Like all great artists, famed Mexican painter Diego Rivera found inspiration through a variety of ideologies, the work of fellow artists, as well as cultural and political influences. His shifting styles throughout the years served as a reminder of the changing times in Mexico.
Types
Diego Rivera's early work, particularly during his period as a young art student, projected a mixture of traditional European influence and Mexican folk art.
Function
Rivera remains particularly famous for his mural work on public buildings, a move that was inspired by his belief that art should be readily accessible to the masses instead of being holed up in a museum or gallery.
Artists and Movements
Rivera admitted to being heavily influenced by fellow Mexican artist Jose Guadalupe Posada. However the work of Spanish painters Francisco Goya, El Greco and Pablo Picasso, particularly Picasso's Cubist movement, truly inspired Rivera.
Themes
As an artist, Rivera used his paintings as a means to explore social, political and religious ideologies, in particular, how those themes related back to Mexico. For instance, his mural at the National Palace in Mexico depicts the nation's storied history.
1910 Revolution
Many of Rivera's works, such as the painting Zapatista Landscape, were based on the 1910 Revolution, a bloody conflict which forever changed Mexico.
