Diego Rivera
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Diego María de la Concepción Juan Nepomuceno Estanislao de la Rivera y Barrientos Acosta y Rodríguez, known as Diego Rivera (; December 8, 1886 – November 24, 1957), was a prominent Mexican painter. His large
fresco Fresco (plural ''frescos'' or ''frescoes'') is a technique of mural painting executed upon freshly laid ("wet") lime plaster. Water is used as the vehicle for the dry-powder pigment to merge with the plaster, and with the setting of the plast ...
es helped establish the mural movement in Mexican and international art. Between 1922 and 1953, Rivera painted
mural A mural is any piece of graphic artwork that is painted or applied directly to a wall, ceiling or other permanent substrate. Mural techniques include fresco, mosaic, graffiti and marouflage. Word mural in art The word ''mural'' is a Spanis ...
s in, among other places,
Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...
,
Chapingo Chapingo is a small town located on the outskirts of the city of Texcoco, State of Mexico in central Mexico. It is located at , about east-northeast of Mexico City International Airport. Chapingo is most notable as the location of Chapingo Aut ...
, and Cuernavaca, Mexico; and
San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17t ...
,
Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at t ...
, and
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, United States. In 1931, a retrospective exhibition of his works was held at the
Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of t ...
in New York; this was before he completed his 27-mural series known as '' Detroit Industry Murals''. Rivera had four wives and numerous children, including at least one natural daughter. His first child and only son died at the age of two. His third wife was fellow Mexican artist
Frida Kahlo Magdalena Carmen Frida Kahlo y Calderón (; 6 July 1907 – 13 July 1954) was a Mexican painter known for her many portraits, self-portraits, and works inspired by the nature and artifacts of Mexico. Inspired by the country's popular culture, ...
, with whom he had a volatile relationship that continued until her death. His fourth and final wife was his agent. Due to his importance in the country's art history, the government of Mexico declared Rivera's works as '' monumentos historicos''. As of 2018, Rivera holds the record for highest price at auction for a work by a Latin American artist. The 1931 painting ''The Rivals'', part of the record-setting Collection of Peggy Rockefeller and David Rockefeller, sold for US$9.76 million.


Personal life

Rivera was born on December 8, 1886, as one of twin boys in
Guanajuato Guanajuato (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Guanajuato ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Guanajuato), is one of the 32 states that make up the Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 46 municipalities and its capital city i ...
,
Mexico Mexico (Spanish language, Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a List of sovereign states, country in the southern portion of North America. It is borders of Mexico, bordered to the north by the United States; to the so ...
, to María del Pilar Barrientos and Diego Rivera Acosta, a well-to-do couple. His twin brother Carlos died two years after they were born. His mother María del Pilar Barrientos was said to have ''
converso A ''converso'' (; ; feminine form ''conversa''), "convert", () was a Jew who converted to Catholicism in Spain or Portugal, particularly during the 14th and 15th centuries, or one of his or her descendants. To safeguard the Old Christian p ...
'' ancestry ( Spanish ancestors who were forced to convert from
Judaism Judaism ( he, ''Yahăḏūṯ'') is an Abrahamic, monotheistic, and ethnic religion comprising the collective religious, cultural, and legal tradition and civilization of the Jewish people. It has its roots as an organized religion in th ...
to
Catholicism The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
in the 15th and 16th centuries). Rivera wrote in 1935: "My Jewishness is the dominant element in my life", despite never being raised practicing any Jewish faith, Rivera felt his Jewish ancestry informed his art and gave him "sympathy with the downtrodden masses". Diego was of Spanish, Amerindian, African, Italian, Jewish, Russian, and Portuguese descent. Rivera began drawing at the age of three, a year after his twin brother died. When he was caught drawing on the walls of the house, his parents installed chalkboards and canvas on the walls to encourage him.


Marriages and families

After moving to Paris, Rivera met
Angelina Beloff Angelina Beloff (born Angelina Petrovna Belova; russian: Ангелина Петровна Белова; June 23, 1879 – December 30, 1969) was a Russian-born artist who did most of her work in Mexico. However, she is better known as Diego Rive ...
, an artist from the pre-Revolutionary Russian Empire. They married in 1911, and had a son, Diego (1916–1918), who died young. During this time, Rivera also had a relationship with painter Maria Vorobieff-Stebelska, who gave birth to a daughter named Marika Rivera in 1918 or 1919. Rivera divorced Beloff and married Guadalupe Marín as his second wife in June 1922, after having returned to Mexico. They had two daughters together: Ruth and Guadalupe. He was still married when he met art student
Frida Kahlo Magdalena Carmen Frida Kahlo y Calderón (; 6 July 1907 – 13 July 1954) was a Mexican painter known for her many portraits, self-portraits, and works inspired by the nature and artifacts of Mexico. Inspired by the country's popular culture, ...
in Mexico. They began a passionate affair and, after he divorced Marin, Rivera married Kahlo on August 21, 1929. He was 42 and she was 22. Their mutual infidelities and his violent temper resulted in divorce in 1939, but they remarried December 8, 1940, in
San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17t ...
, California. A year after Kahlo's death, on July 29, 1955, Rivera married Emma Hurtado, his agent since 1946. In his later years Rivera lived in the United States and Mexico. Rivera died on November 24, 1957 at the age of nearly 71. He was buried at the Panteón de Dolores in Mexico.


Personal beliefs

Rivera was an
atheist Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no ...
. His mural ''Dreams of a Sunday in the Alameda'' depicted Ignacio Ramírez holding a sign that read, "God does not exist". This work caused a furor, but Rivera refused to remove the inscription. The painting was not shown for nine years – until Rivera agreed to remove the inscription. He stated: "To affirm 'God does not exist', I do not have to hide behind Don Ignacio Ramírez; I am an atheist and I consider religions to be a form of collective neurosis."


Art education and circle

From the age of ten, Rivera studied art at the
Academy of San Carlos The Academy of San Carlos ( es, Academia de San Carlos) is located at 22 Academia Street in just northeast of the main plaza of Mexico City. It was the first major art academy and the first art museum in the Americas. It was founded in 1781 as th ...
in
Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...
. He was sponsored to continue study in Europe by Teodoro A. Dehesa Méndez, the governor of the State of
Veracruz Veracruz (), formally Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave), is one of the 31 states which, along with Me ...
. After arriving in Europe in 1907, Rivera first went to Madrid, Spain to study with Eduardo Chicharro. From there he went to
Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...
, France, a destination for young European and American artists and writers, who settled in inexpensive flats in Montparnasse. His circle frequented La Ruche, where his Italian friend
Amedeo Modigliani Amedeo Clemente Modigliani (, ; 12 July 1884 – 24 January 1920) was an Italian painter and sculptor who worked mainly in France. He is known for portraits and nudes in a modern style characterized by a surreal elongation of faces, necks, and ...
painted his portrait in 1914. His circle of close friends included
Ilya Ehrenburg Ilya Grigoryevich Ehrenburg (russian: link=no, Илья́ Григо́рьевич Эренбу́рг, ; – August 31, 1967) was a Soviet writer, revolutionary, journalist and historian. Ehrenburg was among the most prolific and notable autho ...
,
Chaïm Soutine Chaïm Soutine (13 January 1893 – 9 August 1943) was a Belarusian painter who made a major contribution to the expressionist movement while living and working in Paris. Inspired by classic painting in the European tradition, exemplified by the ...
, Modigliani and his wife Jeanne Hébuterne, Max Jacob, gallery owner Léopold Zborowski, and
Moise Kisling Moise is a given name and surname, with differing spellings in its French and Romanian origins, both of which originate from the name Moses: Moïse is the French spelling of Moses, while Moise is the Romanian spelling. As a surname, Moisè and Mo ...
. Rivera's former lover Marie Vorobieff-Stebelska (Marevna) honored the circle in her painting ''Homage to Friends from Montparnasse'' (1962). In those years, some prominent young painters were experimenting with an art form that would later be known as
Cubism Cubism is an early-20th-century avant-garde art movement that revolutionized European painting and sculpture, and inspired related movements in music, literature and architecture. In Cubist artwork, objects are analyzed, broken up and reassemble ...
, a movement led by
Pablo Picasso Pablo Ruiz Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist and Scenic design, theatre designer who spent most of his adult life in France. One of the most influential artists of the 20th ce ...
and Georges Braque. From 1913 to 1917, Rivera enthusiastically embraced this new style. Around 1917, inspired by
Paul Cézanne Paul Cézanne ( , , ; ; 19 January 1839 – 22 October 1906) was a French artist and Post-Impressionist painter whose work laid the foundations of the transition from the 19th-century conception of artistic endeavour to a new and radically d ...
's paintings, Rivera shifted toward
Post-Impressionism Post-Impressionism (also spelled Postimpressionism) was a predominantly French art movement that developed roughly between 1886 and 1905, from the last Impressionist exhibition to the birth of Fauvism. Post-Impressionism emerged as a reaction ...
, using simple forms and large patches of vivid colors. His paintings began to attract attention, and he was able to display them at several exhibitions. Rivera claimed in his autobiography that, while in Mexico in 1904, he engaged in cannibalism, pooling his money with others to "purchase cadavers from the city morgue" and particularly "relish ngwomen's brains in vinaigrette". This claim has been considered factually suspect or an elaborate lie. He wrote in his autobiography: "I believe that when man evolves a civilization higher than the mechanized but still primitive one he has now, the eating of human flesh will be sanctioned. For then man will have thrown off all of his superstitions and irrational taboos."


Career in Mexico

In 1920, urged by Alberto J. Pani, the Mexican ambassador to France, Rivera left France and traveled through Italy studying its art, including
Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ide ...
fresco Fresco (plural ''frescos'' or ''frescoes'') is a technique of mural painting executed upon freshly laid ("wet") lime plaster. Water is used as the vehicle for the dry-powder pigment to merge with the plaster, and with the setting of the plast ...
es. After José Vasconcelos became Minister of Education, Rivera returned to Mexico in 1921 to become involved in the government sponsored Mexican
mural A mural is any piece of graphic artwork that is painted or applied directly to a wall, ceiling or other permanent substrate. Mural techniques include fresco, mosaic, graffiti and marouflage. Word mural in art The word ''mural'' is a Spanis ...
program planned by Vasconcelos. The program included such Mexican artists as
José Clemente Orozco José Clemente Orozco (November 23, 1883 – September 7, 1949) was a Mexican caricaturist and painter, who specialized in political murals that established the Mexican Mural Renaissance together with murals by Diego Rivera, David Alfaro Si ...
,
David Alfaro Siqueiros David Alfaro Siqueiros (born José de Jesús Alfaro Siqueiros; December 29, 1896 – January 6, 1974) was a Mexican social realist painter, best known for his large public murals using the latest in equipment, materials and technique. Along with ...
, and Rufino Tamayo, and the French artist Jean Charlot. In January 1922, he painted – experimentally in encaustic – his first significant mural ''Creation'' in the Bolívar Auditorium of the
National Preparatory School The Escuela Nacional Preparatoria ( en, National Preparatory High School) (ENP), the oldest senior High School system in Mexico, belonging to the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), opened its doors on February 1, 1868. It was founded ...
in Mexico City while guarding himself with a pistol against right-wing students. In the autumn of 1922, Rivera participated in the founding of the Revolutionary Union of Technical Workers, Painters and Sculptors, and later that year he joined the Mexican Communist Party (including its Central Committee). His murals, subsequently painted in
fresco Fresco (plural ''frescos'' or ''frescoes'') is a technique of mural painting executed upon freshly laid ("wet") lime plaster. Water is used as the vehicle for the dry-powder pigment to merge with the plaster, and with the setting of the plast ...
only, dealt with Mexican society and reflected the country's 1910 Revolution. Rivera developed his own native style based on large, simplified figures and bold colors with an
Aztec The Aztecs () were a Mesoamerican culture that flourished in central Mexico in the post-classic period from 1300 to 1521. The Aztec people included different ethnic groups of central Mexico, particularly those groups who spoke the Nahuatl ...
influence clearly present in murals at the Secretariat of Public Education in
Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...
begun in September 1922, intended to consist of one hundred and twenty-four frescoes, and finished in 1928. Rivera's art work, in a fashion similar to the steles of the Maya, tells stories. The mural (''In the Arsenal'') shows on the right-hand side Tina Modotti holding an ammunition belt and facing
Julio Antonio Mella Julio Antonio Mella McPartland (25 March 1903 – 10 January 1929) was a Cuban political activist and one of the founders of the original Communist Party of Cuba. Mella studied law at the University of Havana but was expelled in 1925. He was wor ...
, in a light hat, and
Vittorio Vidali Vittorio Vidali (27 September 1900 – 9 November 1983), also known as Vittorio Vidale, Enea Sormenti, Jacobo Hurwitz Zender, Carlos Contreras, and "Comandante Carlos", was an Italian communist. After being expelled from Italy with the ris ...
behind in a black hat. However, the detail shown does not include the right-hand side described nor any of the three individuals mentioned; instead it shows the left-hand side with Frida Kahlo handing out munitions.
Leon Trotsky Lev Davidovich Bronstein. ( – 21 August 1940), better known as Leon Trotsky; uk, link= no, Лев Давидович Троцький; also transliterated ''Lyev'', ''Trotski'', ''Trotskij'', ''Trockij'' and ''Trotzky''. (), was a Russian ...
lived with Rivera and Kahlo for several months while exiled in Mexico. Some of Rivera's most famous murals are featured at the National School of Agriculture (
Chapingo Autonomous University , mottoeng = To teach the exploitation of the land, not the exploitation of the men. , established = 22 February 1854 , type = Public university , rector = , director = , faculty = 1,254 (2017) , staff ...
of Agriculture) at
Chapingo Chapingo is a small town located on the outskirts of the city of Texcoco, State of Mexico in central Mexico. It is located at , about east-northeast of Mexico City International Airport. Chapingo is most notable as the location of Chapingo Aut ...
near Texcoco (1925–1927), in the Cortés Palace in Cuernavaca (1929–30), and the
National Palace Buildings called National Palace include: * National Palace (Dominican Republic), in Santo Domingo *National Palace (El Salvador), in San Salvador *National Palace (Ethiopia), in Addis Ababa; also known as the Jubilee Palace *National Palace (Guatem ...
in Mexico City (1929–30, 1935). Rivera painted murals in the main hall and corridor at the
Chapingo Autonomous University , mottoeng = To teach the exploitation of the land, not the exploitation of the men. , established = 22 February 1854 , type = Public university , rector = , director = , faculty = 1,254 (2017) , staff ...
of Agriculture (UACh). He also painted a fresco mural titled ('' Fertile Land'' in English) in the university's chapel between 1923 and 1927. ''Fertile Land'' depicts the revolutionary struggles of Mexico's peasant (farmers) and working classes (industry) in part through the depiction of
hammer and sickle The hammer and sickle (Unicode: "☭") zh, s=锤子和镰刀, p=Chuízi hé liándāo or zh, s=镰刀锤子, p=Liándāo chuízi, labels=no is a symbol meant to represent proletarian solidarity, a union between agricultural and industr ...
joined by a star in the soffit of the chapel. In the mural, a "propagandist" points to another hammer and sickle. The mural features a woman with an ear of
corn Maize ( ; ''Zea mays'' subsp. ''mays'', from es, maíz after tnq, mahiz), also known as corn (North American and Australian English), is a cereal grain first domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 10,000 years ago. The ...
in each hand, which art critic Antonio Rodriguez describes as evocative of the Aztec goddess of
maize Maize ( ; ''Zea mays'' subsp. ''mays'', from es, maíz after tnq, mahiz), also known as corn (North American English, North American and Australian English), is a cereal grain first domesticated by indigenous peoples of Mexico, indigenous ...
in his book . The corpses of revolutionary heroes Emiliano Zapata and Otilio Montano are shown in graves, their bodies fertilizing the maize field above. A sunflower in the center of the scene "glorifies those who died for an ideal and are reborn, transfigured, into the fertile cornfield of the nation", writes Rodrigues. The mural also depicts Rivera's wife Guadalupe Marin as a fertile nude goddess and their daughter Guadalupe Rivera y Marin as a cherub. The mural was slightly damaged in an earthquake, but has since been repaired and touched up, remaining in pristine form.


Later years

In the autumn of 1927, Rivera went to
Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...
, Soviet Union, having accepted a government invitation to take part in the celebration of the 10th anniversary of the
October Revolution The October Revolution,. officially known as the Great October Socialist Revolution. in the Soviet Union, also known as the Bolshevik Revolution, was a revolution in Russia led by the Bolshevik Party of Vladimir Lenin that was a key mom ...
. The following year, while still in the Soviet Union, he met American Alfred H. Barr, Jr., who would soon become Rivera's friend and patron. Barr was the founding director of the
Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of t ...
in New York City. Although commissioned to paint a mural for the
Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (Russian language, Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist R ...
Club in Moscow, in 1928 Rivera was ordered by authorities to leave the country because, he suspected, of "resentment on the part of certain Soviet artists." He returned to Mexico. In 1929, following the assassination of former president Álvaro Obregón the previous year, the government suppressed the Mexican Communist Party. That year Rivera was expelled from the party because of his suspected Trotskyite sympathies. In addition, observers noted that his 1928 mural ''In the Arsenal'' includes the figures of communists Tina Modotti, Cuban
Julio Antonio Mella Julio Antonio Mella McPartland (25 March 1903 – 10 January 1929) was a Cuban political activist and one of the founders of the original Communist Party of Cuba. Mella studied law at the University of Havana but was expelled in 1925. He was wor ...
, and Italian
Vittorio Vidali Vittorio Vidali (27 September 1900 – 9 November 1983), also known as Vittorio Vidale, Enea Sormenti, Jacobo Hurwitz Zender, Carlos Contreras, and "Comandante Carlos", was an Italian communist. After being expelled from Italy with the ris ...
. After Mella was murdered in January 1929, allegedly by
Stalinist Stalinism is the means of governing and Marxist-Leninist policies implemented in the Soviet Union from 1927 to 1953 by Joseph Stalin. It included the creation of a one-party totalitarian police state, rapid industrialization, the theory ...
assassin Vidali, Rivera was accused of having had advance knowledge of a planned attack. After divorcing his third wife, Guadalupe (Lupe) Marin, Rivera married the much younger
Frida Kahlo Magdalena Carmen Frida Kahlo y Calderón (; 6 July 1907 – 13 July 1954) was a Mexican painter known for her many portraits, self-portraits, and works inspired by the nature and artifacts of Mexico. Inspired by the country's popular culture, ...
in August 1929. They had met when she was a student, and she was 22 years old when they married; Rivera was 42. Also in 1929, American journalist Ernestine Evans's book ''The Frescoes of Diego Rivera'', was published in New York City; it was the first English-language book on the artist. In December, Rivera accepted a commission from the American Ambassador to Mexico to paint murals in the Palace of Cortés in Cuernavaca, where the US had a consulate. In September 1930, Rivera accepted a commission by architect
Timothy L. Pflueger Timothy Ludwig Pflueger (September 26, 1892 – November 20, 1946) was an architect, interior designer and architectural lighting designer in the San Francisco Bay Area in the first half of the 20th century. Together with James R. Miller, Pflue ...
for two works related to his design projects in
San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17t ...
. Rivera and Kahlo went to the city in November. Rivera painted a mural for the City Club of the
San Francisco Stock Exchange The San Francisco Stock and Bond Exchange was a regional stock exchange based in San Francisco, California, United States. Founded in 1882, in 1928 the exchange purchased and began using the name San Francisco Stock Exchange, while the old San Fran ...
for US$2,500. He also completed a fresco for the California School of Fine Art, a work that was later relocated to what is now the Diego Rivera Gallery at the
San Francisco Art Institute San Francisco Art Institute (SFAI) was a private college of contemporary art in San Francisco, California. Founded in 1871, SFAI was one of the oldest art schools in the United States and the oldest west of the Mississippi River. Approximately ...
. During this period, Rivera and Kahlo worked and lived at the studio of Ralph Stackpole, who had recommended Rivera to Pflueger. Rivera met Helen Wills Moody, a notable American tennis player, who modeled for his City Club mural. In November 1931, the
Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of t ...
in New York City mounted a retrospective exhibition of Rivera's work; Kahlo attended with him.Gerry Souter (2012)
''Kahlo''
New York: Parkstone International. . p. 18.
Between 1932 and 1933, Rivera completed a major commission: twenty-seven fresco panels, entitled '' Detroit Industry,'' on the walls of an inner court at the Detroit Institute of Arts. Part of the cost was paid by
Edsel Ford Edsel Bryant Ford (November 6, 1893 – May 26, 1943) was an American business executive and philanthropist who was the son of pioneering industrialist Henry Ford and his wife, Clara Jane Bryant Ford. He was the president of Ford Motor Company f ...
, scion of the entrepreneur. During the
McCarthyism McCarthyism is the practice of making false or unfounded accusations of subversion and treason, especially when related to anarchism, communism and socialism, and especially when done in a public and attention-grabbing manner. The term origin ...
of the 1950s, a large sign was placed in the courtyard defending the artistic merit of the murals while attacking his politics as "detestable." His mural '' Man at the Crossroads'', originally a three-paneled work, begun as a commission for
John D. Rockefeller, Jr. John Davison Rockefeller Jr. (January 29, 1874 – May 11, 1960) was an American financier and philanthropist, and the only son of Standard Oil co-founder John D. Rockefeller. He was involved in the development of the vast office complex in ...
in 1933 for the Rockefeller Center in New York City, was later removed. Because it included a portrait of
Vladimir Lenin Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov. ( 1870 – 21 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin,. was a Russian revolutionary, politician, and political theorist. He served as the first and founding head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 to 1 ...
, former leader of the Soviet Union and
Marxist Marxism is a left-wing to far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand class relations and social conflict and a dialecti ...
pro-worker content, Rockefeller's son, the press, and some of the public protested. Anti-Communism ran high in some American circles, although many others in this period of the
Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...
had been drawn to the movement as offering hope to labor. When Diego refused to remove Lenin from the painting, he was ordered to leave the US. One of Diego's assistants managed to take a few photographs of the work so Diego was able to later recreate it. American poet Archibald MacLeish wrote six "irony-laden" poems about the mural. ''
The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...
'' magazine published E. B. White's light poem, "I paint what I see: A ballad of artistic integrity", also in response to the controversy with number of sponsors taking offense to it.As a result of the negative publicity, officials in Chicago cancelled their commission for Rivera to paint a mural for the
Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...
World's Fair A world's fair, also known as a universal exhibition or an expo, is a large international exhibition designed to showcase the achievements of nations. These exhibitions vary in character and are held in different parts of the world at a specif ...
. Rivera issued a press statement, saying that he would use the remaining money from his commission at Rockefeller Center to repaint the same mural, over and over, wherever he was asked, until the money ran out. He had been paid in full although the mural was reportedly destroyed. There have been rumors that the mural was covered over rather than removed and destroyed, but this has not been confirmed. In December 1933, Rivera returned to Mexico. He repainted ''Man at the Crossroads'' in 1934 in the
Palacio de Bellas Artes The Palacio de Bellas Artes (Palace of Fine Arts) is a prominent cultural center in Mexico City. It has hosted notable events in music, dance, theatre, opera and literature in Mexico and has held important exhibitions of painting, sculpture and p ...
in Mexico City, calling this version '' Man, Controller of the Universe''. On June 5, 1940, invited again by Pflueger, Rivera returned for the last time to the United States to paint a ten-panel mural for the Golden Gate International Exposition in San Francisco. His work, '' Pan American Unity'' was completed November 29, 1940. Rivera painted in front of attendees at the Exposition, which had already opened. He received US$1,000 per month and US$1,000 for travel expenses. The mural includes representations of two of Pflueger's architectural works, and portraits of Rivera's wife, Frida Kahlo, woodcarver Dudley C. Carter, and actress Paulette Goddard. She is shown holding Rivera's hand as they plant a white tree together. Rivera's assistants on the mural included Thelma Johnson Streat, a pioneer African-American artist, dancer, and textile designer. The mural and its archives are now held by
City College of San Francisco City College of San Francisco (CCSF or City College) is a public community college in San Francisco, California. Founded as a junior college in 1935, the college plays an important local role, annually enrolling as many as one in nine San Franc ...
.


Membership in AMORC

In 1926, Rivera became a member of AMORC, the Ancient Mystical Order Rosae Crucis, an occult organization founded by American occultist Harvey Spencer Lewis. In 1926, Rivera was among the founders of AMORC's Mexico City lodge, called Quetzalcoatl after an ancient indigenous god. He painted an image of Quetzalcoatl for the local temple. In 1954 Rivera tried to be readmitted into the Mexican Communist Party. He had been expelled in part because of his support of Trotsky, who had been exiled and assassinated years before in Mexico. Rivera was required to justify his AMORC activities. At the time, the Mexican Communist Party excluded persons involved in Freemasonry, and regarded AMORC as suspiciously similar to Freemasonry. Rivera told his questioners that, by joining AMORC, he wanted to infiltrate a typical “Yankee” organization on behalf of Communism. However, he also claimed that AMORC was “essentially materialist, insofar as it only admits different states of energy and matter, and is based on ancient Egyptian occult knowledge from Amenhotep IV and Nefertiti.”Diego Rivera, ''Arte y política'', México: Grijalbo, 1979, p. 354. .


Representation in other media

Diego Rivera has been portrayed in several films. He was played by Rubén Blades in ''Cradle Will Rock'' (1999), by Alfred Molina in ''Frida'' (2002), and (in a brief appearance) by José Montini in ''Eisenstein in Guanajuato'' (2015). Barbara Kingsolver's novel, ''The Lacuna'' features Rivera, Kahlo, and Leon Trotsky as major characters.


Gallery


Paintings

File:Diego Rivera - Self-portrait with Broad-Brimmed Hat - Google Art Project.jpg, ''Self-portrait with Broad-Brimmed Hat'', 1907, 84.5 × 61.5 cm. Museo Dolores Olmedo File:Diego Rivera - Avila Morning (The Ambles Valley) - Google Art Project.jpg, ''Avila Morning (The Ambles Valley)'', 1908, 97 × 123 cm. Museo Nacional de Arte File:Diego Rivera - Street in Ávila (Ávila Landscape) - Google Art Project.jpg, ''Street in Ávila (Ávila Landscape)'', 1908, 129 × 141 cm. Museo Nacional de Arte File:Diego Rivera - El Picador - Google Art Project.jpg, ''El Picador'', 1909, 177 × 113 cm. Museo Dolores Olmedo File:Diego Rivera - The House on the Bridge - Google Art Project.jpg, ''The House on the Bridge'', 1909, 147 × 121 cm. Museo Nacional de Arte File:Diego Rivera - After the Storm (The Grounded Ship) - Google Art Project.jpg, ''After the Storm (The Grounded Ship)'', 1910, 120.7 × 146.7 cm. Museo Nacional de Arte File:Diego Rivera - Landscape - Google Art Project.jpg, ''Landscape'', 1911. Frida Kahlo Museum. File:Diego Rivera - Portrait of Adolfo Best Maugard - Google Art Project.jpg, ''Portrait of Adolfo Best Maugard'', 1913, 227.5 × 161.5 cm. Museo Nacional de Arte File:Diego Rivera, 1912-13, Adoration of the Virgin and Child, oil and encaustic on canvas, 150 x 120 cm, private collection.jpg, ''Adoration of the Virgin and Child'', 1912–13, oil and encaustic on canvas, 150 × 120 cm, private collection File:Diego Rivera - The Sun Breaking through the Mist - Google Art Project.jpg, ''The Sun Breaking through the Mist'', 1913, 83.5 × 59 cm. Museo Dolores Olmedo File:Diego Rivera - The Woman at the Well - Google Art Project.jpg, ''The Woman at the Well'', 1913, 145 × 125 cm. Museo Nacional de Arte File:Diego Rivera - The Alarm Clock - Google Art Project.jpg, ''The Alarm Clock'', 1914. Frida Kahlo Museum File:Diego Rivera, 1914, Two Women (Dos Mujeres, portrait of Angelina Beloff and Maria Dolores Bastian ), oil on canvas, 197.5 x 161.3 cm, The Arkansas Arts Center, Little Rock, Arkansas.jpg, ''Two Women (Dos Mujeres, Portrait of Angelina Beloff and Maria Dolores Bastian)'', 1914, 197.5 × 161.3 cm. Arkansas Arts Center File:Diego Rivera, 1914, Portrait de Messieurs Kawashima et Foujita, oil and collage on canvas, 78.5 x 74 cm, private collection.jpg, ''Portrait de Messieurs Kawashima et Foujita'', 1914, oil and collage on canvas, 78.5 × 74 cm. Private collection File:Diego Rivera - Young Man with a Fountain Pen - Google Art Project.jpg, ''Young Man with a Fountain Pen'', 1914, 79.5 × 63.5 cm. Museo Dolores Olmedo File:Diego Rivera - El Rastro - Google Art Project.jpg, ''El Rastro'', 1915, 27.5 × 38.5 cm. Museo Dolores Olmedo File:RamónGómezdelaSerna.JPG, ''Portrait of Ramón Gómez de la Serna'', 1915, 109.6 × 90.2 cm. MALBA, Latin American Art Museum of Buenos Aires File:Diego Rivera - Zapata-style Landscape - Google Art Project.jpg, ''Zapata-style Landscape'', 1915, 145 × 125 cm. Museo Nacional de Arte File:Diego Rivera, c.1915, Portrait of Marevna, oil on canvas, 145.7 x 112.7 cm, Art Institute of Chicago.jpg, ''Portrait of Marevna'', c.1915, 145.7 × 112.7 cm. Art Institute of Chicago File:Diego Rivera - Seated Woman (Women with the Body of a Guitar) - Google Art Project.jpg, ''Seated Woman (Women with the Body of a Guitar)'', 1915–16. Frida Kahlo Museum File:Diego Rivera - Urban Landscape - Google Art Project.jpg, ''Urban Landscape'', 1916. Frida Kahlo Museum File:Diego Rivera, 1916, Still Life with Tulips (Naturaleza Muerta con Tulipanes), oil on canvas, 67.8 x 53.7cm.jpg, ''Still Life with Tulips'' (''Naturaleza Muerta con Tulipanes''), 1916, oil on canvas, 67.8 × 53.7 cm File:Diego Rivera - Knife and Fruit in Front of the Window - Google Art Project.jpg, ''Knife and Fruit in Front of the Window'', 1917, 91.8 × 92.4 cm. Museo Dolores Olmedo File:Diego Rivera - Still Life with Utensils - Google Art Project.jpg, ''Still Life with Utensils'', 1917, 71 × 54 cm. Museo Dolores Olmedo File:Diego Rivera - The Mathematician - Google Art Project.jpg, ''The Mathematician'', 1919, 115.5 × 80.5 cm. Museo Dolores Olmedo File:Diego Rivera, c.1916, Maternidad, Angelina y et niño Diego, oil on canvas, 134.5 x 88.5 cm, Museo de Arte Carrillo Gil.jpg, ''Maternidad, Angelina y el niño Diego'' (''Motherhood, Angelina and the Child Diego''), c. August 1916, oil on canvas, 134.5 × 88.5 cm, Museo de Arte Carrillo Gil. This work forms part of Rivera's Crystal Cubism, Crystal Cubist period


Murals

File:Murales Rivera - Ausbeutung durch die Spanier 1 perspective.jpg, Mural of exploitation of Mexico by Spanish conquistadores, National Palace (Mexico), Palacio Nacional, Mexico City (1929–1945) File:Murales Rivera - Markt in Tlatelolco 3.jpg, Mural of the Aztec city of Tenochtitlan, Palacio Nacional, Mexico City File:La Gran Tenochtitlan.JPG, Mural of the Aztec market of Tlatelolco (Mexico City), Tlatelolco, Palacio Nacional, Mexico City File:Murales Rivera - Gold.jpg, Mural showing Aztec production of gold, Palacio Nacional, Mexico City File:Celebrations and Ceremonies Totonaca Culture full.JPG, Mural showing Totonaca celebrations and ceremonies, Palacio Nacional, Mexico City File:Mexico - Bellas Artes - Fresque Riviera « Man at the Crossroads ».JPG, Detail of ''Man, Controller of the Universe'', fresco at
Palacio de Bellas Artes The Palacio de Bellas Artes (Palace of Fine Arts) is a prominent cultural center in Mexico City. It has hosted notable events in music, dance, theatre, opera and literature in Mexico and has held important exhibitions of painting, sculpture and p ...
showing
Leon Trotsky Lev Davidovich Bronstein. ( – 21 August 1940), better known as Leon Trotsky; uk, link= no, Лев Давидович Троцький; also transliterated ''Lyev'', ''Trotski'', ''Trotskij'', ''Trockij'' and ''Trotzky''. (), was a Russian ...
, Friedrich Engels, and Karl Marx File:Detalle de Lenin.jpg, Detail of ''Man, Controller of the Universe'', fresco at
Palacio de Bellas Artes The Palacio de Bellas Artes (Palace of Fine Arts) is a prominent cultural center in Mexico City. It has hosted notable events in music, dance, theatre, opera and literature in Mexico and has held important exhibitions of painting, sculpture and p ...
showing
Vladimir Lenin Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov. ( 1870 – 21 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin,. was a Russian revolutionary, politician, and political theorist. He served as the first and founding head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 to 1 ...
File:The Kid - Diego Rivera.jpg, Mural (detail) ''Sueño de una Tarde Dominical en la Alameda Central'' in Mexico City, featuring Rivera and
Frida Kahlo Magdalena Carmen Frida Kahlo y Calderón (; 6 July 1907 – 13 July 1954) was a Mexican painter known for her many portraits, self-portraits, and works inspired by the nature and artifacts of Mexico. Inspired by the country's popular culture, ...
standing by La Calavera Catrina (width: 15.6 m) File:Mural Diego Rivera.jpg, Mural at Palacio de Gobierno, Mexico City File:RiveraMuralNationalPalace.jpg, Diego Rivera's mural ''The History of Mexico (mural), The History of Mexico'' at the
National Palace Buildings called National Palace include: * National Palace (Dominican Republic), in Santo Domingo *National Palace (El Salvador), in San Salvador *National Palace (Ethiopia), in Addis Ababa; also known as the Jubilee Palace *National Palace (Guatem ...
in Mexico City File:Murales Rivera - Treppenhaus 6.jpg, Detail of ''The History of Mexico (mural), The History of Mexico'' showing betrayed revolution at National Palace (Mexico), Palacio Nacional,
Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...
File:Palacio de Bellas Artes - Mural El Hombre in cruce de caminos Rivera 3.jpg, Recreation of '' Man at the Crossroads'' (renamed '' Man, Controller of the Universe''), originally created in 1934 (detail) File:Palacio_Nacional_Murals_view.JPG, View of the Murals by Diego Rivera in the Palacio Nacional Image:Rivera detroit industry north.jpg, '' Detroit Industry'', North Wall, 1932–33. Detroit Institute of Arts Image:Rivera detroit industry south.jpg, '' Detroit Industry, South Wall'', 1932–33. Detroit Institute of Arts


Sculptures

File:Cárcamo de Dolores 09.jpg, Tlaloc Fountain in Cárcamo de Dolores, Mexico City (1951) File:Diego Rivera's Mural in Acapulco, Mexico.jpg, 3D mural of Quetzalcóatl in the ''Exekatlkalli'' (Casa de los Vientos) in Acapulco, Guerrero (1957)


See also

* Anahuacalli Museum * Crystal Cubism * Elaine Hamilton-O'Neal * Gabriel Bracho, Venezuelan muralist * Cárcamo de Dolores * Glorious Victory painting of the 1954 Guatemalan coup d'état that the CIA backed to overthrow the democratically elected Guatemalan president Jacobo Arbenz. * List of works by Diego Rivera * María Izquierdo (artist), María Izquierdo


References


Further reading

* Aguilar, Louis.
Detroit was muse to legendary artists Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo
. ''The Detroit News''. April 6, 2011. *Azuela, Alicia. ''Diego Rivera en Detroit''. Mexico City: UNAM 1985. *Bloch, Lucienne. "On location with Diego Rivera." ''Art in America'' 74 (February 1986, pp. 102–23. *Craven, David. ''Diego Rivera as Epic Modernist''. New York: G.K. Hall 1997. *Dickerman, Leah, and Anna Indych-López. ''Diego Rivera: Murals for the Museum of Modern Art''. New York: The Museum of Modern Art 2011. *Downs, Linda. ''Diego Rivera: The Detroit Industry Murals''. Detroit: The Detroit Institute of Arts 1999. *Evans, Robert [Joseph Freeman]. "Painting and Politics: The Case of Diego Rivera." ''New Masses'' (February 1932) 22-25. *González Mello, Renato. "Manuel Gamio, Diego Rivera and the Politics of Mexican Anthropology." ''RES'' 45 (Spring 2004) 161-85. *Lee, Anthony. ''Painting on the Left: Rivera, Radical Politics, and San Francisco's Public Murals''. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press 1999. *Robert Linsley, Linsley, Robert. "Utopia Will Not be Televised: Rivera at Rockefeller Center." ''Oxford Art Journal'' 17, no. 2 (1994) 48-62. *Moyssén, Xavier, ed. ''Diego Rivera: Textos de arte''. Mexico City: UNAM 1986. *Rivera, Diego. ''Arte y política'', Raquel Tibol, ed. Mexico City Grijalbo 1979. *Rivera, Diego and Gladys March. ''My Life, Life: An Autobiography''. New York: Dover Publications 1960. *Rodrigues, Antonio. "Canto a la tierra: Los murales de Diego Rivera en la Capilla de Chapingo." (trans. Allyson Cadwell) Texcoco: Universidad Autonoma Chapingo, 1986 (1st reprint, 2000). *Siqueiros, David Alfaro. "Rivera's Counter-Revolutionary Road." ''New Masses'' May 29, 1934. *Rochfort, Desmond. ''Mexican Muralists: Orozco, Rivera, Siqueiros, 2nd edition''. San Francisco: Chronicle Books 1998. *Wolfe, Bertram. ''The Fabulous Life of Diego Rivera''. New York: Stein and Day 1963. *Wolfe, Bertram and Diego Rivera. ''Portrait of Mexico''. New York: Covici, Friede Publishers 1937.


External links


''Creation''
(1931). From the Collections of the Library of Congress
''Trials of the Hero-Twins''
(1931) From the Collections at the Library of Congress
''Human Sacrifice Before Tohil''
(1931) From the Collections at the Library of Congress
Cubist paintings by Rivera
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Rivera, Diego 1886 births 1957 deaths Works by Diego Rivera, Académie Julian alumni Artists from Mexico City Cubist artists Escuela Nacional de Pintura, Escultura y Grabado "La Esmeralda" faculty Frida Kahlo Latin American artists of indigenous descent Members of El Colegio Nacional (Mexico) Mexican atheists Mexican communists Mexican muralists Mexican people of indigenous peoples descent Mexican people of Spanish-Jewish descent Mexican people of Spanish descent Mexican people of Portuguese descent Mexican Trotskyists Artists from Guanajuato People from Cuernavaca People from Guanajuato City People from Morelos Political artists Social realist artists Painters of the Return to Order Federal Art Project artists 19th-century Mexican people 20th-century Mexican painters 20th-century male artists Mexican male painters Academy of San Carlos alumni