Diego Rivera Research Paper

Cubist painter Diego Rivera had become a great success at this time in Europe, but the happenings in the world at the time would strongly change his work style. With the inspiration of political ideals in the Mexican Revolution (1914-15) and the Russian Revolution (1917), Diego Rivera had a mission to make art that reflected the lives of the working class as well as the native peoples of Mexico. Rivera soon developed an interest in designing murals during a trip to Italy. He found inspiration in the Renaissance frescos that were in Italy that he saw during his trip By the year of 1930, Diego Rivera had an international favor for his passionate and lush murals. He was inspired by Communistic ideas and he had an intense
Rivera believed that his friendship with Rockefeller’s family would allow him to add an unapproved picture of the Soviet leader of the time named Vladimir Lenin into the section of his painting that portrayed a May Day parade. However, Rivera did not know that the real decision is with the Center’s building managers, and they hated it. They ordered Rivera to remove Lenin’s image after building management found articles attacking the mural's anti-capitalist ideology. Rivera refused, but he did offer to balance the work with an image of Abraham Lincoln on the opposing side. The managers wouldn’t do it, so they paid his full fee, barred him from the site, and they hid the mural behind a drape. Compromisers, who were supporters of Rivera, attempted to take the work to the Museum of Modern Art, but it was to no avail. Around midnight on the day of February 10th, 1934, Rockefeller Center workmen destroyed the mural with axes. Later, Rivera got the opportunity to recreate the frescoes in the Palace of Fine Arts in Mexico City, and he did, completing what he had originally started. Never again did Diego Rivera paint in the United States, but he did continue to be active in both artistic and political arenas, all the way to his death in the year of