The Muralism in Mexico

The Mexican Revolution increased the desire for a true transformation in Mexico; People demanded more radical changes looking for a social, political and economic revolution.

When Álvaro Obregón became President of Mexico in 1920, funds were allocated to promote the arts and many focused on muralism with the firm intention of expressing the Pride of the Indigenous Past of Mexico and Educating the People.

This responsibility was entrusted to José Vasconcelos, head of the Ministry of Public Education who found that 90% of the population was illiterate. Faced with this circumstance, Vasconcelos started searching the best way to educate people in a easier manner for them to understand and decided that it would be on a graphic way; through murals.

This is how Muralism emerged in Mexico, an artistic movement in the early XX Century that was created by a group of Mexican intellectuals, artists and painters who wanted a new national identity and sought to consolidate the social ideals created during the revolution to exalt nationalism and change the pre-existing ideas against the indigenous.

By 1923, Muralism became well known inside and outside of Mexico thanks to the excellent work done, among others, by Diego Rivera, David Alfaro Siqueiros and José Clemente Orozco. They changed the way people used to think about Mexican indigenous people, highlighting its culture and teaching its history. Many muralists included problems of social relevance and were useful since they conveyed the political left thinking of the time which provoked social awareness.

The political and nationalist aspects had little to do with the Mexican Revolution, especially in the last decades, its objective had more to do with glorifying it and its results as a way to legitimize the government after the Revolution; however, Rivera, Siqueiros and Orozco, who used to be communists, expressed through their murals a political orientation towards Marxism and, in a particular way, emphasizing the class struggle in their murals.

The fundamental way of thinking of the muralists was the rejection of the idea that art is only for a select minority, in fact it is for all people.

Our tour begins at the Old School of Saint Ildefonso, then we will visit the Ministry of Public Education and the National Palace where we can admired murals by Diego Rivera, David Alfaro Siqueiros and José Clemente Orozco. In the murals we can admire the particular style of each of these Mexican painters; however, we can notice a common denominator, their great love for Mexico.

Important: When official events are held at the National Palace or at the Ministry of Public Education, access is restricted; in these cases we will complete our tour visiting the Casa de los Azulejos (house of tiles), the Palace of Fine Arts and the Mural Museum of Diego Rivera where we will appreciate murals by Diego Rivera, David Alfaro Siqueiros, José Clemente Orozco, Rufino Tamayo and Manuel Rodriguez Lozano, among others.

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GENERAL INFORMATION