It is an enchanting home filled with charming folk art, traditional Mexican dresses worn by Frida, letters, a wheelchair at an easel looking toward the garden and so much more.

I was fortunate that as a student at the Ibero-Americana University many years ago, the man I was dating took me to Frida's house. The colors, traditional furniture, little pieces of artesanias all captivated me. She was someone who wasn't afraid to appreciate the indigenous talents of Mexico. Nor was she afraid to be startlingly honest in her work at a time when women were to keep quiet and suffer in silence. She broke the code. She wore what she loved and expressed her deepest pain openly.

Being so fascinated with her led me to the house in San Angel and to a tiny little memoir by Diego Rivera's first wife in Paris, Angeline Beloff. Thirty years ago I began a story about Diego and Frida but wound up writing about the soft, subtle, caring wife Angeline, also a talented artist. She didn't break the code but was equally interesting in her own way. She nurtured him and bridged the time between life in Mexico,self-imposed exile, and his return to Mexico to fulfill his purpose: illustrate the facsinating history of pre-Columbian culture and the subsequent marriage with Spain. That book is called, "House on the Bridge: Ten Turbulent Years with Diego Rivera".

Angeline fell in love with Mexico during the ten years they spent together as he continually referred to it. He left Paris in 1920 promising to send for her but he never did. She eventually went to Mexico though, on her own, and was as enchanted as she imagined she would be.

Mexico is well worth a visit and Frida's home is not to be missed. Don't miss the anthropology museum or Chapultepec Park either.

Written by  Mas Colores.

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