The queen of pop visited Mexico City in April 2024 and gave five concerts at the Palacio de los Deportes. A month after the recitals she published some photographs on her Instagram account in which she wears a white huipil and a turquoise one, shoes, rings, necklaces, in addition to showing photographs and letters that belonged to Frida Kahlo. The publication reached 7,500 comments in less than 24 hours and the vast majority of people responded with indignation: “What a shame for whoever gave up such a banal favor”, “It’s too bad that you take advantage of Mexican culture!”, “Really? Did they let her wear Frida’s clothes? Isn’t it cultural heritage? Such was the scandal generated that the Blue House, holders of the rights of the Mexican artist, denied what the noise on social networks claimed.
“The collection of Frida’s clothing and jewelry that we safeguard are subject to strict conservation measures and are exhibited in the museum, not being loaned for personal use,” reads one of the paragraphs of the statement. “It is important to clarify that, unlike what was mentioned to the media, Madonna, due to times in her agenda, did not manage to visit the Blue House on her recent visit to Mexico,” they add, highlighting the message in bold, although they assure that her family and members of his team they did.
The message that accompanies the publication of the queen of pop is ambiguous. She says it was a “nice souvenir” to visit the family home of her eternal muse. Also add, that it was magical to wear Kahlo’s clothes and jewelry, read his diaries and letters, and look at photographs he had never seen. The artist was crossing adolescence when the work of the Mexican painter was exhibited in a museum in her native Michigan, and the young Madonna was impacted for life. That she recognizes that the photographs of her “she had never seen” means that, in effect, the queen of pop’s visit was not to the blue house in Coyoacán, but it could have been to another red one with a secret location.
To the south of Mexico City, very close to the Blue House, is the Red House, “the refuge” where Frida Kahlo went when she got angry with Diego Rivera. “She hid here and (her sisters protected her),” said Mara de Anda, the artist’s great-grandniece, for this newspaper, in 2022. “We call it the Red House because it is the heart of the Kahlo family.” The place can be visited virtually, and access to this site is reserved for renowned people, such as Salma Hayek, Katy Perry or Tove Lo.
Frida Kahlo, daughter of the Revolution, feminist symbol, is one of the Mexican artists who have the most weight in the world. It is not an exaggeration to say that Mexico feels excessive pride in her. To mess with her is to mess with 126 million citizens. Madonna, because she is queen, is allowed everything of her and in her desire to show off her excessive fanaticism for Kahlo she broke some dishes that the population was charging the Blue House without a candle at her funeral. .
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