Online search giant Google is celebrating the 125th birth anniversary of prominent Mexican artist Diego Rivera with one of its doodles. Users who visit the Google homepage are greeted with a Google Doodle with the art style of Rivera that replaces the logo of Google.
The large wall works of Rivera in fresco are believed to have helped start the Mexican Mural Movement.
History
Born in Guanajuato, Mexico on December 8, 1886, Rivera studied art in Mexico City and relocated to Spain to continue his studies. He then went to Paris and became friends with popular artists, including Georges Braque and Pablo Picasso.
Rivera returned to Mexico in 1921 to begin working on a number of murals with revolutionary themes. He was known as the leader of the Mexican muralists who aimed to expose people to art through paintings and large murals in public buildings. The first important work he did was the Creation for the Bolivar Auditorium located at the National Preparatory School in Mexico City.
“Rivera’s life was filled with contradictions – a pioneer of Cubism who promoted art for art’s sake, he became one of the leaders of the Mexican Mural Renaissance; a Marxist/Communist, he received mural commissions from the United States corporate establishment; a champion of the worker, he had a deep fascination with the form and function of machines and pronounced engineer America’s greatest artists; a great revolutionary artist, he also painted society portraits,” read Rivera’s biography.
Rivera also made murals in the United States, one of which adorns the walls of the Detroit Institute of Arts. He died in Mexico on November 25, 1957, leaving his most ambitious mural in the National Palace unfinished.
