Diego Rivera

Diego Rivera was a famous public art enthusiast. He is well known in the latino

art community. Diego was born in sometime in December 8, 1886. He started his art

passion at the age of three, because of his brothers death. He started drawing on the

walls in his house. Diego later attended an art school in Mexico. At a young age Diego

was friends with famous artist. Some of his friends included Pablo Picasso, Marc

Chagall, and Piet Mondrian.

During Diego's time period a revolution was starting. The mexican revolution

gave Diego the idea to paint murals on the streets, to encourage people. The

government gave him the go with this idea and decided to fund Diego for all of his toil.

Diegos paintings were considered to be controversial. He received a lot of hate

from his work. He was not quiet about expressing his opinion on controversial subjects.

People tried to censor his paintings. Diego would not stop what he loved most. He loved

painting on public universities, and academic schools.

 Diego was married to Frida Kahlo another famous person in the latino art scene.

Together the spread their views on controversial matters through art works and by word

of mouth. Frida was an art student of Diego's when they fell in love. They had a 20 year

age difference between them, but it did not affect them. In total Diego had five wives

throughout his life. He was known to be around with different women all the time. Both

Diego and Frida had an affair. They divorced for one year but later got remarried up until

Fridas death. After Frida died Diego married his fifth wife.

In Diegos art he shows that he was an atheist that believed in socialism. What

made Diego stand out was his controversy in his art. One of his famous art pieces done

while in America was Man at the Crossroads. It was a mural of a man in the middle of

a crowd. He is the focus of attention. He is holding elements in his hands that symboliz

the world. The painting was later destroyed because it feared Vladimir Lenin, and other

socialist propiganda that the people did not like.

He claimed that he only wanted to make paintings that reflect the lives of

Mexican people, but most of the time this was not the case. Most of his paintings

include socialist propaganda that he pushed upon people.

Diego used just a paintbrush to paint most of his painting, which makes him even

more renowned. The symbolism hidden in it is the heritage and culture of mexican

people, while also showing some of his political beliefs.

There is a movie based on his life named Cradle Will Rock . The movie depicts

their role in the painting of the Rockefeller lobby.

 All in all, Diego Rivera used his art for good and bad. He pushed socialist ideas,

but also made wonderful painting depicting mexican culture, and struggles. His art will

live on to be remembered in the latino community.

http://www.diegorivera.org/

http://www.theartstory.org/artist-rivera-diego.htm