcanic-stone temple that feels as much a manifesto as a museum. Originally, Rivera and Kahlo had planned to build a farm on this site in the 1930s, but Rivera’s vision evolved into something far more ambitious: a monument to Mexican identity, designed to house his vast collection of pre-Columbian artefacts. Opened in 1964, seven years after his death, it stands as a powerful expression of the cultural world that shaped them both.
Mexico City itself is vast, restless and constantly reinventing itself, but Kahlo remains a constant. She appears everywhere – in murals, markets, galleries and even restaurant signs, her image endlessly reinterpreted. She has transcended her surname and become a mononym. Here, though, she feels less like an icon and more like a constant presence, woven into the fabric of the city that made her.
Sara’s tour and flights were provided by Journey Latin America.
Read more: How to spend a day in Condesa, Mexico City’s on-trend neighbourhood
Where to stay
The Mondrian Mexico City is an oasis in the city, with exclusive signature Ara Starck murals in every room. Situated in the Condesa neighbourhood, it is within easy walking distance of award-winning restaurants and leafy parks.
How to do it
British Airways operates a direct flight from London Heathrow to Mexico City once a day in peak season.
Journey Latin America (020 3553 9647) offers a 13-day Mexico itinerary, with five nights in Mexico City, from £4,500 per person. The price includes international flights from London, transfers, hotel stays on a B&B basis and excursions, including visits to Frida Kahlo’s Blue House and Red House, the Floating Gardens of Xochimilco, the Museum of Bella Artes, the Museum of Anthropology, and a walking tour of Zocalo and Coyoacan.
If you can’t make it to Mexico City, the summer exhibition at Tate Modern, “Frida Kahlo: The Making of an Icon” (running from 25 June 2026 to 3 January 2027) offers a comprehensive journey through her short and colourful life.