Title: Diego Rivera Freida Kahlo
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2Diego RiveraFreida Kahlo
Painters
3Diego Rivera
Painter 1886 1957
4Diego María de la Concepción Juan Nepomuceno
Estanislao de la Rivera y Barrientos Acosta y
Rodríguez
Diego Rivera was born in Guanajuato, Mexico in
1886. When he was 6 years old, his family moved
to Mexico City. Diego loved to draw, so his
father made a studio for him by covering the
walls with black canvas so he could draw on them
with chalk. At age 10, he enrolled in night
classes at an art school, but he was expelled for
participating in revolts. At 16, he started his
career as a painter.
5He traveled to europe in 1909, where he was
exposed to different kinds of art and artists. He
settled in Paris, where he painted in the style
of the Cubists (like Picasso), with large areas
of color and simple forms.
He became interested in the works of the
renaissance artists and the fresco style of
painting (paint on wet plaster). Rivera liked
this kind of art because it could be painted on a
wall (a mural) and made available to everyone to
see.
6In 1922, he joined the mexican communist party.
His murals used bold colors and simplified
figures. They told stories about revolution and
politics, reflecting Riveras own radical
political ideas. His mural for the Secretariat
of Public Education in Mexico City consisted of
124 frescoes, it took 6 years to complete.
En el Arsenal (1928)
7Riveras mural at the National Palace in Mexico
Cityshows images of Mexicos history
8Mural depicting Mexicos history at the National
Palace in Mexico City
9Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera
Invited to the United States by an architect in
San Francisco and painted murals for the San
Francisco Stock Exchange and the California
School for Fine Art. He was then invited to
Detroit where Edsel Ford hired him to paint a
mural at his Ford Motor Plant.
In 1929, Rivera was expelled from the Mexican
Communist party. In that year, he also married
art student Frida Kahlo (his 3rd wife) he was
42, she was 22.
10Because of his political views, some of his
murals were not accepted by the people. This one,
which included the face of Russian Communist
leader Vladimir Lenin was painted for Rockefeller
Center in New York. Rivera was asked to remove
the face of lenin but refused. Nelson Rockefeller
told him to stop painting, paid him in full, and
covered it up. Rivera and his assistants returned
late at night and destroyed the mural with axes.
Man at the Crossroads (1933)
Close up of face of Lenin
11The flower carrier (1942)
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13When cancer and a stroke left his right arm
paralyzed, he continued to paint with his left
hand. He died of heart failure in 1957 at the age
of 71.
Tomb of diego rivera in the Rotunda of
Illustrious persons inside the Panteón Dolores