Diego Rivera

The History of Mexico By: Diego Rivera

 On December 8, 1886 an admirable artist named Diego Rivera was born. He was born in

Guanajuato, Mexico. At three years old his twin brother died and he started painting and creating

art. His parents realized the passion he had for art and enrolled him in Mexico Citys Academy of

San Carlos when he was ten years old. When he got older he decided to finish studying art in

Europe. While studying there he became close friends with multiple famous artists. Diego

studied revolutionary artwork due to being surrounded by a world of revolution. Many political

people did not like his work and frequently criticized him. He was not silent when he heard the

bad comments because he believed that his paintings were his way of showing how he felt about

the situations.

Diego Rivera had four different marriages and he had many children. His most known

marriage was with Frida Kahlo. They were both artists and both had certain political beliefs

which brought them together. While Diego was teaching art classes, Frida was one of his

students. Even though their ages were twenty years apart they fell in love quickly. On the other

hand, they both had a number of affairs, such as Diego getting involved with her sister and Frida

spending a lot of time with Leon Trotsky. Aside from the affairs he still loved Frida and

considered her to be the only wife that he ever felt comfortable with. Sadly, Frida Kahlo died in

1954.

Diego ended up marrying his art dealer before he was diagnosed with cancer. He battled

cancer for around three years and often traveled to many places to try to get treatment to cure

him. None of the treatments ever worked and he died in 1957. He became famous after his death

because people realized that he had a unique style and always left something for others to think

about when looking at his artwork. All of his paintings were created due to his beliefs. He never

hid that he was atheist or that he believed in Marxism. His entire career of being an artist he
made his points on how he wanted to push others limits and to think the way he did. Today, his

paintings remain in Mexico and are on display to tell stories and his beliefs.

The mural The History of Mexico was a complete masterpiece that Diego Rivera

created. He worked on this mural from 1929 to 1935. It is painted at the National Palace in

Mexico City. This painting told the story of the mexicans ancient times to the modern era. The

painting mainly focuses on the native mexicans that started everything such as the Aztecs. The

History of Mexico was created after the Mexican Revolution to get others to regain their

patriotism and nationalism to the native mexicans. The mural consists of the main struggles

Mexico had and commonly known conflicts that the natives fought through and succeeded. The

violence that is represented in the artwork is mostly in bright colors so they can be recognized

and respected. Diego Rivera wanted every citizen to remember the tragic times that his country

went through just like he often thought about every day that he lived.

Resources:

http://www.diegorivera.org/

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