MEXICAN MURALISM: ORIGIN, CHARACTERISTICS, WORKS - ART - 2025

The Mexican muralists is the name given to the promotion of mural painting in Mexico in the early 20s of the twentieth century. Part of the objective of this movement was to represent social and political motives to seek to reunify the people after the end of the Mexican Revolution.

The movement had three main artists who were its most prominent exponents. Known as “the big three”, Diego Rivera, José Orozco and David Siqueiros were part of this group. They went down in history as the greatest muralists in the Mexican art scene.

Although this tradition began around 1920, it remained very popular until the 1970s. At present the use of these murals is also common in Mexico and the influence of the movement of the last century is the main cause of this phenomenon. Other regions have adapted this art style as well, including parts of the southern United States.

Origin

Pre-independence Mexico

Although the recent muralism movement originated after the fall of Porfirio Díaz after the Mexican Revolution, the roots of this movement are attached to the ancient civilizations that occupied the territory of the country before the Hispanic arrival.

More specifically, the Olmecs used muralism as a method of cultural expression in a large number of their structures. In addition, after the arrival of the conquerors, muralism was used to express the various religious beliefs that the Spanish brought from Europe.

Muralist movement prior to the Porfiriato

Before the Mexican Revolution took place, a number of highly educated artists had already begun to consider the idea of ​​painting murals in Mexico. Among these artists were Alfonso Reyes and José Vasconcelos.

The muralist movement in the Porfiriato was also headed by the artist Gerardo Murillo, who was known as Dr. Atl. It was this painter who was responsible for creating the first modern mural in Mexico.

Mexican Revolution

This revolution was a huge civil war, which was led by various political figures with particular objectives for Mexico. Among these figures are emblematic names for the country's political history, such as Venustiano Carranza, Pancho Villa, and Emiliano Zapata.

This conflict, having been carried out at the hands of men with different ideologies, created a great division of political and social ideas in the nation. For this reason, the government established after the end of the conflict set itself the goal of unifying all the people under a single Mexican ideology.

Such a unifying mission needed a concise and efficient tool to be effective; a large number of Mexicans were not able to read and write, so written messages would not have been effective in achieving this objective.

The messages had to give a "historical identity" to the Mexicans and they had to feel identified with that identity. As a consequence of this, Mexican muralism was created for political and social purposes; In this way it was possible to reach the minds of the poorest classes of the country through Mexican images and symbols.

characteristics

Visual messages

The main characteristic that defined the Mexican muralist movement was the transmission of visual messages through each work of art. After the fall of the Porfirio Díaz government and the end of the Mexican Revolution, society began to be rebuilt and new values ​​began to form.

Muralism was the main tool used by the government to achieve this end. The new government was headed by the PRI (Partido Revolucionario Industrial), which was led by the Mexican “people”. Basically, it was a government of the people established after the fall of the dictator.

As most of the visual messages conveyed in muralism were government commissioned by a socialist nature, many of the early messages were quite controversial. In large part, this was due to the use of Marxism to communicate messages that reached illiterate people.

However, the messages became part of the industrial identity that Mexico sought to form and their importance is recognized as an important part of the country's history.

Golden stage

Mexican muralism was in force, in its entirety, until the early 1970s in Mexico. However, it lived through a significant golden age from its beginnings (in the 1920s) until 1950. It was at this time that the Mexican painters of the time developed the most important paintings of the movement.

During this period of history, the expression of Mexican muralism brought art to its highest purpose. A social movement of this kind had never been represented by art. His aesthetic level during this period was also the best that muralism has had in its history.

Representative purpose

Mural art works used to be painted in churches and other buildings that still stood since colonial times.

This represented the Mexican identity and adhered to the roots of the country's independence. In turn, the works of art included Indians and mestizos fighting against oppression.

Murals were also often painted in prestigious schools and national buildings, depicting the rise of Mexicans in their art. Everything that was painted was related to the traditions of both Mesoamerica and Latin America as a whole.

Another very common theme that was used to paint on murals was the Mexican Revolution. The event had seen its end shortly before the emergence of muralism; then, the paintings sought to evoke the fresh memory of the Mexican people to make them "one" with their patriotic identity.

Topics

The artists of the murals were free to choose any subject to be represented in their works of art. However, the beliefs of all these artists were quite similar: art is the purest way to express themselves that humans have.

In addition, all the works from this period had a political connotation, so the murals had a close relationship with the so-called “social realism”. In essence, the murals were representations of society.

Among the most important works of muralism are the most significant events in the history of the country. The struggles of the Aztec aborigines against Spanish oppression were widely represented, as was the social clash that occurred in the civil war during the revolution.

Elements of painting

The painting of murals in Mexico, in addition to specific subjects, also had a series of characteristics in regards to the elaboration of each painting.

For example, artists used to use fresco to express their creations in Mexican murals, as it was also common to carry out works with hot wax paint.

However, mural art was not only limited to creating works using paint. Some Mexican murals were also made with ceramic, glass and metal pieces; so that traditional Mexican scenes were created through a composition of mosaics.

Role

Mexican muralism was one of the most important artistic movements of the 20th century. It fulfilled the objective of re-popularizing mural art, which had been lost over time. The influences of this art not only reached Mexico, but also resonated in several American countries, mainly the United States.

In addition, this movement caused muralism to be seen as one of the most important artistic expressions of a social and political nature on the planet.

The three main exponents of this art, "the big three", were responsible for spreading the artistic movement to the south of the United States.

In social terms, the movement's most important characteristic was the legacy it left on Mexican artists around the world. In particular, he was the inspiration for the beginning of the Chicano movement in the United States.

This movement was carried out by Mexican artists residing in the United States who, through murals, expressed their own ideas and social problems in the mid-1960s.

Influence on urban art

Mural art opened the door to a new artistic style that began in the United States, but spread rapidly throughout Latin America: graffiti.

Mural art made hundreds of people see that walls were a valid instrument to express their art, which led to the emergence of urban art in various parts of the American continent.

It is an art style completely free of restrictions (beyond its legality), which allows almost anyone to feel like an “artist” by participating in the making of graffiti in their cities.

Major Mexican muralists and their works

Jose Clemente Orozco

José Orozco was one of the members of the artistic group known as "the big three". He was an introverted and relatively pessimistic person, which makes him the least revered of the three most famous painters in the Mexican muralist movement.

Curiously, Orozco harshly criticized the Mexican Revolution and the government established after the overthrow of Porfirio Díaz. However, his art made him gain popularity in the artistic field of his country. He combined Renaissance techniques with brushstrokes of abstract modernism, which gave his paintings a unique and dark character.

Orozco's works focused primarily on depicting indigenous Mexican culture before the arrival of the Spanish.

His works were able to easily explain what the painter wanted to demonstrate in painting; They usually made reference to political issues, which he simplified into a large painting to explain them concretely.

Among his most outstanding works are: Maternidad (a mural with Renaissance touches painted between 1923 and 1924), La Trinchera (a work depicting soldiers fighting in the Mexican Revolution, created in 1926) and Prometheus (a religious work painted in 1930).

La Trinchera Mural, by José Orozco

Diego Rivera

Rivera is one of the most recognized artistic figures of the 20th century. His name has become even more popular thanks to his relationship with Frida Kahlo, whom he married around the 1930s.

He had an artistic style with impressionistic similarities, as he used a play of lighting and shadows through the combination of colors.

His main objective as a painter was to reflect the daily life of Mexicans. In 1921 he officially launched the muralist movement through a government program that allowed him to create works of art in important buildings in the country.

The painter, although he used to represent the lives of Mexicans and the working class in his paintings, he also had a strong interest in Marxism. One of his works, painted in New York, was destroyed because it represented Vladimir Lenin.

He developed a large number of murals throughout his life; many of his works were carried out in Mexico and the rest in the United States.

His most important works were: Creation (religious work painted between 1922 and 1923), the Mural of the Exploitation of Mexico by the Spanish Conquerors, the Mural of the Aztec City of Tenochtitlan and the Struggle for Independence.

Fight for Independence, by Diego Rivera

David Alfaro Siqueiros

Siqueiros was a Mexican muralist and painter whose works revolved around Marxist themes. His political ideology was always attached to communism. He painted a number of frescoes on the walls of the National High School of Mexico, and organized groups of workers to create unions and unions.

He produced a large number of murals throughout his career as a painter, through which he represented political, social and industrial changes in Mexico. All his works had a totally left-wing focus, with great communist tendencies.

He worked with fellow artist Diego Rivera to open a local newspaper in Mexico, which became the main source of communist information in the country.

Of the big three, he was the artist with the most marked development in politics; in fact, it is believed that he was part of the plot that ended Trotsky's life in Mexico.

His most outstanding works were: The Elements (a fantastic representation created between 1922 and 1924), Tropical America (a critique of North American imperialism) and Death to the Invader (a representation of the aboriginal struggle against the European invasion).

References

1. Mexican Muralism, Art Sy - Art Information, (nd). Taken from artsy.net
2. Mexican Muralism, The Art Story - Modern Art Insight, (nd). Taken from theartstory.org
3. José Clemente Orozco, The Art Story - Modern Art Insight, (nd). Taken from theartstory.org
4. Mexican Murals, The Visual Arts Encyclopedia, (nd). Taken from visual-arts-cork.com
5. Mexican Muralism, Inside Mexico, 2017. Taken from inside-mexico.com
6. David Alfaro Siqueiros, The Art Story - Modern Art Insight, (nd). Taken from theartstory.org
7. Diego Rivera, Biography Website, (nd). Taken from biography.com
8. David Alfaro Siqueiros, Biography Website, (nd). Taken from biography.com