Diego Rivera

Diego Rivera was born December 8, 1886, Guanajuato, Mexico. He started painting at

the age of three after his twin brother's death. His parents did not punish him, instead they gave

him canvases and painting utensils. At the age of ten he was studying art at San Carlos Academy

of Fine Arts in Mexico City. Rivera was influenced as a kid by Jos Posada who owned a print

shop close to his school.

In 1907 Rivera furthered his artistic skills by going to Europe and as he was there he met

many other artist such as Pablo Picasso. While in Europe Rivera painting influences changed.

Inspired by the Russian Revolution and the Mexican Revolution, his art reflected lives of the

working class and native mexican people. Later on a trip in Italy he gained an interest in making

murals due to the renaissance frescos there.

As his return to Mexico the government funded him to make a series of murals on the

side of public buildings about Mexicos people and history. Rivera finished the first of the murals

in 1922 at Escuela Nacional Preparatoria in Mexico City. Rivera had many associations with

women and then married an artist named Frida Kahlo who shared an interest in radical politics

and Marxism.

In the 1930s and 1940s Rivera painted many murals in the United States. Rivera did a

mural for Rockefeller which created tension and was eventually taken down. Another Mural he

did was for the 1940 Golden Gate International exposition in San Franciso. Then between 1945

to 1951 working on many murals in Mexico city. The series of murals was called From the Pre-

Hispanic Civilization to the Conquest. The last mural Rivera painted was called Popular

History of Mexico.

In 1954 Rivera lost his wife and was slowly losing his due to cancer. Rivera traveled all

over to find a cure for his cancer but eventually died November 24, 1957, in Mexico City,
Mexico. Diego Rivera is known as a significant figure in the 20th century art. His home as a little

boy is now a muesum in Mexico. Movies have been made about Rivera to reflect all that he did

and accomplished in his lifetime.

The mural were created in 1932 and took eight months to complete the entire series. The

mural shows the life and history of Detroit, Michigan. What is reflected upon the murals are

Detroit Ford workers building cars in plants. The colors used are blue, gray, and some green to

imply that the Ford plants were dark. The men in the mural are exhausted from working long

hard hours. This shows how the manufacturing plants in Detroit consisted of hard working

laborers. The symbolism in the murals tell the relationship of men, technology, and nature. This

showed the technology advancement in the days world of how humans and machines work

together to create a better future. The technique that Rivera used was to go to Ford

manufacturing plants and take pictures of the workers, how the machines worked, and of the

facilities. Many people say that this mural was the best that Diego Rivera did in his lifetime.

Work Cited:
http://www.diegorivera.org/

https://kenanmalik.wordpress.com/2015/10/25/detroit-diego-rivera-and-the-worth-of-art/

http://www.biography.com/people/diego-rivera-9459446