Muralismo en México

Muralism was an artistic movement that started in Mexico in the 1920s. In the 1920s and 1930s, Mexico was experiencing post-Revolutionary political changes after the 1910-1917 Revolution. In 1921, the Mexican government commissioned Diego Rivera, José Clemente Orozco, and David Alfaro Siqueiros to paint huge murals on the walls of public buildings. This was part of a cultural program designed to promote art among the entire population. The project began the Mexican Mural Renaissance.



One goal of the murals was to make the artwork accessible to all people; everybody that would walk by the building could enjoy the art work. They were also used as a form of propaganda: artists painted murals to express their political beliefs and other social themes.




Of the great three, Diego Rivera is the most well-known. He was born in 1886 in Guanajuato, Mexico. Rivera was member of the Mexican Communist Party, and he portrayed his communist beliefs through his art.

Jose Clemente Orozco was born in 1883 in Zapotlán el Grande, Mexico. He used art to depict the truth, using realism techniques. He showed man’s fascination with machinery, as well as the suffering of the oppressed. Orozco spent 10 years painting in the United States. He returned to Mexico in 1934 and painted the "Man of Fire," which is on the interior walls of the Hospicio Cabañas in Guadalajara and it is considered his masterpiece.


David Alfaro Siqueiros was born in 1896 in Chihuahua, Mexico. He began his political career early, and he frequently spoke and acted out against the government. Siqueiros was an active Marxist, and he often painted about the struggle against fascism, as well as the oppression of all people. Like Rivera and Orozco, Siqueiros studied and painted in the United States and Europe as well as in Mexico.