The Murals by Diego Rivera at the National Palace in Mexico City - Part 2

On the arcaded upper floor of the middle inner courtyard of the Palacio National, there are murals painted by Diego Rivera between 1942 and 1951 depicting the life of the Aztecs before the arrival of the Spanish conquistadors.  The last mural depicts the arrival of Hernan Cortez.   Note:  Click on any photo to view it full screen.

 

 Cocoa - Diego Rivera - 1950

A man is harvesting the fruit from the cocoa tree while a woman is loading her basket with the fruit. 

In the background, the beans are drying in the sun.  Once dried, they are ground on a matate, then mixed with water to make a drink called xocoatl.  The beans were also a form of currency.

Amate Fig Tree and Maguey - Diego Rivera - 1951

The maguey (agave) and the nopal (cactus) are sources of food and also used in the construction of their homes.  Pulque, a fermented drink made from the agave, is being made.  The process of making amate paper is shown which comes from the bark of the fig tree. 
All of these murals have a Grisaille at the bottom.  A Grisaille is a painting executed entirely in shades of grey or of another neutral greyish colour.

Maize - Diego Rivera - 1950

This mural is dedicated to the importance of corn in the Aztec's culture, being their main staple and the diversity of how it was prepared (grinding it on a matate, making tortillas and tamales).  Behind the women is Chicomecoatl.  In Nahuatl, it means "Seven Serpent",  goddess of subsistence, mainly corn.   To the right is the goddess of water, Chalchiuhtilicue.  In the background are the chinampas.  The Aztecs built fertile riverbeds called chinampas for most of Tenochtitlan (Mexico City) was a large lake where they were able to grow their crops. 

The Rubber-Banding and Milking - Diego Rivera - 1950

 

The bark of the tree is cut and the resin is extracted.  The resin is processed into an elastic material.

Festivals and Ceremonies (Totonaca Culture) - Diego Rivera - 1950

 

It was amazing the amount of trade between different societies existed.   On the left, the people of central Mexico are portrayed.  They are carrying the god of merchants, Yacatecuhtil. 

The group on the right from the gulf coast, the Totonaca, have brought fruits of the region, vanilla, tobacco and vanilla to trade.

 In the background there is the pyramid of the Niches in Tajin, Veracruz.  Along with the ball court on the left and in the middle you will see the Volvadores, (the flying pole dance). It is a centuries old tradition, one that the Aztecs performed.  A tall pole is set up in the middle of a plaza, fitted with a small (and I mean small!) revolving platform on top.   Four fliers and a musician climb to the top. The flyers wear a hat with a crest of feathers which give reference to eagles or macaws, the birds dedicated to the sun.  With a rope around one leg, the flyers swing around the pole, upside down until they reach the ground.

 

Feather work Art and Goldsmith (Zapotec culture) - Diego Rivera - 1942

The Zapotecs are from the Oaxaca area, a region rich in gold, jade and coral.  At the top, they are depicted panning for gold in the river.

Those who worked with feathers were called amantecas.  Birds with colorful plumage were captured and brought back to their tallers (workshops) where elaborate head dresses (penachos) and shields were made from the feathers.  Only high priests and governors were allowed to wear these garments.

This grisaille shows the extraction of semi-precious stones, carving sculptures and the trade of these pieces.

Painters and Dyers - Diego Rivera - 1942

The Tarascan or Purpechas occupied the states of Michoacan, Guanajuato and Jalisco.   They are preparing pigments, dyeing fabrics and cultivating the natural brown fabric called coyuche.

The Great Tenochtitlan, Tlatelolco's market view - Diego Rivera - 1945

 

One could spend hours taking in this large mural, roughly 32' x 16'. 

In 1345 the Aztecs built the city on the Lake Texcoco.  It took them decades to dredge the lake and build the foundations.   It shows the multicultural population of Mexico with a phenomenal infrastructure with its roads, temples, plazas and different neighborhoods.  All indicating a city of great wealth and prosperity.

Scholars have estimated that 20,000 to 40,000 people used the market daily  and the 60,000 on a special market day.  The market had everything, all in a specific spot:  gold, jade, coral, flowers, fruit, corn, cocoa, salt, tools, hides, fish, deer, dogs, herbs, amate, weavings... all coming from the Mexican basin and further away.

A great view of the Chinampas.  The ruler or Tlatoani (dressed in white in the lower left corner) sitting in his palanquin overseeing all the transactions.  In the background are the snow capped mountains and the volcanoes of Popocatepetl and Iztaccihuatl.

 

The tattooed woman with the crown of Calla Lilies is Xochiquetzal, the goddess of flowers and love.  She is presented with gifts and a war trophy, the severed arm of an enemy.  

 

It was slaves with only a loin cloth on that carried the supplies.  The Templo Mayer rises up in the background with bloodstains on the stairs.

The Aztec bartered with goods and also used cocoa beans as currency.

To this day, one of the oldest skills around, Petates are woven straw mats that serve as blankets, rugs, tablecloths and beds.  Up from my home in San Miguel de Allende, there was a very nice man that would ride his bike into town and on the back of his bike he had rolled up petates for sale.  He was at the same corner every week.  I loved it.

A family dining from a ceramic vessel depicting Tlaloc, the Aztec rain god.

 

A visit to the dentist with all his herbal remedies.

 The Arrival of Hernan Cortez in Veracruz - Diego Rivera - 1951

Veracruz (formerly known as La Villa de la Vera Cruz) was founded by Hernan Cortez on April 22, 1519.  It was the port of entry for the the conquerors and along with Christianity, slavery, cattle and the old world culture.

Miscegenation is represented here with the Spaniard and the native women carrying their child on her back, note the intense green-blue eyes.

 

It is a huge body of work and each mural is breathtaking.  Hopefully next October I will be able to lead another tour to Mexico City and a morning at the National Palace is a must.

The Dolored Olmedo Patino Museum - Part Two

The Dolores Olmedo Patino Museum has 145 works by Diego Rivera and 25 by Frida Kahlo.   The progression of works start with the post-impressionist period, to the cubist phase, sketches and paintings for Rivera's MoMA show in 1931-2 to portraits and on to Rivera's later years when in Russia.

Self Portrait with Small Monkey

Frida Kahlo

1945

At the age of 38, Frida had created her own identity, drawing attention especially in the way she dressed and presented herself.  She was fond of wearing Tehuana outfits, the typical dress of the women in Oaxaca, and wearing her hair in braids wrapped into a crown like style adorned with flowers or colorful ribbons.   In this self portrait, she is with her favorite pets, Senor Xololt, a xoloitzcuintle dog, and Fluang Chang, a spider monkey.

Self Portrait with Broad-Brimmed Hat

Diego Rivera

1907

Rivera adapted this style while studying at the Eduardo Chicharro atelier, a Spanish master with whom he studied at his arrival to Spain at the age of 21 in 1907.

Frida and Diego

This entire wall displays effigies known as Colima dogs, depictions of the Xolos in terracotta.  These dogs were found buried in ancient tombs through out Mexico.  They were used to protect and guide the deceased spirit through the perils of Mictlan and also serve them in their afterlife.

El Picador

1909

Diego Rivera

A painting of a Spanish bullfighter seated slightly of center against a neutral colored wall.  Similar to his self portrait, the brush strokes really show off the texture of the fabrics by using the impasto oil technique.

El Matematico - The Mathematician

Diego Rivera

1918

Rivera considered this to be one of his most important works.   The proportions and disproportions works beautifully.  The colors, lightening and shadowing is everything he learned when studying at the Eduardo Chicharro atelier along with the influences left by post-impressionism, Spanish realism and Costumbrismo and cubism.. 

Boceto del Fusilamiento a Maximiliano

Sketch of  Execution by Firing Squad of Maximillian

1935

Diego Rivera

Once the hacienda's chapel, this room houses preliminary sketches and works for his large scale murals.  Above is a preparatory work by Rivera for the mural he painted in the National Palace in Mexico City.  An old technique, made in sepia ink on paper, this stencil technique was used by artist like Michelangelo.

Fondos Comgelados

Frozen Assets

1931

Diego Rivera 

 Rivera produced eight portable murals for the MoMA, The New York Museum of Art, in 1931.  Frozen Assets represents life in New York City during the Great Depression which is divided into three sections.  The top section is that of the great skyscrapers of New York City  with such buildings as the Daily News, Bank of Manhattan, Rockefeller and Chrysler, a reference to the economic development and Capitalism.     The middle section is a large glass and steel structure filled with sleeping men or corpses, a homage to the unemployed overseen by a guard.  The bottom section, a large bank vault with those seated are waiting to examine their earnings.  Maybe guarded by the same guard.  It was a journalist who was covering the exhibition that gave the name for this work, Frozen Assets.

A handsome room with the hefty wood beams and corbels.

Retrato de Dolores Olmedo (La Tehuana)

Portrait of Dolores Olmedo (The Tehuana)

1955

Diego Rivera

A beautiful example of Mexican textile design with Dolores attired in the colorful Tehuana.  The Tehuana was a popular mode of dressing in the 1930's and 1940's among the wives and models (muses) of painters, musicians and writers.
Frida adopted the Tehuana dress as her signature look.  She identified with the dress for her mother Matilde was from Oaxaca and had been photographed as a child wearing the Tehuana dress.  And the traditional dress of the Tehuanas was known nationwide to be the symbol of the most independent and proud indigenous women in all of Mexico.

A typical colonial kitchen with the Talavera tiles and large cazuelas. 

The swallow bird motif hand-painted tiles from Puebla.

Naturaleza Muerto (Soy de Samuel Fastlicht)

Still Like (I Belong to Samuel Fastlicht)

1951

Frida Kahlo

Frida painted this still life for their friend and dentist, Samuel Fastlicht, a man of European origin who arrived to Mexico in 1921.   He was deeply interested in pre-Columbian history particularly in the areas of dental mutilation and herbal medicine used by the ancient Mexican cultures.

Beautiful Mexican ceramics.

I could have a full room of these.  From Tonala in the state of Jalisco.

Retrato de Irene Phillips Olmedo

Portrait of Irene Phillips Olmedo

1955

Diego Rivera

Rivera and Dolores Olmedo renewed their friendship in 1955 and she commissioned him to paint a portrait of her daughter at his studio in the San Angel.   Only the great masters like Rivera could paint with this effect of poly-angularity, the subject looks at the viewer from every angle she's seen from.  I had a photo I took of a Mexican artisan that hung in the hallway of my last house in Mexico.  And it did not matter where I stood, she was always staring at me.  I'll have to write about that on my next post.

La Columna Rota

The Broken Column

1944

Frida Kahlo

Every detail of Frida's shattered column is associated with pain from her accident; the nails and tacks on her body, the corset holding her exposed body together, the tears running down her face...  The background is void of vegetation with a blue sky, a symbol of hope that her health will improve.

Sin Esperanza

Without Hope

1945

Frida Kahlo

A tragic scene with Frida lying in bed, crying from the pain and rejecting the food that the doctors wanted her to consume to get better.  The large funnel is supported by a similar wood easel that her mother had made for her.

El Camion

The Bus

1929

Frida Kahlo

A recognition of the scene in the bus just prior to her tragic accident.  
Seated is a middle-class woman, a worker, an indigenous woman, a young boy, a young man and an eighteen year old Frida.  In the background one particular building was called La Risa (Laughter), an ironic statement on what was about to happen next.

Auterrstroto de Diego

Self-Portrait of Diego

1954

An expressive self-portrait of a sixty-eight man with his protruding eyes which earned him the nickname "The Frog Painter" or "The Great Lord Toad".  He often mocked himself by drawing little frogs or toads on his letters or documents.  1954 was a very difficult year for him, the death of Frida Kahlo and a diagnosis of his cancer.  
Dedicated to his daughter Ruth, the inscription in the lower left corner reads: "Para la Chupulina de esta cara fea, Diego Rivera, 1954" ~ "To the grasshopper of this ugly face, Diego Rivera, 1954."

La Nina Virginia

Little Virginia

1929

Frida Kahlo

Frida captured the innocence of this indigenous child.  The image certainly resembles Frida.

Mujer con Flores

Woman with Flowers

1938

Diego Rivera

Rivera rarely painted using pastels due to problems with his eyes.  Beautifully executed, a mestizo woman carrying a bouquet of marigolds in preparation for the Day of the Dead celebrations.

Vendedor de Coles

Cabbage Seller

1936

Diego Rivera

A vendor walking through the tiangus, street market, offering his goods.

La Hamaca

The Hammock

1956

Diego Rivera

A portrait of Dolores Omedo's daughter, Irene and her school friend, lounging in a hammock at Dolores's Acapulco home with the Acapulco bay in the background.

A beautiful collection of works by Frida and Diego!

MUSEO DOLORES OLMEDO PATINO
Avenida Mexico 5843
La Noria
Xochimilco 

Tuesday - Sunday
10am - 6pm