Diego Rivera

Who is Diego Rivera?

Diego María de la Concepción Juan Nepomuceno Estanislao de la Rivera y Barrientos Acosta y Rodríguez was a Mexican painter born in Guanajuato. He studied art in Mexico and then in Europe, where he absorbed Cubism and other modern movements before returning to Mexico and helping launch the Mexican Muralism movement in the 1920s. Working with the support of the post-revolutionary government, he painted vast frescoes on public buildings depicting Mexican history, indigenous heritage, labor, and social struggle, aiming to make art accessible to ordinary people. His major works include murals at the National Palace and the Ministry of Public Education in Mexico City, and 'Man at the Crossroads' at Rockefeller Center, which was destroyed over its inclusion of Lenin. A committed Marxist, he was married to painter Frida Kahlo. He remains one of the towering figures of twentieth-century Latin American art.

Sources: Pete Hamill, 'Diego Rivera' (1999) · Palacio Nacional murals, Mexico City (National History murals, 1929–1935)