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ART HISTORY QUESTIONS : FAMOUS PAINTINGS OF DIEGO RIVERA - YOUTUBE An artist is above all a human being, profoundly human to the core. If the artist can’t feel everything that humanity feels, if the artist isn’t capable of loving until he forgets himself and sacrifices himself if necessary, if he won’t put down his magic brush and head the fight against the oppressor, then he isn’t a great artist.”

DIEGO RIVERA

DIEGO RIVERA  





Considered the greatest Mexican painter of the twentieth century, Diego Rivera had a profound effect on the international art world. Among his many contributions, Rivera is credited with the reintroduction of fresco painting into modern art and architecture. His radical political views and tempestuous romance with the painter Frieda Kahlo were then, and remain today, a source of public intrigue. In a series of visits to America, from 1930 to 1940, Rivera brought his unique vision to public spaces and galleries, enlightening and inspiring artists and laymen alike.

A FAMOUS FRESCO FROM THE RENAISSANCE

DIEGO RIVERA RIVERA IN AMERICA 1 - YOUTUBE  Diego

Rivera is most famous for being a mural artist. (Mural- a painting on a wall or ceiling surface)Diego Rivera Murals - YouTube  Diego studied the renaissance artist in Italy. This is where he discovered the medium that made him famous. Fresco  Fresco is a way of painting where pigment is mixed with water on a thin layer of wet, fresh, plaster.

EARLY LIFE Diego Rivera was born in Guanajuato, Guanajuato, to a well-to-do family.  From the age of ten, Rivera studied art at the Academy of San Carlos in Mexico City.  He receives a modest four year scholarship for European study  Spending most of the next fourteen years in Paris, Rivera encountered the works of such great masters as Cézanne, Gauguin, Renoir, and Matisse. 

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PAUL CEZANNE, RENOIR, PICASSO

TRADITIONAL ART WORK

DIEGO RIVERA'S ART WORK

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 After

studying these masters he moved toward a post-impressionistic style. He began to paint large, simple shapes and used bold colors. He developed his own style and his paintings started to attract attention. Rivera’s paintings were very popular and sold well.

COMPARISON OF HIS TRADITIONAL STYLE TO HIS NEW POST- IMPRESSIONIST STYLE

ART PROGRESS  Diego

developed his new art style a type of , Cubism.  Cubism- A technique that is minimalistic and angular.  From 1922 to 1926, Rivera worked on 124 frescoes on the courtyard walls of the Ministry of Public Education. His work began the revival of mural painting and made him famous in the Western world.

DIEGO THE POLITICAL ACTIVITIST  He

and David Alfaro Siqueiros met in Paris, in 1919. They were both impressed with the Mexican revolution of 1914 and the Russian revolution of 1917. Rivera and Siqueiros discussed the development of new monumental art that would reflect Mexico's political and cultural transformation.

Back in Mexico, Rivera joined the Communist Party in 1922, and then co-founded with Siqueiros the "Syndicato" - union of workers, artists and sculptors.  He traveled with the delegation of Mexican Communist Party to the Soviet Union. There he took part in the 10th Anniversary of the Russian Revolution and also attended a massive reception party in Moscow, which was hosted by Joseph Stalin. 

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 Rockefeller





Controversy

In the 1930s and '40s Rivera worked in the United States and Mexico, and many of his paintings drew controversy. His 1933 mural for the RCA Building at Rockefeller Center in Manhattan featured a portrait of Communist Party leader V.I. Lenin; the resulting uproar led to his dismissal and to the mural's official destruction in 1934. Similarly, a 1948 mural for the Hotel de Prado in Mexico that included the words "God does not exist" was covered and held from public view for nine years

DIEGO RIVERA’S PERSONAL LIFE Rivera was married two times before he married Mexican artist Frida Kahlo in 1929.  Fidelity was out of the question for him. Rivera and Kahlo had been married less than a year when he had his first affair (He even had an affair with Frida’s younger sister.)  Their troubled marriage and numerous affairs (she, too, was unfaithful) led to divorce in 1939, but the couple remarried late the following year.  Diego and Frida's lives were full of drama, rebellion, and despair. 

THE BEAUTY AND THE BEAST  When

Kahlo died in 1954, Diego wrote, "I realized that the most wonderful part of my life had been my love for Frida." In November 1957, at the age of 70, Rivera died of heart failure in his San Angel studio.

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FRIDA KAHLO "PAIN AND PASSION”

MEDICAL STRUGGLES  Kahlo

contracted polio at age six, which left her right leg thinner than the left, which Kahlo disguised by wearing long, colorful skirts. It has been conjectured that she also suffered from spinal bifida, a congenital disease that could have affected both spinal and leg development.

 On

September 17, 1925, Kahlo was riding in a bus when the vehicle collided with a trolley car. She suffered serious injuries in the accident, including a broken spinal column, a broken collarbone, broken ribs, a broken pelvis, eleven fractures in her right leg, a crushed and dislocated right foot, and a dislocated shoulder. Also, an iron handrail pierced her abdomen and her uterus, which seriously damaged her reproductive ability.

 Although

she recovered from her injuries and eventually regained her ability to walk, she was plagued by relapses of extreme pain for the remainder of her life. The pain was intense and often left her confined to a hospital or bedridden for months at a time.

THE PAINTER She underwent as many as thirty-five operations as a result of the accident, mainly on her back, her right leg, and her right foot.  The injuries also kept Kahlo from having a child because of the medical complications and permanent damage done when the iron handrail pierced her abdomen. All three pregnancies had to be terminated and her dream to have a child with her husband, Diego, was crushed. 

 Her

self-portraits became a dominant part of her life when she was immobile for three months after her accident. Kahlo once said, "I paint myself because I am so often alone and because I am the subject I know best."  Drawing on personal experiences, including her marriage, her miscarriages, and her numerous operations, Kahlo's works often are characterized by their stark portrayals of pain.

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FRIDA KAHLO’S ART WORK  Of

her 143 paintings, 55 are self-portraits which often incorporate symbolic portrayals of physical and psychological wounds. She insisted, "I never painted dreams. I painted my own reality."

Her

art work was very Emotional, Symbolic, gory, and Powerful.

FRIDA KAHLO ART WORK

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