Diego Rivera: one of the great Latin American muralists of the 20th century

Diego Rivera was one of the great Latin American muralists of the 20th century. He always kept Mexican culture alive in his works, even when he was “contaminated” by Europe during his trips to avant-garde Paris.

His work influenced hundreds of artists and his life continues to fascinate today for his political irreverence, his legendary hedonism and an inexplicable attraction for women. Perhaps the woman of his life was Frida Khalo, whom he married (twice).

Diego María de la Concepción Juan Nepomuceno Estanislao de la Rivera y Barrientos Acosta y Rodríguez travels to Paris, becoming in contact with the avant-garde and artists such as Pablo Picasso or Paul Cézanne, who introduce him to cubism.

He lived throughout his life in Mexico, Ecuador, Bolivia, the United States, Argentina, France, Italy and Spain, and produced some 10,058 works, married 4 times and had 50 lovers, at least those who are known. Odd, since he was not at all handsome, although it is said that he gave off an animal magnetism and his charismatic personality was evident.

He was a Marxist and had problems in his trips to New York when he included Lenin’s portrait in the mural he painted for the Rockefeller Center, which in principle was an ode to capitalism. The work was destroyed; however, today there is a replica at the Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City.

His work, of enormous eclecticism, drew from all Western art and also from pre-Columbian art (the taste for mural painting, without going any further). He stands out for his monumentality, in order to communicate better with the popular masses. His revolutionary ideology is evident, and his work is pure propaganda, without pejorative connotations.

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