Diego Rivera

Diego Rivera, the Mexican Muralist had star power in the 1920’s and 1930’s.  He was a communist who painted murals for the great capitalist of his day; he expressed the epic view of history and a cosmic vision of the human potential.  Other then being married to his third wife Frida Kahlo, the fresco painter is well know in Mexico and the United States for his works.

Of course Rivera is best know for is Mexican murals that can be seen in the Ministry of Education and

His staircase paintings at, The National Palace

Diego Rivera is considered the greatest Mexican painter of the twentieth century, he has a profound effect on the international art world, and he is credited with the reintroduction of fresco painting into modern art and architecture.  Frescos is a type of mural painting done on plaster on walls or ceilings, the art was popular in the Renaissance that lost popularity but had a somewhat come back in the 20^th century.  He had an Aztec influence with bright bold colors and simplified figures.  Most of his painting were controversial and reflected his beliefs.  Rivera was a rebel and his fresco mainly dealt with Mexican society and depicted the country’s 1910 Revolution.

Diego made several trip to America that would change the course of American painting.  In 1930, he began work on two major American commissions: for the American Stock Exchange Luncheon Club, in New York City, and for theCalifornia School of Fine Arts in San Francisco, both incorporated Rivera’s radical politics.  Later, at the height of the Great Depression in 1932, at the request of Henry Ford, Rivera painted a Fresco at the Detroit Institute of Arts that gave praise to the American worker, it depicted industrial life in the United States, with reference on the car plant workers of Detroit.  With his radical political and independent nature this work began to draw criticism in America, Ford’s son defended it and the work remains Rivera’s most significant painting in America today.

Diego did several other painting in Mexico and America before he died on November 24, 1957.   I solute him on this anniversary of his death, and may his influence in the arts carry on.