Diego Rivera

Diego Rivera was a Mexican painter who produced murals on social themes. He was born in Guanajuato and educated in Mexico City. He studied painting in Europe between 1907 and 1921. Rivera returned to Mexico in 1921 and became prominent in the country's revival of mural painting. Believing art should serve working people and be readily available to them, he concentrated on creating large frescoes portraying the history and social problems of Mexico. He painted them on the walls of public buildings, including the National Palace in Mexico City (1929) and the Palace of Cortes in Cuernavaca (1930). Greatly influenced by indigenous Mexican art, Rivera's murals are simple and bold and, as social comment, have aroused much controversy among political and religious groups in both the United States and Mexico.