Diego Rivera Murals

Murals

---

Diego Rivera is considered the father of Mexican mural art as well as modern political art. He reinterpreted Mexican history from a revolutionary and nationalistic point of view. Not only did he express powerful ideas in his murals, but he also applied the tools he learned with modernist techniques. Diego Rivera’s murals express his personal ideals by unifying art with politics.

Diego Rivera’s murals are far too numerous to mention here. However, I have selected three that I consider important works from his fruitful career and that have captured the eye of the people:

1. Labors of the Mexican People

From 1923 to 1928 Rivera painted a series of murals for the Ministry of Education in Mexico. The mural project totaled 117 fresco paintings which took Rivera over four years to finish. Having much more liberty than he had when painting "The Creation", (his first Government commissioned mural), Rivera depicted the social struggles of the urban workers against the upper classes. The labor murals showed the various types and aspects of physical labor in the following areas-- agricultural, industrial, and artisanal. Rivera painted what he felt were accurate portrayals of the social conditions of the Mexican laborer.

2. Mural of the National Palace in Mexico City

This mural was commissioned in 1929 during the presidency of Emilio Gil. It represents the history of Mexico from the fall of Teotihuacan, (900 A.D.) to the beginning of the presidency of Lazaro Cardenas in 1935. The theme symbolizes the indigenous origins and the revolutionary traditions of Mexico. It is divided into three sections: Prehispanic Mexico (depiction of indigenous culture before Spanish arrival), From the Conquest to the Present (depiction of the conquest of 1521), and Mexico of Today and of the Future (depiction of Mexico’s fight for independence in 1810-21).

3. Man at the Crossroads-Rockefeller Center in New York City

In 1933, Rivera was commissioned to paint a mural at the Rockefeller Center in New York City. The mural, titled Man at the Crossroads Looking with Uncertainty but with Hope and High Vision to the Choosing of a Course Leading to a New and Better Future, is divided into two sections: the left section is the elitist society enjoying life to the maximum while drinking, partying and playing cards. Beside them is a group protesting and carrying banners stating "We Want Work, Not Charity" while mounted Diego Rivera Murals