Title: Diego Rivera's Murals | History Detectives | PBS
Headings: Diego Rivera's Murals
Feature Diego Rivera's Murals
Diego Rivera's Murals

Content: Only a few years later his style changed. Inspired by the work of Cezanne he began to make Post-Impressionist paintings using simple shapes and vivid colors. His work began to attract more attention and some was exhibited. After spending some time studying in Italy, where he experimented with frescoes, Rivera returned to Mexico, where he became involved with a government mural program in 1921. The new Secretary of Public Education José Vasconcelos was an advocate of education through public art and he commissioned the creation of murals on several government buildings. Shortly after Rivera joined the Revolutionary Union of Technical Workers, Painters and Sculptors and he started to only paint his murals in fresco. Rivera believed that painting murals on the walls of public buildings made art accessible to the everyday man. His murals focused on telling stories that dealt with Mexican society and referenced the revolution of 1910. It featured large forms, bright colors and recurring images of farmers, laborers, popular Mexican figures and depictions of earth. He rose to international success with his vivid and beautiful compositions, alongside fellow Mexicans David Alfaro Siquieros and José Clemente Orozco.