Analytical Essay

Diego Rivera became one of the most memorable artists of the 20^thcentury. Along with many other artists, Rivera formed part of the Mexican Muralist Movement. This was a movement in which Mexican artist created large-scale works in a figurative and allegorical style that dealt with political, social, and radical themes. However, his personal life from childhood to adult life is quite deserted. The importance of his personal background becomes essential to his most known art works. For instance, one of the most famous art works created by Rivera during his return to Mexico is Dream of a Sunday Afternoon in Alameda Park.

During the period of 1910-1920 the Mexican nation was enraged due to the mistreatment and suffrage many labor workers and campesinos(farm workers) faced. Drained from the treatment under dictator Porfirio Díaz, Mexicans demanded better working conditions along with issues such as universal public education, health care and expanded civil liberties (Khan Academy 1). Diego Rivera alongside JoséClemente Orozco and David Alfaro Siqueiros were known as Los tres grandes. The three greatswere part of a movement during the 1920s known as Mexican muralism. The idea was to promote mural paintings that expressed social and political messages in settings that were accessible for everyone, rich or poor. This movement influenced and inspired many other countries such as the United States to create the Chicano art movement (Camp, 225). Throughout Diego’s adult life, he spent time traveling to Europe in which he encountered with other artists such as Pablo Picasso. After years of traveling to the United States and Europe, Diego finally returned to Mexico to create one of his last pieces.

Diego Rivera’s Sueño de una tarde dominical en la Alameda Central, translated to Dream of a Sunday Afternoon in Alameda Parkis a 4.8 x 15 m mural that was painted on the walls of a hotel called Hotel del Prado in Mexico City. Later, it was transferred to the Museo of Diego Rivera after the earthquake of 1985 which destroyed the hotel and other buildings (Khan Academy, 1).

Rivera’s mural displays over 400 characters from over 400 years of Mexican history, tracing back to the 1550s (Kozloff 8). The large painting displays important figures gathered for a stroll through Mexico City’s largest park. Some elements in the mural included are light-hearted and playful such as the colorful balloons and the bright foliage. Other elements are darker in color, based on the characters and what they represent. For example, on the right side of the painting there is a conflict between a policeman and an indigenous family which is painted in darker colors.  One important factor seen in the mural is that all the figures overlap with each; other, even if they are not interacting they are not separate. This means that each figure represents its own time period, and just because they are next to each other does not mean that they belong with each other. However, they all possess the same importance as the others. Without one, the other does not exist.  Although Diego Rivera was never considered a surrealist, this particular mural fell on the lines of a surrealist movement, meaning that the characters that Rivera presented in his painting were in a form of a dream or the subconscious (Kozloff 10).

Dream of a Sunday Afternoon in Alameda Parkis divided into three sections, the left, the middle, and the right side of the mural. On the left side of the mural Diego painted the conquest of Mexico by the Spanish then followed by their independence. The Mexican Revolution which lasted from 1910 to 1920 was framed on the right side of the mural (Khan Academy 2).  The middle highlights important symbolic figures and events from Rivera’s early to adult life. It is also the brightest part of the painting. Rivera used a combination of important figures in the Mexican history to create a form of political statement, like most of his art. However, he also took this opportunity to make the mural personal (Camp 227). Rivera chose to be portrayed at that age was because of the impact Porfirio Díaz, Mexico’s dictator from 1884-1911, left him (Gerry 16). The most eye-catching figure is La Catrinaholding young Diego’s hand. La Catrina, a nickname given to elegant, upper-class women who dressed in European clothing in the early twentieth century. The smiling bright Catrina shares the spotlight with two great artists: Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera. Kahlo is an important figure since she was once Rivera’s wife. After their separation they never lost connection. Kahlo is also seen holding the Yin Yang symbol. Thus, this Chinese symbol became a metaphor for Rivera and Kahlo’s complex relationship: Rivera became Kahlo’s mentor, lover, ex-wife, political comrades, and often painted each other. (Khan Academy, 1).  Behind Kahlo and Rivera many men well-dressed stood behind them. These men represented the middle class, a social group in which Rivera grew up and identified with (Gerry, 32).

Rivera’s purpose of Sunday Afternoon was to express Mexico and its development into what it became. There are many details that are also seen in his other paintings. Rivera’s style was to expose the life of many campesinos and life changing events such as the revolution. Such as The Maze Festival (1923-1924), Woman Grinding Maize (1924), Zapata (1930-1931), The History of Mexico (1929-1935) and more. As a result, when Diego placed all figures in one mural it was expected but still surprising.

The reason why Dream of a Sunday Afternoon in Alameda Parkis an extraordinary work of art was a result of Diego’s life experiences. For that reason, it is critical to try to comprehend Rivera’s personal life from the beginning in order to understand how it impacted to create memorable art.

Diego Rivera was born as Diego María Concepción Juan Nepomuceno Estanislao de la Rivera y Barrientos Acosta y Rodríguez on December 8^th, 1886 in Guanajuato, Mexico. (Souter, 10) Regardless of having no memory of his birth, it was still a traumatizing event that affected him into his adult life. Doña Maria, Rivera’s mother had previously experienced through three pregnancies that ended in stillbirths (Gerry, 1).  Expecting twins, she gave birth to Diego and soon after began to hemorrhaged. When Diego showed almost no sign of living, Doctor Arizmendi who was a family friend tossed him into a bucket to proceed with the second child (Gerry, 1-2). After Diego’s twin brother was born, Doña Maria collapsed into a coma. Few days later, after showing no signs of life they began preparing to deal with her corpse. When all of a sudden Doña Maria began breathing. Soon after, Diego began kicking and crying from the basket he was thrown into (Gerry, 2). After Doña Maria’s recovery, she went on to study obstetrics and becoming a housewife. Unfortunately, Diego’s twin brother, Carlos, died a year and a half later. Diego also became severely ill. Growing up Diego blamed himself, and the guilt left him vulnerable when having to cope with death. (Comisarenco, 14). During Rivera’s childhood, he began developing fantasies about birth and death. In fact, Diego recalls how at the age of five he wanted to know where babies come from. When Diego’s mother became pregnant, she told him that the baby would arrive in a box delivered by a train. In an interview with Woman’s Art Journal, Diego said the following: “That day I waited at the depot and watched all the trains, but no box arrived for my mother. I was furious when I returned home and found that my sister Maria had been born in my absence.” From a young age, understanding the concept of labor was very significant to Diego. It was as if he knew where and why babies come from, it would become a form to cope with the loss of his brother. In the interview Rivera also stated, “In angry frustration, I caught a pregnant mouse and opened her belly with a pair of scissors. I wanted to see whether there were a small mouse inside her. When I found the mouse fetuses, I stomped into my mother’s room and threw them directly in her face screaming, “You lair-liar”’. Diego later channeled his passionate emotions in more constructive ways, and at an early age he began to read his mother’s obstetrics book.

As Rivera finally came across his adult life, the idea of birth and being a parent was something he tend to avoid. While living in France, Rivera became a parent himself. On August 1916, Angeline Beloff, Diego Rivera’s lover gave birth to Diego Jr. According to Beloff, when he received the news of her pregnancy, “Diego was very annoyed at having to play the role of a father. He insisted that the baby would deprive him of his peace and that besides, we couldn’t afford to support another mouth.” (Comisarenco, 14). After experiencing his baby’s death, Rivera left Angeline. Rivera suffered a nervous collapse. The death of his baby caused him to relive the disturbing and guilt feeling associated with the death of his brother. (Comisarenco, 14-15) Although these events set an inspiration of his early reproduction images in his work. He created Angeline Pregnantand Angeline and the Child Diego-Maternity(1916).

On November 1919, with another lover Rivera’s daughter, Marika, was born. However, Diego never recognized Marika as her daughter, instead he acknowledged her as a “daughter of the Armistice” (Comisarenco, 15). At this point Diego began to push aside the idea of being a parent. It was mostly because he feared the emotions towards death he felt as a child. On the other hand, Rivera never stopped having lovers and children. He used the opportunity to express his feeling through his art. For example, after marrying Lupe Marin in 1921 Diego had two daughters. During these years he created his most successful works, The Liberated Earth(1926-1927) the murals in the Chapel of the Universidad Autonoma de Chapingo, which exposed his new experience as a father. (Souter, 40).  According to Women’s Journal, “… also is a clear expression of Rivera’s awareness of his power to create life, allowing him to overcome his first traumatic trails of fatherhood.” Being able to create a mural that portraits the women’s body in both a powerful and sensual way was one of the first indications that Diego was trying to leave his past behind and opening up to idea of fatherhood. It soon changed after he completed the mural and discovered that his parents had passed away.

Rivera went on to marry Frida Kahlo in which there were many disapprovals since Rivera was 42 and Kahlo was only 22.  Kahlo fantasized about having a baby from Diego, even though Rivera never saw Kahlo as a mother (Souter, 54). After having several miscarriages and affairs from Diego and later on from herself, Kahlo’s attempts to conceived stopped. The love and pain experienced by Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera during their 25 years together have been a great influence on both artists.

Diego Rivera continued to have lovers after Frida, although it was clear that she was the love of his life. Still, the concept of birth and death he had every time he encountered it, the feeling was traced back to his childhood and somehow the emotions once felt came back. Thus, he tried to avoid having the responsibility of being a father and risking having to deal with death once again. He used his suffering to create his most successful art works as it was his only escape. Although, his traumatic experience left him a great legacy he did suffered greatly. His experience made Diego bring a sentimental value to his art as well as serving a hard-hand towards the political perspective. The death of his brother is extremely significant considering that it affected his adult life and many of his creations. To conclude, Diego was able to become a successful muralist for the price of an unpleasant experience. However, in order to understand the purpose of his art we must acknowledge his past.