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Lot Essay
Mexican painter Diego Rivera garnered international fame as an extraordinary master of fresco paintings, executed throughout Mexico and the United States. But long before he became known for his murals, Rivera received his formal artistic training at the Escuela Nacional de Bellas Artes in México—formerly La Academia de San Carlos —and later continued his training in Spain where he absorbed regionalist modernist influences under the guidance of his renowned teacher Eduardo Chicharro y Acevedo. However, it was on a symbolist quest to Flanders that Rivera stopped in Paris and was struck by artistic languages previously unknown to him: he was astonished by the volatility of Claude Monet’s impressionist palette, the synthesis of sinuous forms in the work of Paul Gauguin, and the violent gestural quality of the figures in the compositions of Toulouse Lautrec—all of whom he painted in small oil studies.
Rivera briefly returned to Mexico to share what he had learned in Europe, only to return to Paris, participate in the Société du Salon d’Automne in 1911, and settle in the Montparnasse district, determined to become a painter of the avant-garde. He began by studying the foundations of modern art, intrigued by the conceptual innovations of pictorial space in Cézanne’s paintings, which he analyzed from the window of Ambroise Vollard’s gallery at 6 rue Laffitte.
In Paris, Rivera reunited with the Mexican painter Ángel Zárraga—whom he had met in Madrid as part of the group of artists that coalesced around the circle of the Café de Levante. Zárraga had already carved out a path of success and recognition among European collectors, and introduced Rivera to the avant-garde art circuit along with the aesthetic themes of the time; among these, the work of the Mannerist painter El Greco, and the chromatic experiments in color, stemming from the pointillist principles of Georges Seurat.
It was under the influence of Seurat that Rivera created his first avant-garde paintings in 1911 while visiting Barcelona. Here, Rivera painted the views surrounding Montserrat in Catalonia employing the technique of Divisionism and adhering to the scientific principles proposed by Seurat regarding the harmonious perception of color, through small points or brushstrokes. Rivera’s pointillist paintings were well-received by critics. Paul Signac highlighted them in the Salon des Indépendants exhibition held in Paris the following year, while Matisse acquired one of the paintings.
While Rivera’s experiments with color continued, he soon became intrigued by the paintings of Robert Delaunay. The trends of Simultanism (or Orphism) led him in 1913 to experiment with Futurism under the guidance of Gino Severini, steadily moving towards Cubism. The discovery of Robert and Sonia Delaunay’s work, friends of Ángel Zárraga, had an immediate impact on Rivera’s paintings. The perception of colors removed from naturalism—also rooted in post-Impressionist Pointillism—and the notion of simultaneous movement within the composition began to appear in Rivera’s pre-Cubist works of 1913. Rivera and Delaunay exhibited together at L’Association Mánes in Prague and the Georges Giroux Gallery in Brussels. Rivera and the Delaunays met again in Madrid at the outbreak of World War I, reunited by their mutual friend Ramón Gómez de la Serna. De la Serna organized the 1915 exhibition Los pintores íntegros, where Rivera presented Cubist works with simultaneous movement and orphic colors that recall Apollinaire’s writings on Les Peintres Cubistes, Méditations Esthétiques in 1913.
Rivera’s explorations with color became a hallmark of his paintings in the subsequent decades. And, while much has been discussed about his experience with Cubism between 1912 and 1917, Rivera became conversant with a range of avant-garde strategies which he would later distill into a unique and mature style upon his return to Mexico. In Mexico, Rivera immersed himself in the nation’s post-revolutionary artistic environment and became the renowned muralist of the 20th century.
The Mexico Diego Rivera left in 1911 was radically different from the one he returned to, as the country had endured a violent civil war. Following the peace brokered by General Álvaro Obregón, the new government began to rebuild, establishing the Ministry of Public Education under José Vasconcelos, who envisioned an educational framework where the arts would play a vital role. Rivera embraced these post-revolutionary ideals, as well as leftist political stances, to forge his own vision of a modern Mexico. For the artist, no national project was conceivable without social justice for Mexico's most vulnerable classes: the indigenous peoples and workers. This political and artistic commitment was central to the murals Rivera painted in public buildings, as well as to the hundreds of drawings, watercolors, and easel paintings produced throughout his career.
Through his art, Rivera sought to dignify the condition of the indigenous people and elevate their way of life and customs. By 1947, when Rivera painted La ofrenda de Janitzio that features an indigenous girl from the island of Janitzio in Michoacán, he sought to pay tribute to the beliefs and values that inform the local and regional identities of these communities. He depicts the central figure during the Day of the Dead, a tradition rooted in the cosmovision of the pre-Hispanic era, when the indigenous awaited the return of the dead from Mictlán. These beliefs survived the aftermath of the conquest and evangelization merging with the Catholic religious instruction led by the missionaries, thus absorbing pre-Columbian traditions within the feast of All Saints Day and Holy Week. To the present day, the indigenous Purépecha of Michoacán, bring offerings for their ancestors in the cemeteries in their belief that the souls return for a night and co-exist with those who keep their memory alive.
In La ofrenda de Janitzio, Rivera not only elevates Mexican cultural traditions but makes use of all the techniques he learned as a painter—flooding the composition with a magical chromatic palette—using soft purples and vibrant oranges to present the viewer with a mystical nocturnal scene—complete with lit candles and the aroma of copal— while the girl gently scatters cempatsúchitl or marigold petals on the earth that cradles its dead. Indeed, La ofrenda de Janitzio represents a masterful achievement of chromatic virtuosity the result of a decades long artistic journey from academia to the avant-garde, and from the avant-garde to the expression of modern Mexican art.
Professor Luis–Martín Lozano
Art Historian, Mexico City
Rivera briefly returned to Mexico to share what he had learned in Europe, only to return to Paris, participate in the Société du Salon d’Automne in 1911, and settle in the Montparnasse district, determined to become a painter of the avant-garde. He began by studying the foundations of modern art, intrigued by the conceptual innovations of pictorial space in Cézanne’s paintings, which he analyzed from the window of Ambroise Vollard’s gallery at 6 rue Laffitte.
In Paris, Rivera reunited with the Mexican painter Ángel Zárraga—whom he had met in Madrid as part of the group of artists that coalesced around the circle of the Café de Levante. Zárraga had already carved out a path of success and recognition among European collectors, and introduced Rivera to the avant-garde art circuit along with the aesthetic themes of the time; among these, the work of the Mannerist painter El Greco, and the chromatic experiments in color, stemming from the pointillist principles of Georges Seurat.
It was under the influence of Seurat that Rivera created his first avant-garde paintings in 1911 while visiting Barcelona. Here, Rivera painted the views surrounding Montserrat in Catalonia employing the technique of Divisionism and adhering to the scientific principles proposed by Seurat regarding the harmonious perception of color, through small points or brushstrokes. Rivera’s pointillist paintings were well-received by critics. Paul Signac highlighted them in the Salon des Indépendants exhibition held in Paris the following year, while Matisse acquired one of the paintings.
While Rivera’s experiments with color continued, he soon became intrigued by the paintings of Robert Delaunay. The trends of Simultanism (or Orphism) led him in 1913 to experiment with Futurism under the guidance of Gino Severini, steadily moving towards Cubism. The discovery of Robert and Sonia Delaunay’s work, friends of Ángel Zárraga, had an immediate impact on Rivera’s paintings. The perception of colors removed from naturalism—also rooted in post-Impressionist Pointillism—and the notion of simultaneous movement within the composition began to appear in Rivera’s pre-Cubist works of 1913. Rivera and Delaunay exhibited together at L’Association Mánes in Prague and the Georges Giroux Gallery in Brussels. Rivera and the Delaunays met again in Madrid at the outbreak of World War I, reunited by their mutual friend Ramón Gómez de la Serna. De la Serna organized the 1915 exhibition Los pintores íntegros, where Rivera presented Cubist works with simultaneous movement and orphic colors that recall Apollinaire’s writings on Les Peintres Cubistes, Méditations Esthétiques in 1913.
Rivera’s explorations with color became a hallmark of his paintings in the subsequent decades. And, while much has been discussed about his experience with Cubism between 1912 and 1917, Rivera became conversant with a range of avant-garde strategies which he would later distill into a unique and mature style upon his return to Mexico. In Mexico, Rivera immersed himself in the nation’s post-revolutionary artistic environment and became the renowned muralist of the 20th century.
The Mexico Diego Rivera left in 1911 was radically different from the one he returned to, as the country had endured a violent civil war. Following the peace brokered by General Álvaro Obregón, the new government began to rebuild, establishing the Ministry of Public Education under José Vasconcelos, who envisioned an educational framework where the arts would play a vital role. Rivera embraced these post-revolutionary ideals, as well as leftist political stances, to forge his own vision of a modern Mexico. For the artist, no national project was conceivable without social justice for Mexico's most vulnerable classes: the indigenous peoples and workers. This political and artistic commitment was central to the murals Rivera painted in public buildings, as well as to the hundreds of drawings, watercolors, and easel paintings produced throughout his career.
Through his art, Rivera sought to dignify the condition of the indigenous people and elevate their way of life and customs. By 1947, when Rivera painted La ofrenda de Janitzio that features an indigenous girl from the island of Janitzio in Michoacán, he sought to pay tribute to the beliefs and values that inform the local and regional identities of these communities. He depicts the central figure during the Day of the Dead, a tradition rooted in the cosmovision of the pre-Hispanic era, when the indigenous awaited the return of the dead from Mictlán. These beliefs survived the aftermath of the conquest and evangelization merging with the Catholic religious instruction led by the missionaries, thus absorbing pre-Columbian traditions within the feast of All Saints Day and Holy Week. To the present day, the indigenous Purépecha of Michoacán, bring offerings for their ancestors in the cemeteries in their belief that the souls return for a night and co-exist with those who keep their memory alive.
In La ofrenda de Janitzio, Rivera not only elevates Mexican cultural traditions but makes use of all the techniques he learned as a painter—flooding the composition with a magical chromatic palette—using soft purples and vibrant oranges to present the viewer with a mystical nocturnal scene—complete with lit candles and the aroma of copal— while the girl gently scatters cempatsúchitl or marigold petals on the earth that cradles its dead. Indeed, La ofrenda de Janitzio represents a masterful achievement of chromatic virtuosity the result of a decades long artistic journey from academia to the avant-garde, and from the avant-garde to the expression of modern Mexican art.
Professor Luis–Martín Lozano
Art Historian, Mexico City