Diego Rivera

Diego Rivera (1886 – 1957) spent the most productive years of his adult life in Mexico City. The sites listed below are those most closely associated with his life and work.

Born in Guanajuato, by age ten Rivera was studying at Academy of San Carlos. By the time of the Mexican Revolution, he'd left to study in Madrid, and later in Paris. His earliest works reflect the Cubism in vogue at that time.

By 1921, he returned to Mexico and began work in a government program intended to put more art in public buildings. This was with the support of José Vasconcelos, then Federal Secretary of Public Education (SEP). Those in the SEP building in the City Center are among the earliest. But the discovery of any one of Diego Rivera's murals is often the highlight of a trip to Mexico City.

Rivera's work evolved to espouse the beliefs enshrined in the Mexican Constitution of 1917. This work especially focused on the lives and values of working class and indigenous peoples. His marriage to Frida Kahlo even today enlivens countless discussions as to which was the more important artist and why.

The sites listed below will help you to appreciate a deeper and more personal side to the life, work, and sensitivity of Diego Rivera.

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