Conquest, oppression, war, invasion, independence and revolution. These are things that come to mind when viewing Diego Rivera’s most well-known murals at the Palacio Nacional de México. These pieces play a big part in depicting the type of artwork that was produced during the Mexican Mural Movement. The Mural Movement was the result to the end of thirty-four years under political dictatorship caused by Porfirio Diaz. The movement initially served as a vehicle to represent the government’s vision of history and ideology, but later developed to serving as a representation of the struggle of the working class against oppression.
The Muralist Movement was led by Los Tres Grandes which consists of Jose Clemente Orozco, David Alfaro Siqueiros, and Diego Rivera. These muralists had a great impact on Mexican art from the 1920’s until the 1940’s. They created new traditions in modern art, implementing old fresco techniques from the Italian Renaissance and presenting Mexico’s history in a rediscovering way. All three artist studied art at the San Carlos Academy for fine Arts in Mexico City and all three presented strong political concepts in their murals. Though very similar in some aspects, Orozco, Siqueiros, and Rivera were very different in art style and motivation.
Jose Clemente Orozco was widely influenced by symbolism, which is demonstrated well in his art. Orozco was politically active during the Mexican Revolution and witnessed the tragedy first hand. He could be considered the most complex of the muralists, he was committed in depicting the truth through his art having a strong sense in realism. He illustrated violent displays of conflict, chaos, and misery. Focusing on showing personal suffering in a pessimistic way, he demonstrated the giant gap between social ideals and social realities.
David Alfaro Siqueiros was by far the most politically active out of the three muralist. He was involved in the political conflict of the Mexican revolution by being a protester, demonstrator, and even a soldier during the revolution. Even after the war he presented radical political beliefs to an extent that got him expelled from Mexico.
The last muralist leader is Diego Rivera. One of the most known muralists in the movement because of his artworks located both in Mexico and the United states. Diego Rivera’s art was highly influenced by postmodernism and cubism, do to his exposure of such style during his studies in Paris. Different from Orozco and Siqueiros, Rivera didn’t experience the Mexican revolution first hand, yet besides this fact, he contributed his own share of political beliefs that were shown clearly through his murals. We can easily see his ideology through such pieces as Detroit Industry fresco cycle. Through Detroit Industry fresco cycle he makes a clear statement on good industry versus bad industry, with the juxtaposition of an airplane against a warplane, and a dove against a hawk.
Even after nearly a century since the beginning of the mural movement, Latino artists still continue to produce murals and different art forms with the same message of oppression and uprising to bring about awareness and change. Whether that be the murals created during the Chicano movement in the pacific northwest or a mural to promote nutrition, environmental protection, education and the preservation of Zapotec language and customs in Oaxaca. The mural movement influenced the idea of mural painting as a form of promoting political and social change throughout the Americas.