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Milo travels · Mexico · POSTCARD 03

Coyoacán: between exile and art

In southern Mexico City, Milo visits two houses that connect the history of communism with exile, artistic creation and everyday life. One preserves Leon Trotsky’s last home; the other, Frida Kahlo’s world.

Photographed in 2023 · 6 postcards

Leon Trotsky’s tomb in the garden of his Coyoacán home.
01Leon Trotsky’s tomb in the garden of his Coyoacán home.

Mexico as a refuge

Trotsky and Natalia Sedova arrived in Mexico in 1937 after years in exile. Lázaro Cárdenas’s government granted them asylum following Diego Rivera’s intervention. Frida Kahlo and Rivera welcomed them into the Casa Azul; in 1939 they moved to the house on Río Churubusco that now houses the Leon Trotsky House Museum.

Source: Museo Casa de León Trotsky · Turismo de Ciudad de México · Cronología de Frida Kahlo · Museo Frida Kahlo

A house where history remains close

The typewriter, books and rooms bring visitors closer to the everyday life of one of the protagonists of the October Revolution. In August 1940, Ramón Mercader attacked him in this house; Trotsky died the following day, 21 August. In the garden, a monument bearing the hammer and sickle holds his ashes and those of Natalia Sedova. Milo pauses here: the place brings together the memory of revolution, its conflicts and exile.

Source: Museo Casa de León Trotsky · Turismo de Ciudad de México · Cronología de Frida Kahlo · Museo Frida Kahlo · Museo Casa de León Trotsky · Secretaría de Cultura

Trotsky’s study, with his typewriter.
02Trotsky’s study, with his typewriter.
The garden and buildings of the house, now a museum.
03The garden and buildings of the house, now a museum.

The blue walls have a political history too

A few streets away stands the Casa Azul. Frida Kahlo grew up, worked and spent much of her life here. Her communist activism and her relationship with Mexico’s popular cultures are part of what this place reveals, alongside her paintings and everyday objects.

The postcard featuring Moses or Solar Nucleus, painted in 1945, opens a window onto that imagination: historical figures, religious symbols and the birth of life coexist in a composition that rewards a closer look. Milo studies the painting before moving on.

Source: Cronología de Frida Kahlo · Museo Frida Kahlo · La Casa Azul · Museo Frida Kahlo

The blue walls of Frida Kahlo’s home in Coyoacán.
04The blue walls of Frida Kahlo’s home in Coyoacán.
An image of Moses or Solar Nucleus (1945), by Frida Kahlo.
05An image of Moses or Solar Nucleus (1945), by Frida Kahlo.

A toast for the final postcard

To round off the visit, a margarita in Mexico City: a salted rim, a slice of lime and a moment at the bar. After the houses, ideas and paintings, Milo also saves a postcard for enjoying the journey.

A margarita to round off the postcards from Mexico City.
06A margarita to round off the postcards from Mexico City.

Original photographs · 2023. Milo is an illustrated addition to the photographs.

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