Introduction


Diego Rivera

This painting by Diego Rivera shows people celebrating the Day of the Dead, November 2. During this Mexican holiday, families prepare altars with offerings for dead relatives. Deceased family members are believed to visit the world of the living on this day.
Rivera was a painter who at first transcended his native Mexico and its rich and diverse artistic heritage to embrace broader modern European movements. Eventually in his work, he fused the Mexican and European forms to become one of his country’s greatest muralists and a giant in the world of art.  Rivera is also the most celebrated figure in the revival of monumental fresco painting that is his country's most distinctive contribution to modern art. He visited Paris in 1909 and after a brief return to Mexico he settled there from 1911 to 1920. He was familiar with modern movements, but although he made some early experiments with avant-garde idioms, notably Cubism, his mature art was firmly rooted in Mexican tradition. -- Diego Rivera Biography