Mexican muralism

Mexican muralism was the art movement that, after the Revolution, covered public buildings with huge paintings about Mexico’s history and people. Its central figures were “the big three”: Diego Rivera, José Clemente Orozco and David Alfaro Siqueiros.

Diego Rivera (1886–1957) is the most famous muralist; between 1929 and 1935 he painted the murals of the main staircase of the National Palace, which tell Mexico’s history from pre-Hispanic times. José Clemente Orozco (1883–1949), with a dramatic, tragic vision, painted the “Man of Fire” at the Hospicio Cabañas in Guadalajara. David Alfaro Siqueiros (1896–1974), a political activist and technical innovator, created “The March of Humanity” at the Polyforum Cultural Siqueiros.

Rufino Tamayo (1899–1991), whose work was less political, also painted murals: Dualidad (1964), at the National Museum of Anthropology, shows Quetzalcóatl, the feathered serpent, fighting Tezcatlipoca in the form of a jaguar.