Mexico’s muralism movement first changed Mexico, then the world

The movement got a boost when the government recruited artists to inspire indigenous Mexican pride

Published November 25, 2022

By Sheryl Losser

In 1920, close to the end of the Mexican Revolution, General Álvaro Obregón made a move that would have a significant impact on Mexico’s political history but also its cultural history —  a move that changed art indelibly in Mexico, as well in the world.

In that year, Obregón overthrew President Venustiano Carranza, was elected president himself and then set about fomenting a national artistic and cultural shift in Mexico, the remnants which still can be found today.

Obregón’s coup was the culmination of a decade of civil war that had seen constant military battles, ever-changing factions and armies and a revolving door of leaders since 1910.

Upon being officially elected president in December 1920, Obregón tasked his minister of education José Vasconcelos with increasing literacy and forging what was seen as a much-needed sense of national and cultural unity.

Vasconcelos’s idea was to portray the revolution’s history in public spaces, using a visual language that would teach Mexicans about the revolution and instill national pride in their indigenous heritage.

During Obregón’s presidency, Vasconcelos mobilized creatives of all types — artists, musicians, singers, writers — to help forge this new identity, one in which Mexico’s indigenous past would be glorified and its colonial legacy condemned.

Three of the most famous of those creatives, muralists Diego Rivera, José Clemente Orozco and David Alfaro Siqueiros — the founders of the Mexican Muralist Movement and known as “Los Tres Grandes” (The Big Three) — would forever impact Mexico’s art, as well as artists worldwide.

Before Obregón came to power, Mexico was already experiencing a cultural renaissance, inspired by opposition to Díaz’s government. José Guadalupe Posada, for example, created his iconic figure later known as La Catrina to mock society’s pro-European cultural pretensions under Díaz’s leadership.

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