Diego Rivera

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Diego Rivera was born on December 8th, 1886 Guanajuato Mexico along with his twin brother, who unfortunately passed away two years later, it was around this time that Rivera’s parents, who encouraged their son’s artistic talents, opted to move their family to Mexico city. At age 12, Rivera’s parents enrolled him in the San Carlos Academy of Fine Arts, there he studied traditional art and sculpture. One of Rivera’s fellow students at this time was a young Gerardo Murillo, a man who would go on to to be instrumental in the 20th century Mexican mural movement of which Rivera took part in. In 1905, the two students joined a group of other young artists in an exhibition organized by the editors of Savia Moderna magazine. Later that year Rivera completed his studies, and the following year he exhibited over two dozen paintings at the annual San Carlos Academy art show. In 1907 Rivera received a government scholarship to study in Europe. The first place Rivera studied was in Madrid, where we studied with Realist painter Eduardo Chicharro Aguera at the San Fernando Royal Academy.  While studying in Madrid, Rivera created artworks like “Night Scene in Avila” a painting combining different aspects of realism and impressionism. While in Madrid, Rivera familzed himself with some of the great classical Spanish Artists such as El Greco and Francisco Goya. Rivera then moved to Paris where he lived on and off with other artists, such as Amedeo Modigliani and his wife. Rivera displayed six of his paintings at the 1910 exhibit sponsored by The Society of Independent Artists in Paris.

After returning to his Mexican home briefly and then coming back to Paris, Rivera’s style underwent a dramatic shift towards cubism, a style which was very popular in Europe at the time. Taking influence from Picasso, Rivera’s paintings become increasingly abstract. The 1912 painting “View of Toledo ” displays an interesting fusion of realist and cubist styles. “Motherhood; Angelina and the Child” is among his last fully cubist works, as the uprisings in Russia and Rivera’s home country of Mexico thrust his far left political views into the spotlight. Rivera’s painting started to depict scenes directly related to his Mexican ancestry and his communist world view . After a trip through Italy, Rivera’s interest in the renaissance had peaked, when he returned to Mexico in 1921, he began painting murals, and participated in a government sponsored mural program. Rivera created a piece of artwork called “Creation” which he painted on a wall in the National Preparatory School auditorium in Mexico City, the mural is heavily religious in it’s themes and overall aesthetic. While in Mexico, Rivera joined the Mexican communist society. Rivera also founded the Revolutionary Union of Technical Workers, Painters and Sculptors. In 1922 Rivera began a series of Frescoes depicting Mexican life as well as Mexico’s revolutionary past which he titled “Ballad of the Proletarian Revolution,” a series of artworks that wouldn’t be fully completed until 1928 and resulted in a final product of 120 Frescoes which are now on display in Mexico City’s Secretariat of Public Education building. 

In 1927 Rivera participated in a delegation to the soviet Union to celebrate the 10 year anniversary of the October revolution. After returning to Mexico Rivera divorced his first wife Lupe Marin and married the now very well known Mexican artist Frida Khalo. Rivera traveled to San Francisco around the same time his work was on display in New York. Between 1930 and 1931 he painted three murals in San Francisco. In 1932, in Detroit Rivera produced a total of 27 panels that constituted a set titled “Detroit Industry Murals.” Rivera was then commissioned to paint a mural at the Rockefeller center in New York, the piece he began was entitled “man at the crossroads” and was extraordinarily detailed, however Rockefeller ordered the painting to be destroyed Rivera refused to remove a depiction of Vladimir Lennon from the mural. In 1940 Rivera returned to San Francisco and painted ten murals for the Golden Gate International Exposition of 1940. Rivera took various commissions in his home country. In 1954, Frida Klalo passed away aand Rivera married his third wife Emma Hurtado. In 1955 the entire nation of Mexico celebrated the artists 70th birthday. Rivera passed away in 1957