Diego Rivera

Artist

Name at birth: José Diego Rivera Barrientos

Diego Rivera is the Mexican artist best known for his expansive and politically-charged murals -- and for his love affair with artist Frida Kahlo. Rivera studied painting in Mexico before going to Europe in 1907. While in Europe he took up cubism and had exhibitions in Paris and Madrid in 1913; he then had a show in New York City in 1916. In 1921 he returned to Mexico, where he undertook government-sponsored murals that reflected his communist politics in historical contexts. He married Kahlo in 1929, and their tempestuous marriage got to be as famous as their art. In the 1930s and '40s Rivera worked in the United States and Mexico, and many of his paintings drew controversy. His 1933 mural for the RCA Building at Rockefeller Center in Manhattan featured a portrait of Communist Party leader V.I. Lenin; the resulting uproar led to his dismissal and to the mural's official destruction in 1934. Similarly, a 1948 mural for the Hotel de Prado in Mexico that included the words "God does not exist" was covered and held from public view for nine years. Even so, Rivera's talent for historical murals and his tributes to earthy folk traditions made him one of the most influential artists in the Americas and one of Mexico's most beloved painters.

Extra credit: One of his most famous works is a tribute to workers in Detroit, Michigan, commissioned in 1932 by Henry Ford... Rivera was born a twin, but his brother, Carlos María, died before he turned two... Never very faithful romantically, Rivera was married four times to three different women: to Guadalupe Marin (1922-27), to Kahlo (1929-39, then again from 1940 until her death in 1954), and to art dealer Emma Hurtado (from 1955 until his death in 1957). He also lived with the artist Angelina Beloff for many years in Paris, and she is sometimes counted among his spouses as a common-law wife.

Other artists of the 20th century include Georgia O'Keeffe, Balthus and David Hockney.