Diego Rivera: constructing a myth

Abstract

Diego Rivera was a master of creating visual languages to express his ideas and beliefs. Throughout his life, he actively sought to define Mexican culture and his life through his art and his writing. Much of how he is remembered today: visionary, rebel, lover; and how Mexico is known to the world: exotic, colorful, cultural, was carefully crafted through Rivera's artistic efforts. Rivera created a visual identity for Mexican culture by cultivating a mythology for the nation that in many ways became synonymous with his own life. He fostered a sense of Mexicanidad, or pride in one's Mexican identity by looking to his country's pre-Columbian heritage as well as its indigenous population and working classes for inspiration. Rivera's work referenced these groups in both style and subject, and in his murals, the ordinary people of Mexico were made extraordinary, modern heroes through the eyes of Diego Rivera. The language he created, however, was meticulously crafted to serve both his artistic and political agendas. Even as he incorporated ancient pre-Columbian imagery into his work, Rivera created a visual and cultural identity for a new, modern Mexico.