3 Mexican Artists Who Painted Political Murals

The emergence of celebrated murals occurred after the end of a complex revolution fueled by rebellion against inequality and a grueling dictatorship. The fall of Mexican dictator Porfirio Diaz prompted the rise of a society determined to cultivate social, cultural, and economic betterment through government reform, such as a literacy initiative intended to combat the low literacy rates in Mexico and educate the public on the country’s history. Given the low literacy rates, there was no better way to educate the masses on the nation’s history than through massive illuminating murals created by Mexican artists.

Diego Rivera, David Alfaro Siqueiros, and José Clemente Orozco were the chosen three Mexican artists who were commissioned by the newly appointed secretary of public education, José Vasconcelos, to illustrate the history and future of a resilient nation. Although all artists were employed to paint murals, each had a distinct style and approach behind their socio-politically charged pieces that began to emerge on the walls of the public domain rapidly.

Diego Rivera is perhaps the most popular of the Mexican trio, often recognized as the leader of the Mural movement, as well as for his intense and controversial relationship with Mexican painter Frida Khalo, Rivera began to study art at the young age of 10 after receiving funding from a government scholarship to pursue his studies. His education in art eventually led him to Europe, where he became peers with artistic giants like Pablo Picasso and revered writers like André Breton, whose Surrealist Manifesto of 1924 recognized him as one of the principal founders of the movement.

One of Rivera’s most famous and beloved murals is adorned on the walls of the National Palace in Mexico City. He began the government-commissioned project in 1929, 8 years after Vasconcelos was appointed and 9 years after the revolution. The History of Mexico is a grand mural divided into three parts along the walls of the palace’s staircase and is a testament to the nation’s resilience throughout history.

In this section of the mural, Rivera commemorates Aztec culture on the North wall by painting the Mexica. These indigenous people lived and thrived in central Mexico before the Spanish invasion took place. A giant golden sun peeks into the frame from the top of the wall and shines over the Mexica, who engage in crafts such as weaving and painting, religious dances, and other practices.

The West wall depicts a summarized history of the nation’s challenges and adversity, including the fight against oppressive forces, dictators like Porfirio Diaz, and the French invasion. Notably, the mural presents the Indigenous struggle against Spanish colonization and religious assimilation, showing the Mexica fighting against a well-known oppressor, Hernan Cortez, and resisting religious conversion and exploitation. Revolutionary leaders such as Emiliano Zapata and Pancho Villa are included as representations of the working class and the peasant-led forces that led the nation to freedom against the long-standing dictatorship of Diaz and the later implementation of labor rights and educational reform under a reconstructed nation.

Central to Rivera’s mural is his interpretation of Mexican history under a Marxist lens. Rivera was a proud member of the Mexican Communist Party. In 1927, he even traveled to Moscow after receiving an invitation to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the October Revolution, the revolution that led to the inauguration of the Soviet regime. The South wall showcases Rivera’s hopes for a unified socialist Mexico: Carl Marx holds his Communist Manifesto, the Soviet flag is raised by workers, and his wife Frida teaches socialism to children.

David Alfaro Siqueiros was an outspoken artist with a background rooted in militancy. From a young age, Siqueiros’ rebellious disposition was evident, involving himself in student protests at the National Academy of Fine Arts. His radical spirit persisted into adulthood when he joined the Constitutional Army, which fought against the federal army and for a more democratic constitution.

Siqueiros grew up well-acquainted with the struggles of the laboring class, and his military travels exposed him to the depressing realities of rural poverty. Later on, after the revolution, he traveled to Europe where, in Paris, he met Diego Rivera for the first time and came across the cubist influences of artists like Paul Cezanne.

Even more so than Rivera, Siqueiros was a dedicated communist and was also a member of the Mexican Communist Party. His commitment to communism was very much present in his art and politics, the two fiery forces of his life that intertwined and greatly shaped his murals. In 1934, the Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City was inaugurated, a significant and celebrated building in Mexican society with a grand Neoclassical exterior and an ornamented Art Deco interior. Ten years after its inauguration, Siqueiros was commissioned to paint a mural inside as part of the ongoing initiative to promote the arts and educate the masses.

New Democracy (1944) is the center mural of a triptych located on the second-floor gallery of the palace. The massive allegorical piece is just as imposing in its message, a representation of triumph over fascism after victory against fascist armies in World War II. The fresco features a woman with an exposed chest emerging from an industrialized landscape with her arms extended forward, punching through the scene and freeing herself from restraints tethered by tyranny. She wears a Phrygian cap, a symbol of freedom, and one hand bears a burning torch while the other holds a white flower. Her pained expression and physical exertion allude to the weight of the triumph, one that the artist views as incomplete, as the shackles remain tied to her wrists and the war against fascism prevails.

Siqueiros’ interest in technological innovations and futurism is present in his murals. His dynamic composition adheres to social realist approaches, but his quick-drying techniques and industrial paints distinguish him from Rivera and Orozco. Yet, like them, he was a firm believer in art existing as a social tool, pushing forward the belief that art could serve as an educational instrument to empower people.

Orozco was a complex painter whose evocative murals reflect his experiences with war and poverty. Orozco grew up in a struggling working-class family in the small city of Zapotlán el Grande, Mexico, and later moved to Mexico City in 1890. It was there where Orozco’s fascination with art began. He recalled observing José Guadalupe Posada, a Mexican lithographer known for his political prints brought to life in a public open shop window on his way to school. He considered his encounters with Posada pivotal in his decision to pursue art. Orozco went on to become an illustrator for the same Constitutional army and it was through his work with them that he was exposed to life-altering bloodshed that impacted the way he later interpreted the revolution through his art.

The Trench (1926) is part of a series of murals Orozco painted at the National Preparatory School in 1926 dealing with dark depictions of sexual, religious, and national violence. The mural was painted after Vasconcelos resigned from his position as Secretary of Public Education due to his objection to the election of President Plutarco Elias Calles, whose belief that the church should be separated from secular institutions made him a polarizing figure in the nation. Calles’ reformation prompted changes not only in institutions but also in the methods and imagery the muralists used in their frescoes, as they opted for more modernist styles and approaches.

This was apparent in the mural, where Orozco presents a modernist theatrical interpretation of the violence the revolution yielded. His somber dramatic setting and exaggerated bodies demonstrate expressionist influences, with the three soldiers freely plummeting down in defeat. Nonetheless, the composition of the figures is reminiscent of the crucifixion, retaining the traditional Catholic imagery familiar to Mexican society.

Orozco was the most cynical of the three; his murals instilled themes of human suffering and the darker realities of the war. In Orozco’s works, the revolution was not a glorified battle that was won by the people but a battlefield of chaos and loss, one that remains embedded in the scenes of his murals. It was evident that the violence he witnessed, in conjunction with the challenges of the revolution that affected the working-class people, effectively revolutionized him and his art.

The many murals that Los Tres Grande completed remain in public buildings across Mexico, reflecting the artists’ belief that art should be a democratic form of expression. In 1924, a union was formed by a group of artists called the Sindicato de Obreros Técnicos Pintores y Escultores (Technical Workers, Painters, and Sculptors Union). In June of the same year, they released a manifesto that was published in the popular magazine El Machete, which was signed by Rivera, Alfaro, and Orosco. One line in particular read: Art and politics were inseparable, like soldiers, farmers, and workers — the essence of revolutionary power.