Diego Rivera is a painter and muralist. Biography of Diego Rivera. Famous Mexican artist Diego Rivera and his very stormy personal life (16 photos) Artist Diego Rivera biography

Diego Rivera and his twin brother Carlos was born in well a wealthy family in northwestern Mexico in the small town of Guanajuato December 8, 1886. Carlos died at the age of 2, Diego found himself the only child in the family. Information about the father is contradictory. At the age of 3, Diego began to paint, but was dissatisfied work in albums, he moved to the walls. Instead of punish him, his parents made a board and gave chalk, subsequently and canvas into the use of a young artist.

Diego's mother, Maria Barrientos, whom Diego called "diminutive, almost childish, with large with innocent eyes"madly in connection with the deathher son, in order to overcome depression, began to actively study obstetrics, forgetting about little Diego. During this time, Diego's health condition suffered greatly, he fell ill with rickets, which led to a deformation of the skeleton.

Diego's relatives were sent to live in the mountains with his nanny Antonia, an Indian. " Visually for the artist she was perfect Indian woman and I drew her many times from memory in my long red robe and blue handkerchief. "Diego called her a healer, she used herbs and rituals to heal him and allow him to roam the forest. It was because of her that Diego created many paintings depicting indigenous peoples. From the age of ten, he began to study painting, surprising teachers with a non-childish attitude to creativity and undoubted talent. At the beginning of the twentieth century, having received a scholarship from the Academy of Arts in Mexico City, Diego went to continue his education in Europe. entered the Academy San Carlos, where he received 30 pesos a month from the governor.

In 1904 Mexican artist returned from his travel to Europe.It was difficult to surprise Europe with talents at the beginning of the last century, but Rivera burst into art swiftly and violently, plunging into painting as in another love story. But this novel was exceptional for him, as it lasted all his life. In Europe, he comprehended not only the wisdom of painting, but also the art of charming women. Friends, and among them were the artists Picasso, Reyes, Modigliani, the writer Ehrenburg, the terrorist Savinkov, gave the temperamental Mexican the nickname "cannibal", hinting at his ability to literally swallow women, and not frivolous simpletons, but social divas who took place in life and created for themselves name by their own talents. This is the original artist Maria Vorobyova-Stebelskaya, and the screen star Maria Felix, and many others. At the same time, he managed to simultaneously marry no less famous women.

The outstanding Mexican artist Diego Rivera became famous not only for his paintings, but also for his stormy love stories. He loved life in all its manifestations, and yet - he passionately loved women, with whom he enjoyed continued success. He literally enveloped women with charm, which he always expressed violently and emotionally. And at the same time, the most inveterate flatterer would not dare to call him handsome.

Diego loved to compare women with snow-white calla lilies - slender, fragrant, breathing the freshness of a sunny morning. He poured out his adoration of this flower on his canvases. With huge bouquets of white calla lilies, he emphasized the dark complexion of temperamental Mexican women and the exquisite beauty of languid secular beauties.

Other flowers rarely appeared on his canvases, but callas are always in abundance, women literally drown in their huge white buds.But his first official wife was the artist Angelina Belova.

Angelina Petrovna Belova (1890-1969) - Russian artist. Since 1909 she lived in Paris, where she became close to the artistic bohemia. In 1911 she married Diego Rivera. Their marriage lasted until 1918. In the 1920s, Belova worked in the genre of book graphics, illustrating "Fairy Tales" by Charles Perrault, "French Dreams with the Application of St. Francis "F. Zhamme," Russian girl Arina "K. Ane, draws for the magazine" Le Monde ". Her book graphics were exhibited at the Luxurious Book exhibition in 1923-1927 at the Book Museum in Brussels. Last years spent her life in Mexico. Both were with their son, who was dying of the flu in the fall of 1918. "She gave me everything that a woman can give a man. In turn, she received all the suffering from me. that a man can inflict on a woman. "

Angelina Belova loved Diego all her life, she wrote letters to him. Each letter contains a huge love for Diego, memories of life together, of their deceased son, of their thoughts, feelings and creativity.

In her letters, she often said that she was omexicanized, that now Diego is her God, Mexico is her Motherland, and Spanish is her native language... Living in Paris for many years, she dreamed of leaving for Mexico. And she did it. She came to Mexico when she was 45 and lived there for the rest of her life, until she was 89 ... and that when she and Diego met by chance somewhere in Mexico City, he pretended not to recognize her ...

While Rivera was married to Belova, he dated another Russian by an artist named Marevna (Maria Vorobyova-Stebelskaya ).A year after the death of his son , Marevna gave birth to a girl from him named Marika (which later became film actress and dancer). In the same year he met an artist David Alfaro Siqueiros and studied frescoes with him in Italy. Diego left for Mexico in June 1921, promising Marevna that he would send money for the child, he sometimes sent alimony, but never recognized his daughter as his ...

Maria Vorobyova-Stebelskaya was the daughter of a Jewish actress Roganovich, who married a certain Vorobyov. She was born in Cheboksary, in Chuvashia, in 1892. At the age of two, she was practically adopted by the Polish aristocrat Bronislaw Stebelski, an engineer who had come to work under a contract. Perhaps he was her real father, she did not remember either mother or Vorobyov. Stebelsky takes the child and is transferred to the Caucasus, where Maria spent her childhood. Getting a high school diploma turned out to be a real tragedy for her. She returned home in tears: why does the certificate say that she is Vorobyova when she is Stebelskaya? Sadly, the father told the girl her "biography", noting that he could not officially adopt her because he was a Catholic. At the age of eighteen, Maria leaves alone for Moscow, attends the School of Decorative Arts, meets the artists. Then her path leads through Rome and the island of Capri to Paris The fabulous name Marevna of nineteen-year-old Maria Vorobyeva-Stebelskaya was invented by Maxim Gorky. The girl traveled to Italy and ended up in Capri. “No one will ever have such a name, be proud and justify it. But you shouldn't go to Paris, there you will get sick, ”the proletarian writer admonished the young artist.

Portrait of Marevna by Modigliani.

Marevna lived on Capri for six stormy months, and this was the beginning of her long life in exile. Behind her were Cheboksary, where she was born, Tiflis, where she graduated from an art school, then a year of study at the Stroganov School in Moscow. But her real artistic life began only with her arrival in Paris, when she settled in Montparnasse. Maria Vorobyova-Stebelskaya was practically unknown in Russia for a long time. Only after the exhibition at the Tretyakov Gallery in 2004 and the publication of her memoirs did her name become heard, and the paintings began to be successfully sold at auctions, although they did not reach the millions of dollars in which the works of her friends were estimated. During her lifetime, a significant part of her work was bought from the artist herself by the Petit Palais Museum of Contemporary Art in Geneva.

One of the most attractive habitats of early 20th century French bohemians was the Beehive, a famous squat of Parisian artists. These were workshops that were set up in Montparnasse by the sculptor Alfred Boucher in 1902. Mostly people from of Eastern Europe making their way into artists. Among those who later became famous, one can name Soutine, Chagall, Pascin, Zadkine ... Everyone has been here - from Picasso to Hemingway and Eisenstein. Marc Chagall later recalled: “A diverse artistic bohemia lived here. In the workshops of the Russians, an offended model sobbed, the Italians sang to the guitar, the Jews argued heatedly, and I sat alone in front of a kerosene lamp. Around there are paintings, canvases - actually not canvases, but my tablecloths, sheets and nightgowns, cut into pieces and stretched on stretchers ... In the "Hive" you could either die or leave there famous. "

Once in Paris, Marevna plunged headlong into artistic life. During the day, she went to classes at the Russian Academy of Maria Vasilyeva, as well as at the academies of Zuloaga and Colarossi, and spent evenings surrounded by her friends-artists, as well as writers Maximilian Voloshin and Boris Savinkov. Paris of that time is full of legends and stories that were created literally before our eyes. This could not fail to fascinate the young lady. Her first friends were Chaim Soutine and Amadeo Modigliani.

Modigliani smoked hashish, stripped naked in front of pale English women, showing his naked body: “Look at the magnificent example of the Renaissance,” they groaned and got drunk.

In her memoirs in the 50s, she published three books in a row - Marevna described how, after another nightly orgy, one of the girls strips naked and climbs under the icy stream of the fountain. Everyone is delighted with this picture, shouting "hurray!" and declare their love to the girl. "In the golden light of the rising sun, a pink-red, with long flowing hair, immortal Venus was born in streams of water." “Then I found out,” Marevna wrote, “that as a result of this trick the girl contracted pneumonia and a few days later she died in the hospital.” The flip side of bohemian life was poverty and disease. On January 24, 1920, Modigliani died of tuberculous meningitis, his lover, mad with grief, threw herself out of a fourth-floor window in her ninth month of pregnancy. On the eve of the opening day, Jules Pascin, who always doubts his talent, hanged himself in the studio ...

Chaim Soutine became one of Marevna's closest friends. He admired her with his unconditional genius, crazy gleam in his eyes. Sometimes he did not have a piece of bread, he knocked on the neighbors and then again locked himself in the workshop, painting his pictures with love and passion. Maximilian Voloshin took care of her almost like a father, there was much touching and tender in this. “Voloshin was short, stout and wide ... - wrote Marevna. - His head looked like a lion's, while Ehrenburg's head reminded me of a big monkey ... When they walked together down the rue de la Gaet ... someone looked at them and said: “Hey, look at these two big monkeys! " And if Diego Rivera and myself were with them, then you could hear from the street boys: “Hey, guys! Yes, then the circus appeared! Two monkeys, a fat elephant and a girl from The Three Musketeers! "

Diego Rivera Marevna first saw in a cafe in Montparnasse. His fame as an artist was still far ahead, but while he was known for his temperament and love for the female sex, for which Boris Savinkov gave him the nickname "cannibal", hinting at the ability to "absorb" the female sex. Ilya Ehrenburg wrote: “In 1917, Rivera was unexpectedly carried away by Marevna, whom he had known for a long time. Their characters were similar - hot-tempered, childish, sensitive. Two years later, Marevna had a daughter, Marika ... ”Marevna lived with Diego for six years, until he left for Mexico and married the artist Frida Kahlo there. Rivera was a staunch communist. In 1927, he even came to the USSR, where he met with Stalin and later found himself embroiled in an adventure with the assassination of Trotsky. It was he and Frida Kahlo who invited Trotsky to Mexico and provided him with their parents' house in the suburbs of the capital Coyoacan. In the house of Rivera, the first attempt on Trotsky's life took place, organized by a friend of Diego Rivera, also a monumental artist David Siqueiros. Rivera himself was then in the United States. “He was never constant in his actions, drawn by lust and passion for women,” writes Marevna, “even he left the Communist Party twice, returning there with letters of repentance.”

Daughter Marik.

Marika was born in Paris on November 13, 1919. never publicly recognized his daughter also because Picasso made him jealous, stroking Marevna's stomach during pregnancy and telling him:

"This is not yours, this is mine."

Left alone, Marevna found herself in a very difficult position. Paintings were bought infrequently. And then Marevna decided to try herself in weaving decorative belts and shawls. She collaborated with the Irfe fashion house, created by Princess Yusupova, made sketches for Paul Poiret and even showed them at exhibitions. In 1925, at an exhibition of arts and crafts in Paris, she exhibited them in the Soviet pavilion. “The Russian shawls of Marevna are united by their wildness, primitiveness and fashion ... There is something spring, spontaneous, free and frank in Marevna's creations, which pleases ...”, wrote the Parisian fashion magazine L'Ar vivant in 1927.

She returned to painting, and in 1936 Modigliani's discoverer Leopold Zborowski organized one of the first large exhibitions for her. In 1948 she moved to England with her daughter. Another interest in her was caused by her memoirs, in which she described in detail the life of the Parisian bohemia. Many of her stories have become iconic, and her paintings, even without being masterpieces, have ended up in the collections of the largest museums in the world.

In later canvases, she returned to drawing portraits of her friends of her youth, and they are perceived in many ways precisely as a tribute to this period of artistic history..

Portrait of the artist's wife Frida Kahlo.

He was not so close spiritually with any of the women he loved ...

But the main thing in the artist's life was not women, but creativity. He managed to work in various styles, in his youth he even "dabbled" in cubism.

In the early 20s of the last century, he joined the state program for decorating with frescoes public buildings in Mexico, creating his own style of monumental painting. During this period, he joined the Communist Party, believing that his art directly addresses the people. By and large, it was so, in his frescoes he depicted the people's life, the hard work of ordinary people, the struggle of the Mexicans for independence.

In the center of the composition, of course, Frida Kahlo

By the beginning of the 30s, the artist already had international recognition, and soon he was invited to the United States to paint public buildings. In 1931, his major solo exhibition took place in the New York Museum of Modern Art. Landscapes, portraits and paintings dedicated to the life of the Indians were especially popular among Americans. From that time on, Rivera's exhibitions began to be held frequently, invariably arousing great public interest. It so happened that a significant number of works by the communist artist ended up in museums and private collections in the United States. Rich lovers of painting were not interested in Rivera's ideological preferences; they saw in him only a talented painter.

The artist's capacity for work was amazing. He found time for everything - for creativity, and for social work, and for teaching. Rivera was seriously involved in the training of national artists, as the dean of the Mexican School of Painting. They say that he behaved quite decently towards female students.

Artist Diego Rivera died on November 25, 1957 in Mexico City, three years after the death of his wife Frida Kahlo. The creative heritage of the outstanding master is enormous; it is paintings, drawings and large-scale frescoes that adorn buildings in several countries. Interest in his work does not fade away, in museums in front of his paintings are always crowded. Among other works of the painter, the constant interest of the audience is caused by canvases with unnaturally large snow-white calla lilies, which he always adored so much painter.

Diego María de la Concepción Juan Nepomuseno Estanislao de la Rivera and Barrientos Acosta and Rodrigues (Spanish Diego María de la Concepción Juan Nepomuceno Estanislaexgueo de la Riveíra y Barrientos Acosta, December 18; leftist politician.

Diego Rivera was born on December 8, 1886 in the city of Guanajuato in northwestern Mexico into a wealthy family. On the paternal side, he came from the Spanish nobility. Diego had a twin brother who died at the age of two. His mother was a Converso, a Jewish woman whose ancestors were converted to Catholicism ..

From 1896 to 1902, Rivera took drawing and painting lessons at the San Carlos Academy of Arts in Mexico City. He was awarded a scholarship that allowed him to travel to Spain. From 1907 to 1921 he lived in Europe. He studied at the Academy of Arts in Madrid (1907), then lived and worked in Paris (1909-1920), in Italy (1920-1921), also visited Belgium, the Netherlands and Great Britain. He was closely acquainted with the Parisian artistic elite, including Pablo Picasso and Alfonso Reyes.

For six months, Rivera's beloved was Marevna (real name Maria Bronislavovna Vorobyova-Stebelskaya (1892-1984)), a Russian artist and memoirist of Polish origin, who gave birth to his daughter Marika (1919), who later became an actress.

Rivera was influenced by both classical European fine art (he studied wall paintings of the XIV-XVI centuries) and modernism, in particular Cubism. Traditional Mexican art genres and styles are very close to him.

In 1922, Rivera joined the Mexican Communist Party, in the same year he married a second time, to Guadalupe Marin.

In 1927 the artist came to the USSR, where in 1928 he became a founding member of the "October" association.

Rivera participated in the celebration of the 10th anniversary of the Great October Socialist Revolution in Moscow. During the military parade and demonstration on this occasion on Red Square, he was on the podium of the Lenin Mausoleum. He made dozens of sketches of the participants in the celebration in Moscow. These drawings were featured in an exhibition of Rivera's work at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

Later, Rivera began to adhere to Trotskyist views, in 1929 he left the Mexican Communist Party and after Trotsky's arrival in Mexico gave him shelter in his home. Then a conflict arose between them. On August 7, 1939, Rivera was expelled from the Mexican section of the Trotskyist 4th International.

Over time, he took up a position in line with Stalin's course, and in 1954 he again joined the Mexican Communist Party.

Rivera worked in the United States from 1930-1934 and 1940. From 1922 he became one of the founders of the Mexican school of monumental painting, painting a huge number of walls of public buildings and creating in this regard a small form of fresco.

One of the main themes in Rivera's work is folklore, beliefs and customs of the people of Mexico, as well as the revolutionary movement in the country.

In 1932-1933, Rivera created the fresco "Man at the Crossroads" commissioned by the Rockefeller Center in New York. The most significant in this fresco, representing the world of capitalism as the world of exploitation of man by man and the world of socialism as the world of victorious workers, were the images of V.I.Lenin joining the hands of the workers and the demonstration on Red Square in Moscow.

The mural was destroyed in 1934 by the decision of the Rockefeller Center board (which was officially announced by the center) after Rivera refused to replace the image of Lenin with "an image of the face of an unknown person," as it was written in a letter from the center's lawyer. At the same time, Nelson Rockefeller did not pay the artist's fee. Later, the artist went to Detroit, where he made good money.

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Diego Rivera's life is a chain of conflicting events and facts. He is one of the most controversial and prominent cultural figures in Mexico.

He excited public opinion with his creativity, political views and personal life throughout the first half of the 20th century.

From the biography of the artist (1886-1957)

Diego Maria de la Concepción Juan Nepomuseno Estanislao de la Rivera and Barrientos Acosta and Rodriguez - this is his full name. The future artist was born on December 8, 1886 in the city of Guanajuato in northwestern Mexico in a well-to-do family. From 1896 to 1902 Rivera took drawing and painting lessons at the San Carlos Academy of Arts in Mexico City. From 1907 to 1921 he lived in Europe: he studied at the Academy of Arts in Madrid (1907), then lived and worked in Paris (1909-1920), Italy (1920-1921), Belgium, the Netherlands and Great Britain. Was closely acquainted with Pablo Picasso and Alfonso Reyes (Mexican writer).
Influenced by classical European art and modernism (mainly Cubism), as well as traditional Mexican art genres and styles.

D. Rivera "Adoration of Our Lady" (1913)
In 1922 Rivera joined the Mexican Communist Party.
In 1927 the artist visited the USSR and even became a founding member of the Oktyabr association here, participated in the celebration of the 10th anniversary of the October Socialist Revolution in Moscow, being on the platform of the Lenin Mausoleum. I made sketches of the participants of the celebration in Moscow.
Later, Rivera adopted Trotskyist views, left the Mexican Communist Party and, after Trotsky's arrival in Mexico, gave him shelter in his home. After a conflict between them in 1939, Rivera was expelled from the Mexican section of the Trotskyist 4th International.
Then, having become a supporter of Stalinism, in 1954 he again joined the Mexican Communist Party. In 1955-1956. the artist came to the USSR again.

D. Rivera "May Demonstration in Moscow" (1956)
Diego Rivera died on November 24, 1957 in Mexico City and is buried in the Rotunda of Eminent Persons.

Rotunda of outstanding personalities- a site on the territory of the Civic Pantheon Dolores in Mexico City. The ashes of the famous military, scientists, prominent cultural figures of Mexico are buried here.
Rivera was married three times. His last wife was the artist Frida Kahlo - the main woman of his life.

Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera. Photo of 1929

Diego Rivera's creativity

In 1922 he became one of the founders of the Mexican school of monumental painting, painted a huge number of walls in public buildings. He painted the buildings of the Ministry of Education (1923-1929), the Ministry of Health (1929-1930), the National Palace (1929-1950s), the Prado Hotel in Mexico City (1947-1948), the National Agricultural School in Chapingo (1926-1927 ), the Cortés Palace in Cuernavaca (1929-1930), the Institute of Arts in Detroit (1932-1933), the Insurgentes Theater (1951-1953), the Olympic Stadium in Mexico City (1952-1953), the Lerma River Water Distribution Chamber (1951-1953) ).

Olympic Stadium in Mexico City
In the 1930s, he became one of the most famous painters in Mexico.
One of the main themes in Rivera's work is folklore, beliefs and customs of the people of Mexico, the events of the revolutionary movement in the country.
In 1932-1933. commissioned by the Rockefeller Center in New York, Rivera created the fresco "Man at the Crossroads." It depicted V. I. Lenin joining the hands of the workers and demonstrations on Red Square in Moscow.

D. Rivera "Man at the Crossroads"

D. Rivera. Fragment of a fresco
The fresco consisted of three parts. In the center is depicted a man - the lord of the elements. Two worlds are opposed to each other: socialism with all its advantages - and the horrors of capitalism.
By decision of the Rockefeller Center board, the fresco was destroyed in 1934 after Rivera refused to replace the image of Lenin with another, unknown image.
The artist has recreated a fresco in Mexico City at the Palace of Fine Arts (but the image of Trotsky has already appeared on it). The fresco was titled "The Man Who Runs the Universe."

D. Rivera "The Man Who Governs the Universe" (detail with the image of Trotsky)
For several years after 1934, he was mainly engaged in easel painting. He worked in the technique of oil and watercolors, gave preference to portrait and landscape.
Starting in 1940, Rivera again turned to fresco painting: he worked for the World Exhibition in San Francisco, painted the National Palace in Mexico City.

Easel painting by D. Rivera

Although the main business of the artist was wall painting, a monumental fresco, easel painting occupied a significant place in his work. The Cubist period began around 1913 and did not last long, 2-3 years. Rivera quickly mastered avant-garde styles, reached perfection in their interpretation and moved on to the next style or direction. He always eagerly learned new things, Picasso became a real discovery for him.

D. Rivera. Portrait of a Man (artist Zinoviev) (1915)
Most of Rivera's works are devoted to political topics. Rivera and Frida Kahlo were communists, actively participated in demonstrations, met with Russian emigrants.

D. Rivera "Triumph of the Revolution" (1926)
The heroes of the picture distribute food, feed children and women. Rivera places the wheel directly behind the head of the character on the left. This is not a halo in the literal sense of the word, but not a single detail in Rivera's paintings is accidental.
In all his works, the artist focuses on the movement and saturation of the landscape.

D. Rivera "Twilight in Acapulco" (1956)
All critics note the peculiarities of the artist's style, which no one could repeat. Or rather, his work is a mixture of styles: realism, symbolism, expressionism, surrealism ...

D. Rivera's "Hands of Dr. Moore" (1940)
The canvas depicts the doctor's hands with a scalpel cutting through a tree. Instead of a tree, when looking closely at the picture, it is easy to see a female figure, and its roots resemble blood vessels... At the bottom of the painting there is an inscription on the tape: “These are the hands of Dr. Clarence Moore from Los Angeles, California. They prune the tree of life so that it renews itself and does not die. Drawn by Diego Rivera in 1940 ”. Thanks to this signature, the symbolism of the depicted becomes clear: the doctor cuts the umbilical cord at the birth of a new life.

D. Rivera "A Sunday Dream in Alameda Park". Central Fragment (1948)
This painting is a depiction of the traditional Mexican holiday - Day of the Dead. The multi-figured composition includes all strata of Mexican society: portraits of contemporaries, representatives of the Mexican elite, and the poor. The main character of the work is a figure in a mask resembling a skull (Katrina's mask).

Usually we devote the section "10 unknowns", which is published on the site every Monday, to forgotten and little-known works of art stored in the collections of Moscow museums, or unobvious masterpieces presented in temporary exhibitions. But in some cases, we collect guides for you about the virtual museum of one artist or art movement in order to tell you about the most striking or unusual masterpieces of world culture located in different parts of the world.

Diego Rivera. Self-portrait for Irena Rich. 1941

December 8 marks the 130th anniversary of the birth of Diego Rivera (1886-1957), the most famous Mexican artist, husband of Frida Kahlo and a staunch communist. About the work of the brilliant master - in the new material in the heading "10 unknown".

Diego Rivera. House over the bridge. 1909

Diego Rivera - Mexican painter, muralist, graphic artist, husband of Frida Kahlo (twice), lover of all Mexico, communist, revolutionary, cubist, symbolist, expressionist and one of the greatest artists of the 20th century. In Russia, he is not so widely represented: everything that is known about him most often comes down to the history of his relationship with Frida.

The earliest works that Rivera painted at the age of 18–25 were a continuation of the traditions of classical European painting. Landscapes in the spirit of Cézanne, still lifes reminiscent of the work of Matisse - all this spoke of the artist's close acquaintance with French painting of his contemporary period.

Diego Rivera. Breton girl. 1910

Rivera was also familiar with the works of the old masters: the portrait of a Breton girl and a number of other portraits are close in spirit to the works of, for example, Jan Vermeer. It is easy to imagine them on a par with the famous "Girl with a Pearl Earring" or "Milkmaid", despite the fact that these pictures are separated by almost 300 years. Rivera easily imitates traditions and enriches them with modern impressionist techniques. Notice how the girl's face or clothing is painted in a sweeping and textured way: Diego has perfectly mastered the achievements of Monet and Manet.

Diego Rivera. Portrait of Adolphe Best Mogar. 1913

Only a few years will pass, and Rivera will be on a par with Pablo Picasso, stepping over the history of impressionism. The period of fascination with Cubism in the work of the Mexican artist was short-lived - it lasted only two or three years. Rivera quickly mastered the manners of avant-garde masters, achieved perfection in their interpretation and, realizing that he had exhausted the means of their artistic expression for himself, moved on to the next style or direction. He was always eager to learn new things, but Picasso was a real discovery for him.

Diego Rivera. Portrait of two women. 1914

The first acquaintance with cubism, rather, alienated Rivera from such painting: he liked compositional techniques, but he did not accept the destruction of the subject. In earlier works, we see how holistic, voluminous and textured he depicts visible forms, while the Cubists smashed them into fragments. Rivera begins to closely study the works of Picasso and Georges Braque, the founders of the movement, as well as the main manifestos of Cubist painting, and gradually realizes that everything that once seemed to him chaos is a consistent logic. It was not in vain that both Diego and the Cubists started from the discoveries of Cezanne: Picasso took the next step in the analysis of form, and Rivera had to obediently follow him.

Diego Rivera. Triumph of the revolution. 1926

A huge part of Rivera's works is devoted to political topics. Rivera and Frida Kahlo were communists, they did not actively participate in demonstrations, they met with Russian emigrants: it is known that Leon Trotsky lived in their house. In Rivera's work, this theme often intersected with national motives and religious motives and images, intertwining into single complex plots. The heroes of the painting "Triumph of the Revolution" are distributing food, feeding children and women. Rivera places the wheel directly behind the character's head, which is depicted on the left. Of course, this is not a halo in the literal sense of the word, but not a single detail in Rivera's paintings is accidental.

Diego Rivera. Wall Street Banquet. 1928

Like any communist, Rivera was a critic of capitalism. He created a whole series of paintings condemning the vices of society. Among them - "Night of the Rich", "Night of the Poor", "Death of a Capitalist" and "Wall Street Banquet". These works on composition are built in the same way: a long vertical format, a narrow, cramped space of the picture and on top is a slogan written on a red ribbon framing an image inscribed in an arch. At the "banquet" all guests drink champagne, sitting under a huge bank safe. A symbolic gold vein stretches across the entire table (by the way, the veins and blood vessels connecting people were one of the main motives in the work of Frida Kahlo), and right in front of the viewer, in the center of the foreground, there is a table lamp in the form of the Statue of Liberty, symbolizing America.

Diego Rivera. Dr. Moore's hands. 1940

Dr. Moore from Los Angeles, a friend of Rivera, gave him this painting. This is not a traditional portrait: the canvas depicts the doctor's hands with a scalpel cutting through a tree. If you look closely, instead of a tree, it is easy to see a female figure, and its roots resemble blood vessels. At the bottom of the painting there is an inscription on the ribbon: "These are the hands of Dr. Clarence Moore from Los Angeles, California. They prune the tree of life so that it renews and does not die. Drawn by Diego Rivera in 1940." Thanks to this signature, the deep symbolism of the depicted becomes clear: the doctor cuts the umbilical cord at the birth of a new life. Such a canvas could well have been written by Frida - it was quite in her spirit. It is also known that Rivera considered himself the inspiration and teacher of Kahlo.

Diego Rivera. Portrait of Natasha Zakolkova-Gelman. 1943

Frida was Rivera's main love. They married twice, and their violent southern temperaments led to the kind of quarrels and scandals that all of Mexico knew about. Nevertheless, Rivera never painted her portraits: on his canvases he depicted hundreds of models, but never her. Maybe it was a sign of special respect. There is an interesting detail in this portrait: Diego was very fond of white calla lilies and often depicted them in paintings.

Diego Rivera. A Sunday dream in Alameda Park. 1948

The painting "A Sunday Dream in Alameda Park" is dedicated to the traditional Mexican holiday - Day of the Dead. The multi-figured composition includes a huge number of portraits of contemporaries, representatives of the Mexican elite in formal dresses and poor lower classes, and in fact, of all strata of Mexican society. The main detail of the work, revealing the whole essence of what is happening, is a figure in a mask resembling a skull - the so-called mask of Katrina. This character was invented by Mexican artist Jose Guadalupe Posada in 1913 and became the centerpiece of the festivities.

Diego Rivera. May demonstration in Moscow. 1956

Diego died in 1957. He worked until the last day, resurrecting and embodying his old ideas. One of the last big works was "May Demonstration in Moscow". The artist came to the capital twice - in 1928 and 1956. On his first visit, he meets Soviet photographers and artists, lectures at the Communist Academy, participates in urban planning and the design of household items, and signs manifestos.

On May 2, 1928, he hastily leaves the USSR, taking with him notebooks with sketches and sketches. The true reasons for the artist's imminent departure remained unknown, but in 1929 he left the Mexican Communist Party and took a tough anti-Stalinist position, while remaining a categorical anti-capitalist. In the painting "May Demonstration" Diego Rivera accurately and recognizably depicts the corner of the Kremlin and the Historical Museum, St. Basil's Cathedral and Lenin's Mausoleum. At the same time, the demonstration itself is rather an impression of what they saw: millions of people merge into a single stream flowing to Red Square.

Mexican artist Diego Rivera, whose biography is full of conflicting events and facts, is one of the most scandalous and prominent cultural figures in Mexico. His creativity, Political Views and personal life were in the spotlight throughout the first half of the twentieth century and are still being discussed.

Childhood and adolescence of the artist

This muralist artist, revolutionary and destroyer of women's hearts, was born on December 8, 1886 in the Mexican town of Guanajuato. He was to become the founder of the Mexican school of national painting and drive critics into a frenzy by mixing styles. The boy was not in excellent health, there were rumors that he barely survived as a child. Diego Rivera was a fan of telling fables, but it is known for certain that in 1893 his family moved to the capital of the country - Mexico City. After 5 years, having successfully graduated from school, the young artist entered the Academy of Arts of San Carlos. This institution gave young man such an excellent education that upon completion he was able to receive a scholarship. Taking the opportunity, he went on a trip to Spain. Then he visited England, Belgium, Holland and Italy.

Personal life of the "cannibal"

For his passionate love for women and countless relationships, Diego Rivera was nicknamed "the cannibal". He himself liked to portray himself as a fat frog clutching someone's heart in its paw. Natural fullness and heavy eyelids made the resemblance even outwardly noticeable. Describing the personal life of a rebel artist, they usually talk about his marriage to Frida Carlo. But she was not the first, let alone the only woman in the life of the creator. The young Diego Rivera entered into his first marriage out of passionate love for the Russian artist Angelina Belova in 1911. They had a son. But obsessed with endless passions and betrayals, the husband left Angelina, going to Mexico. The second short marriage ended the relationship with Lupe Marin. The union was fruitful and gave the world two daughters.

Wife and girlfriend

By 1929, when the second marriage had already fallen apart, he met the main woman of his life - Frida Carlo. Diego Rivera married a girl much younger than him. In 1939, there was a divorce, but already in 1940 they were married again. Throughout his life, Rivera remained a macho and passionate lover of women. He cheated on his wives with mistresses who bore him illegitimate children.

Diego and Frida's relationship was full of passion, love, jealousy and sometimes assault. Frida treated her husband's antics with great patience, idolized her idol, painted a lot of his portraits. But when he cheated on Fride with her sister, she could no longer forgive, and by 1939 the relationship had broken up. Very soon the husband, who himself insultingly demanded a divorce, begged his wife to return to him on any terms. He provided her with financial support and succumbed to her main demand. The condition for remarriage was the signing of a marriage contract, providing for a complete refusal of intimate relations between spouses. In his personal life, the triangle of Diego Rivera, wife and mistresses, remained.

This married couple there were no children, Frida's 2 pregnancies ended in miscarriages. In 1954, Rivera became a widower, later there were suggestions that he helped his wife die, but this is nothing more than rumors. Before last days the spouses were united by communist ideas and communication with prominent Russian political figures.

Artist in politics

Since the beginning of the 30s, Diego Rivera has become the undisputed leader among Mexican monumentalists. He is undoubtedly one of the most famous and controversial artists, whose political sympathies for communism, irresistible monumental frescoes, a stormy creative activity and social life created the appearance of a genius. The founding father of a new direction in the art of the twentieth century increasingly attracted the attention of the world community.

The debut of the monumentalist in America will take place in 1930 in the city of San Francisco, and in December 1931 his personal exhibition will take place with tremendous excitement. In the entire history of the museum, this was the second exposition of the same author. The first such honor was awarded to Henri Matisse. After the completion of the exhibition, the artist goes to Detroit, where he was personally invited. Here, in the very center of the industrial thought of America, the artist Diego Rivera receives an order to make a fresco for the Institute of Arts on the subject of "Industry of Detroit". Henry Ford had a reputation for being an unyielding anti-communist. In the period from 1929 to 1930, several thousand strikers remained unemployed at the Ford factories. It is curious that, despite this, Diego Rivera, who has positioned himself as a fighter for the rights of the proletariat, accepts the order and payment from the industrial magnate.

Part of the fresco with the plot composition "Vaccination" seemed like a reference to the iconography of the Nativity of Christ, which provoked a storm of indignation and protest in the press and church circles against the mural. Loud resonance in society became an integral part of the mural, and then brought resounding fame to Detroit.

A man at a crossroads

The artist's political views were reflected in his work and sometimes caused violent conflicts with customers. The fresco "A man at a crossroads, looking with hope to choose a new and better future" was the occasion for one of such cases. Work on it began in March 1933. The debate took place already at the stage of choosing a palette, and as a result, the mural became colored at the insistence of the author. It consisted of three parts. In the center is depicted a man - the lord of the elements. As the work progressed, the fresco became more and more complex and, as a result, represented two worlds opposed to each other. On the one hand, the delights of socialism, and on the other, the horrors of capitalism. Someone even appears among the characters who is very similar to Lenin. The mural was to be presented to the public at the opening of the building on May 1, 1933. But all the growing scandal did not allow this to happen, and despite the fact that the Rockefeller family considered the option of preserving the mural outside the building, it was decided to destroy it. This was Rivera's biggest defeat in creativity and politics.

Influence on world art

“Diego makes me uneasy. He gave up fame, preferring to do what he is doing now, "- said about his close friend Alfonso Reyes. The transition to Cubism is significant for Diego Rivera. The paintings "Adoration of Our Lady" and "Girl with Fruit" reflect the author's movement in this direction. A feature of recent works was a deformed understanding of space, although far from cubism. In all his works, the artist focused on the movement and saturation of the landscape.

A significant influence on the formation of Diego Rivera was exerted by classical European styles in painting. It was the wall paintings of the XIV-XVI centuries that gave a lot of food for thought and contributed to the success of Diego's frescoes. Beginning in the 1940s, he achieved considerable success in fresco painting, thanks to which he was invited to work at the World Exhibition in San Francisco, and later attracted by the government to paint the National Palace in Mexico City.

Completion of the path

Diego Rivera died on November 24, 1957 in Mexico City and was buried in the Rotunda of illustrious creators. He was contradictory in everything. He readily fulfilled the orders of the capitalists, glorifying socialism, adhering to communist views. He loved women, but destroyed their destinies and lives with the same passion with which he painted their portraits. Diego Rivera, whose style none of the painters could repeat either before or after him, left behind so many secrets and mysteries that several centuries will not be enough to solve them.

Having passed away at the age of 70, he barely outlived his beloved wife, Frida, and left an invaluable legacy in culture, history, politics and the hearts of those who loved him.