La Catrina

José Guadalupe Posada (1852–1913) was a printmaker from Aguascalientes famous for his satirical calaveras (skull figures). Around 1910 he created the elegant skeleton originally called ‘La Calavera Garbancera,’ mocking people who denied their indigenous roots and pretended to be European.

Diego Rivera later gave her a full body, an elegant dress and the name ‘Catrina’ in his 1947 mural Dream of a Sunday Afternoon in Alameda Park, and she became an icon of the Day of the Dead.