Los Trabajadores (The Workers)

Additional Information

Provenance:
Montoya Family, Denver, Colorado ca. 1950
By descent in the family, 2005

A volatile and often controversial figure known for speaking his mind and challenging the government and religious institutions, Diego Rivera was a hugely influential figure in Mexico in the first half of the 20th century. He spent time with revolutionaries, traveled the world, married Frida Kahlo and helped establish Mexico’s great mural traditions after the Mexican Revolution ended in 1920. Today his work is collected around the world and in many of the great museum collections, including at the Met, the Museum of Modern Art and the Smithsonian.

While Rivera painted many subjects, including portraits and landscapes, many of his best works were of blue-collar people such as miners, farmers, industrial laborers and factory workers. Many experts have suggested that these images of diligent workers have links to Rivera’s Marxist politics, but the artist also painted simple peasants, female nudes, still lifes, Mexico’s Indigenous people and many children, all of which he depicted with lush color and simple, elegant forms. More than anything, Rivera celebrated his Mexican heritage and the country he loved. “When art is true, it is one with nature,” Rivera said. “This is the secret of primitive art and also of the art of the masters—Michelangelo, Cézanne and Renoir. The secret of my best work is that it is Mexican.”

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