2016 Mexico City La Danze Macabra Workshop with Michael deMeng: Dia Tres

2016 Mexico City La Danze Macabra Workshop with Michael deMeng

October 21 to November 3, 2016

Sunday, October 23, 2016

Today I was up at 6:30 a.m., breakfasted at the buffet and ready to head out at 9:00 a.m. by van to Coyoacan.  

Our first stop was the amazing Casa Azul of Frida Kahlo. 

Casa de los Azulejos, one of her houses, is now a full fledged museum and it was well attended on this Sunday.  It was really cool to see where she worked on her paintings. 

Her collection of ex-votos.

I have to admit it was slightly off putting to be able to stand next to her death bed and think about what that means. 

Frida's burdens.

Frida's outfits.

Janet and I had some fun.

Next we headed over to the house of Leon Trotsky now known as Museo Case de Leon Trotsky.  Exiled to Mexico for political reasons, Trotsky kept right on working his magic and was befriended by Frida and Diego.  

So if the day was not weird enough standing next to Frida's death bed, now we are allowed to stand next to the desk where Trotsky was ice-picked to death by a Soviet assassin.

With a bit of time to explore, I did a solo walkabout Coyoacan on a Sunday afternoon.

 

We had lunch next to the park in Coyoacan at Los Danzantes.

Phillipe

Michael and me

Our van driver

Driving back into Mexico City proper, we stopped at a stand selling Calaveras.

Then we went to one more major Rivera work:  the stone mural at Insurgentes Theater (Teatro Insurgentes).  

Our last stop was the Museo Nacional de Antropologia.  I did a solo walkabout this place which is huge and has many areas of Mexican history and development to explore.  I did the Maya, Oaxaca and Aztec areas.  Because our workshop focus was masks, I focused on...faces.

After refreshing ourselves at our hotel, we went out to dinner at Azul Historico.  The meal was great and the restaurant is lit with candles hanging from trees.  Gorgeous.