The History of Mexico (mural)

Mural by Diego Rivera in Mexico City, Mexico

The History of Mexico – mural in the National Palace in Mexico City

The History of Mexico is a mural in the stairwell of the National Palace in Mexico City by Diego Rivera. Produced between 1929 and 1935, the mural depicts Mexico's history from ancient times to the present, with particular emphasis on the struggles of the common Mexican people fighting against the Spanish, the French, and the dictators that controlled the country at different points in its history.

## History

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See also: Mexican muralism

Government-sponsored murals were commissioned after the end of the Mexican Revolution, mainly in Mexico City and surrounding areas between 1923 and 1939 to celebrate the overthrow of the Porfirio Diaz dictatorship.[1] The government commissioned various artists, most famously José Clemente Orozco, David Alfaro Siqueiros, and Rivera himself to paint scenes about Mexican history.[2] Rivera began painting The History of Mexico in August 1929 in the stairwells of the National Palace. It took six years to complete.[3]

## Description

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The mural consists of three distinct sections across three walls, thematically divided in chronological order: ancient Mexico, the colonial past to the present, and the future. The murals are huge, some as large as 70 meters by 9 meters.

### North wall

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This section of the mural depicts ancient Aztec culture. An image of the sun, which was the center of the world in the Aztec religion is shown. Below the sun are a pyramid and an Aztec leader. The everyday lives of the Aztecs are also shown in detail: artisans weaving and making pottery, mothers carrying babies, painting on scrolls, and calligraphy. Religious practices such as dances to the Sun God and the worship of snakes and jaguars are also shown. Rivera also included geographical features such as the volcanoes around the Valley of Mexico, as well corn and other crops.

### West wall

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The History of Mexico

The west wall forms the central part of the mural and summarizes the history of Mexico as a series of conflicts, rebellions, and revolution against oppression. Common Mexicans and Indians revolt against the Spanish, French, and various dictators, especially Porfirio Diaz.

The bottom of the wall shows Aztecs and other Indians fighting valiantly against conquistador Hernán Cortés and his army.[4] In the middle, the Spaniards attempt to destroy the Aztec religion by obliterating sacred books and religious images during the Inquisition. The left and right sides of the wall depict the colonial period, including the rape of a Native American woman by a Spaniard conquistador.[4] This section also illustrates the Natives that supported the Spanish in their conquest. Adjacent are scenes of Natives working as slaves for the Spaniards, making weapons, constructing walls and buildings (including the National Palace itself), and providing food.[4] This part also portrays the destruction and attempted assimilation of Native American culture by the Spaniards, including a depiction of Catholic conversion.

The center of the wall is a large eagle with a serpent in its mouth, a symbol of both Aztec culture and modern Mexico.

The upper corners of the wall depict the Second French intervention in Mexico and the triumph of president Benito Juarez over emperor Maximilian, whose execution is shown. The upper center shows images of the Mexican Revolution itself and the victorious peasant armies of revolution leaders Emiliano Zapata and Pancho Villa, adorned with a red banner displaying the anarchist slogan "Tierra y Libertad" ("Land and Liberty").

### South wall

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This part of the mural depicts an imaginary future of Mexico. It shows factories, the Soviet flag (Rivera and the government at the time were socialists), workers, Karl Marx the Communist Manifesto, and an image of Rivera's wife Frida Kahlo. Kahlo and her sister Cristina are shown as socialist teachers bringing a glorious future to school children.[4]

## Interpretation

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Art historian Leonard Folgarait notes that Rivera depicts the rich and foreigners who took over Mexico as evil, while the poor, peasants, Native American, farmers and workers are on the side of good and freedom.[3] Given the context of post-Revolutionary Mexico, the mural could thus be seen as a declaration that the revolution had finally brought justice to the Mexican people who had long been oppressed by foreign powers and national dictators, while simultaneously emphasizing his vision of the culture of Mexico – bright colors, rich traditions, and old customs.[3]

## See also

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* List of works by Diego Rivera

## References

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1. ^ Kenny, John Eugene (2006). The Chicano Mural movement of the Southwest: Populist public art and Chicano political activism (PhD). University of New Orleans. OCLC 3253092.
2. ^ Rochfort, Desmond. Mexican Muralists. United States: Chronicle Boks LLC, 1998. Print
3. ^ a b c Folgarait, Leonard. Mural Painting and Social Revolution in Mexico, 1920–1940 Art of the New Order. United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press, 1998. print
4. ^ a b c d Rivera, Luis-Martin Lozano & Juan Rafael Coronel. Diego Rivera The Complete Murals. Italy: TASCHEN GmbH, 2008. Print

* v
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Diego Rivera

List of works

Murals|

* History of Morelos, Conquest and Revolution (1929–1930)
* The History of Mexico (1929–1935)
* Pan American Unity (1940)
* Sueño de una Tarde Dominical en la Alameda Central (1946–1947)

Frescoes|

* Detroit Industry Murals (1932–1933)
* Man at the Crossroads (1933, 1934)

Other paintings|

* The Rivals (1931)
* Zapata (1932)
* Glorious Victory (1954)

Museums|

* Anahuacalli Museum
* Frida Kahlo Museum
* Museo Dolores Olmedo
* Museo Mural Diego Rivera
* Pinacoteca Diego Rivera

Cultural
depictions|

* Frieda and Diego Rivera (1931 painting)
* The Two Fridas (1939 painting)
* Diego and I (1949 painting)
* The Love Embrace (1949 painting)
* Frida Still Life (1983 film)
* Frida (1991 opera)
* Diego et Frida (1993 book)
* Cradle Will Rock (1999 film)
* Frida (2002 film)
* Broken Wings (2016 ballet)
* Frida (2024 film)

Related|

* Angelina Beloff  (1st wife)
* Guadalupe Marín (2nd wife)
* Frida Kahlo (3rd wife)
* Marie Vorobieff (conjugal partner)
* Marika Rivera (daughter)
* Ruth Rivera Marín (daughter)
* Cristina Kahlo (model and sister-in-law)
* Tina Modotti (model)
* Diego Rivera Gallery

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Frida Kahlo

Paintings|

* Self-portrait in a Velvet Dress (1926)
* Frieda and Diego Rivera (1931)
* Henry Ford Hospital (1932)
* My Dress Hangs There (1933)
* Memory, the Heart (1937)
* Self-Portrait Dedicated to Leon Trotsky (1937)
* The Frame (1938)
* Self-Portrait with Monkey (1938)
* The Suicide of Dorothy Hale (1938)
* What the Water Gave Me (1938)
* The Two Fridas (1939)
* Two Nudes in a Forest (1939)
* Self-Portrait with Thorn Necklace and Hummingbird (1940)
* The Wounded Table (1940)
* The Broken Column (1944)
* The Wounded Deer (1946)
* Self Portrait with Loose Hair (1947)
* Diego and I (1949)
* The Love Embrace of the Universe, the Earth (Mexico), Myself, Diego, and Señor Xolotl (1949)

Works about Kahlo|

* Frida Still Life (1983 film)
* Frida: A Biography of Frida Kahlo (1983)
* Frida (1991 opera)
* Diego et Frida (1993 biography)
* Frida (2002 film)
* Broken Wings (2016 ballet)
* Frida (2024 film)

Other depictions|

* The History of Mexico (1935 mural)
* Pan American Unity (1940 mural)
* Dream of a Sunday Afternoon in the Alameda Central (1947 mural)
* Cradle Will Rock (1999 film)
* Coco (2017 animated film)

Related|

* Frida Kahlo Home and Museum
* Diego Rivera (husband)
* Cristina Kahlo (sister)
* Guillermo Kahlo (father)
* Museo Dolores Olmedo

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Public art in Mexico City

Murals

* Day and Night
* Still Life
* Sueño de una Tarde Dominical en la Alameda Central
* The History of Mexico

Sculptures and monuments

* Abraham Lincoln: The Man
* Antimonumenta
* Antimonumento +43
* Antimonumento +65
* Antimonumento +72
* Antimonumento 49 ABC
* Ariadna abandonada
* Bench of Fidel Castro and Che Guevara
* Bust of Albert Einstein
* Bust of Cuauhtémoc
* Bust of Pedro Domingo Murillo
* Dolor
* El Sereno
* Equestrian statue of Charles IV of Spain
* Equestrian statue of Francisco I. Madero
* Flor de Fango
* Fountain to Bartolomé de las Casas
* Fuente de Cibeles
* Fuente de los Cántaros
* Isaac
* Memorial to Victims of Violence in Mexico
* Monument to Christopher Columbus (Buenavista)
* Monument to Enrico Martínez
* Monument to Lázaro Cárdenas
* Monument to Pope John Paul II
* Monumento a la Raza
* Monumento a la Revolución
* Monumento a los Indios Verdes
* Monumento a los Niños Héroes
* Monumento al perro callejero
* Monumento de la Fundación de México-Tenochtitlan
* Mother's Monument
* Museo Cabeza de Juárez
* Obelisco a los Niños Héroes
* País de volcanes
* Ruta de la Amistad
* Statue of Franklin D. Roosevelt
* Statue of José Gervasio Artigas
* Statue of George Washington
* Statue of León Felipe
* Statue of Louis Pasteur
* Statue of Martin Luther King Jr.
* Statue of Paul P. Harris
* Statue of Tin Tan
* Statue of Vicente Guerrero
* Statues of Pegasus
* The Eye of Mexico
* Un Pescador

| Alameda Central|

* Beethoven Monument
* Benito Juárez Hemicycle
* Fountain of Mercury
* Fountain of Neptune
* Fountain of Venus
* Fountain of Virgin
* Gladiador frigio
* Gladiador romano
* La Primavera
* Las Danaides
* Malgré Tout
* Statue of Alexander von Humboldt

|

Paseo de la Reforma|

* Angel of Independence
* Antimonumenta Vivas Nos Queremos
* Diana the Huntress Fountain
* El Ángel de la Seguridad Social
* El Caballito
* Estela de Luz
* Fuente de la República
* How Doth the Little Crocodile
* Monument to Christopher Columbus†
* Monument to Cuauhtémoc
* Mustafa Kemal Atatürk Monument
* Puerta 1808
* Rescatemos a David y Miguel
* Statue of Heydar Aliyev†
* The Young Woman of Amajac

Related|

* Tlalli

Key: † No longer extant or on public display

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Mexican muralism

Murals|

* History of Morelos, Conquest and Revolution (1929-1930)
* The History of Mexico (1929-1935)
* Prometheus (1930)
* América Tropical: Oprimida y Destrozada por los Imperialismos (1932)
* Detroit Industry Murals (1932-1933)
* The Epic of American Civilization (1932-1934)
* Man at the Crossroads (1934)
* Pan American Unity (1940)
* Sueño de una Tarde Dominical en la Alameda Central (1946-1947)
* Day and Night (1954)
* Still Life (1954)
* La Marcha de la Humanidad (1960s)

Museums|

* Museo Mural Diego Rivera
* San Ildefonso College

Artists|

* Diego Rivera
* David Alfaro Siqueiros
* José Clemente Orozco
* Alfredo Ramos Martínez
* Roberto Montenegro
* Federico Cantú
* Fernando Leal
* Rufino Tamayo
* Jorge González Camarena
* Desiderio Hernández Xochitiotzin
* Pedro Nel Gómez
* Juan O'Gorman
* Pablo O'Higgins
* José Chávez Morado
* Jean Charlot
* Ramón Alva de la Canal
* Raúl Anguiano
* Amado de la Cueva
* Fermín Revueltas
* Benito Messeguer
* Vlady Kibalchich Russakov
* Alfredo Zalce
* Manuel Rodriguez Lozano
* Jorge Figueroa Acosta
* Arnold Belkin
* Carlos Mérida
* Leopoldo Flores

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