Mural Painting
(Beginning in 1922)

   The Mexican Mural movement represents one of the most powerful and significant achievements in public art during the 20th century. After a prolonged civil war and people's revolution, Mexican Mural movement was born. The three most prominent artists of the movement are José Orozco, Diego Rivera and David Alfaro Siqueiros.

   In the early 20s new revolutionary government invited artists to help forge a new national cultural consciousness. A program of commissions for a large number of murals was introduced. The idea was that art ought to be accessible to all, and each artist must contribute to glorifying the people's strengths and building a more egalitarian future. The painter Siqueiros wrote, "We condemn so-called easel painting and all the art produced by ultra-intellectual circles on the grounds that it is aristocratic, and we glorify the expression of monumental Art because it is publics property".

   Social Realism in the Mexico produced original and creative works of mural art. Each artist found ways both to comply with the demands of the educational and political program of mural painting, and to give free rein to his own research and work. The unity of the political tone went hand in glove with the diverse range of styles and techniques. By mixing classical and modernist influences with their own pre-Columbian heritage, Mexican muralists produced works whose influence stretched well beyond borders and gained international reputation in particular from United States.