The directory «Plots»

Siqueiros José David Alfaro
(1896—1974)

José David Alfaro Siqueiros was a social realist painter (muralist), and also a Stalinist, known for large murals in fresco that established the Mexican Mural Renaissance together with work by Diego Rivera, Orozco, and others.

His notable projects include his collaborative mural at the Mexican Electricians' Union (1939-1940), From Porfiriato to the Revolution at the Museum of National History (1957-55), March of Humanity and the Polyforum Cultural Siqueiros on Avenida Insurgentes (1965-1971), and his role in procuring mural commissions for artists on the University City campus of the National Autonomous University of Mexico in 1950s Mexico City.

Siqueiros was one of «the big three» Mexican muralists, led by Diego Rivera and José Clemente Orozco. His art directly reflected the time period in which he flourished as an artist. His art was deeply rooted in the Spanish Civil War and the Mexican Revolution, a violent and chaotic period in Mexican history in which various social and political factions fought for recognition and power. The period from the 1920s to the 1950s is known as the Mexican Mural Renaissance, and Siqueiros was active in the attempt to create an art that was at once Mexican and universal. From 1919 to 1922 he traveled to Belgium, France, Italy, and Spain to study art. Throughout his career he traveled internationally, promoting his version of muralism in the United States, South America (including Uruguay, Argentina and Chile), Cuba, Europe, and the Soviet Union. In 1966 he was awarded the Lenin Peace Prize.

Political activism was an important piece of Siqueiros' life. A self-proclaimed Marxist, he was at times both the favorite and the enemy of the Mexican Communist Party. He was exiled twice from Mexico, once in 1932 and again in 1940, following his assassination attempt on Leon Trotsky.

Mexico, 1967, Portrait of Carranza (by Siqueiros)

Mexico, 1975, Self-Portrait of Siqueiros

Mexico, 1979, Allegory of National Culture

Mexico, 1979, «Students reaching for Culture»

Mexico, 1981, «Martyrs of Cananea»

Mexico, 1996, Self-Portrait of Siqueiros

Mexico, 2008, Porfirismo as Revolution

Mexico, 2009, Revolutioners (Siqueiros)

Micronesia, 1998, «Peasant Mother» (David Siqueiros)