Diego Rivera was a Mexican painter who decided in the 1910s to abandon his country’s mural movement and paint socialist propaganda in fresco on public buildings.
When Diego moved to Paris, he decided to do something that no artist had ever done before: he would paint one huge mural, a fresco, on every single wall of a house.
This blog focuses on Rivera and his epic artwork, which captured the spirit of the Mexican Revolution. It also tells you about his relationship with Frida Kahlo.
Diego Rivera was a Mexican artist who painted giant murals on the walls of public buildings. He became famous when he painted a series of frescoes at the Palace of Fine Arts in Mexico City. In one, he depicted industrial workers and peasants. It was called Man, Controller of the Universe.
The people who saw it didn’t much like this image of themselves. They thought the picture made them look poor and weak and not in control of their own destiny. So they tore it down.
Diego Rivera didn’t agree with them, but he wasn’t angry enough to stop painting. His next work showed that he was still committed to showing everyday people in public art—even if they didn’t always appreciate it. It was a mural he painted next door to the newly completed National Palace on which he showed workers and peasants again, except this time they were fighting for their rights. Again, the government ordered it torn down. Rivera had to paint the same mural somewhere else; this time, it ended up at his friend’s house. But that wouldn’t be forever. To make sure no one would tear his new masterpiece down, Rivera built a scaffold around it so that no one could get close enough to attack it.*
Diego Rivera (1886-1957) is a legend in his own right. Diego Rivera was a Mexican artist who painted frescos, murals, and portraits. He is famous for the political and social themes present in much of his work; he was an active member of the Communist party in Mexico. He is also known for his series of murals known as the “Detroit Industry Murals” which are located in the Detroit Institute of Arts.
Diego Rivera, who is considered to be one of Mexico’s most important artists, took on several controversial topics in his work throughout his career. In one notable instance, Diego Rivera took on General Motors as well as Nelson Rockefeller when he painted in Rockefeller’s living room. The mural only remained untouched for two weeks before it was destroyed by an upset Nelson Rockefeller.
Diego Rivera was both a Communist and a muralist who, in the early 20th century, painted giant public art on walls all over the world. His murals of social realism are famous for their size, color, and political message. In fact, his political messages are so strong that he has been blacklisted from some prominent museums.
A few years ago, one of his murals was defaced with paint by an anonymous vandal on the orders of David Rockefeller. The mural’s original title was Man at the Crossroads Looking with Hope and High Vision to the Choosing of a New and Better Future. The vandalism simply read “Diego Rivera was a communist pig.”
The story has it that Diego Rivera was commissioned to create a mural inside the Rockefeller Center in 1933. He completed it in four months and it was unveiled on May 2nd. Before long, however, Rockefeller himself saw the mural and ordered it covered up. The patron of modern art had seen enough of Rivera’s social commentary!
Rivera had created a vivid depiction of Lenin addressing workers and farmers in Red Square. Surrounding Lenin were images of other revolutionary figures such as Marx and Engels as well as Stalin (who would later become much less popular). But even more inflammatory than these political
I personally find the frescos of Diego Rivera to be some of the most interesting and beautiful in modern art. This is partly due to my own personal experience as a Latin American, but mostly it’s because of his art and his life story.
The frescoes that he created during his time in Mexico (some of which are still present on walls of public buildings) are a great example of Mexican culture and identity. They’re also an interesting comment on the growing class struggle in Mexican society.
The tension between Diego Rivera and Rockefeller is emblematic of the clash between the working class (or at least those who threaten it) and the established order in any period where social change is possible. The way these two men dealt with each other says much about their characters, as well as about their era.
One day in 1931, the artist Diego Rivera was sitting in the dining hall of New York’s Ritz-Carlton Hotel, discussing art with a group of wealthy patrons. As their conversation drew to a close, one guest asked Rivera if he also painted on canvas.
“I paint whenever I want to,” he replied. “And I never want to.”
The patron’s face fell. “Oh,” he said sadly. “Then you don’t really paint at all.”
“No,” Rivera said. “You’re right. I am an artist.”
Rivera’s murals are appreciated for their technical virtuosity, their vibrant colors and the sheer size of their images. But when you look at them more closely, you see he was also a master of artistic symbolism.
Tajín is the pre-Hispanic name for a fruit from Veracruz. The Aztec ruler Moctezuma sent this fruit to Hernán Cortés as a token of friendship and respect when the Spaniard arrived in Mexico in 1519. From that moment on, the tajín would be a symbol in Mexican culture of peaceful coexistence between the native and Spanish worlds.
In Rivera’s mural, the tajín never touches the ground — it hovers over it. I think this represents the fact that we have been able to live together peacefully despite our differences.”