Dream of a Sunday Afternoon in the Alameda Park
Diego Rivera. 1947-1948 C.E. Mexico City, Mexico. Fresco
Diego Rivera. 1947-1948 C.E. Mexico City, Mexico. Fresco
The artist reminds the viewer that the struggles and glory of four centuries of Mexican history are due to the participation of Mexicans from all strata of society. Originally a fresco in the Hotel Del Prado, Mexico City
Content
- depicts over 400 characters from Mexican history all joined together for a stroll in the gardens
- from all times of history
- include Hernan Cortes, Porfirio Diaz, and Sor Juana
- some elements are light-hearted and playful, like the colorful balloons and bright foliage; other elements are much darker, like a conflict between a policeman and an indigenous family and a skeleton smiling brightly at the viewer
- Rivera never officially joined the Surrealists, but the painting is nonetheless demonstrative of the Surrealist movement, which tried to depict subjects that came from dreams or the subconscious, in that this is titled as depicting a dream
- the fresco reads like a chronology from left to right: on the left is the conquest of Mexico by the Spaniards, then the fight for independence and Mexican revolution in the center, and modern achievements on the right
- the middle highlights the lifestyle of the Mexican elite in the middle--the kind of people whose lavish lives, so in contrast to the majority of the impoverished country, lead to the revolution and overthrow of the dictator Porfirio Diaz
- show "both the nightmare and dreams of every epoch:" the genocide and oppression of conquest, then the dream of democracy; both religious idealism and religious intolerance, the dream of lavish living and the effects of a fiscally divided nation; Rivera's love for Kahlo and also her declining health
- all the figures overlap with each other; not quite interacting but also not separate
- in the middle, front and center, is Rivera himself, Frida Kahlo, and "La Catrina," which was a 20th century nickname for an elegant, upper class woman who dressed in European clothing, which Rivera depicts as a smiling skeleton
- La Catrina unites two great artists: Rivera and Posada (who did the original La Catrina skeleton painting; see context)
- Frida Kahlo holds a yin/yang symbol
- represents opposite yet interdependent forces, and also masculinity/femininity
- this symbol represents Kahlo and Rivera's relationship: she mentored him, then they became lovers, then they broke up but remained political comrades and often painted each other
- uses imagery from Mexican history, like a feather boa around the Catrina's neck that is reminiscent of the Mesoamerican serpent god Quetzalcoatl
- Beginning on the left, Hernán Cortez, the first Spanish conquistador in the New World, is seen amongst the flames along with other religious figures. Panning over slightly, Antonio López de Santa Anna, President of Mexico after Independence from Spain in 1821, makes an appearance. Just to the right of the lady wearing red is José Martí, a national hero in Cuba. The boy wearing striped socks is Rivera, and he holds the hand of La Catrina, a figure of death in Mexican lore. His wife, Frida Kahlo, stands behind him. She rests one hand on her husband-as-a-boy’s shoulder and holds the familiar Eastern symbol of the Yin and Yang in her other hand, symbolizing the fact that Kahlo and Rivera were interdependent parts of a whole, despite their tumultuous relationship. The man wearing a bowler hat and holding a cane is the famed Mexican printmaker, José Guadalupe Posada, and the controversial dictator, Porfirio Díaz, dons his feather hat above the crowd. Lastly, toward the right side of the mural, a number of indigenous laborers can be seen, referencing contemporary struggles for labor equality.
Form
- the form of fresco/mural was famous in Mexican history--originally used for propaganda under the post-revolution government, artists began to use it for their own purposes, highlighting the "nightmares" under the political idealism that existed in the country
- 50 foot long and 13 feet high. Originally painted in the lobby of the Hotel Del Prado. “Didactic painting”- intended to teach, particularly in having moral instruction as an ulterior motive. Horror vaccui
Context
- the image of the Catrina woman was popularly known in Mexican culture at the time; around 1900 Posada had depicted a Catrina as a skeleton as a critique on the Mexican upper-class and the image became famous; Rivera appropriates this image in his fresco
- Rivera and Kahlo were married then divorced
- "Mexican muralism" was the the promotion of mural painting starting in the 1920s, generally with social and political messages as parts of an effort to reunify the country under the post-revolution government
- A major revival of Mexican art took place in the 20s and 30s by artists whose training was in the age-old tradition of fresco painting. Using large murals that all could see and appreciate, the Mexican muralists usually promoted a political or social message. They have an unmistakable meaning rendered in easy to read format, usually of theme such as labor and struggle of the working classes and of the socialist agenda. Mixing memory with historical and fictional figures, Rivera’s mural unfolds like a story, and the story at hand is essentially the history of Mexico. This piece features three episodes of Mexican history: Conquest and colonization of Mexico by the Spanish. The Porfirio Diaz dictatorship, and the revolution of 1910.
Function
- a manifestation of one man's experience with his Mexican heritage and love-life with a fellow artist
- could be seen as one of the precursors to the feminist/post-colonial art that shared the stories/experiences of people in minorities/people who had been oppressed and had not had their experiences ever shared in popular art before
- Diego Rivera sought to create a national Mexican style focusing on Mexico’s history and also incorporating a popular, generally accessible aesthetic in keeping with the socialist spirit of the Mexican Revolution.
Innovation
Rivera’s work stands in sharp contrast to the growing interest in abstraction on the part of many early 20th century painters and sculp- tors. He wrote that the “subject is to the painter what the rails are to a locomotive. He cannot do without it.”. Diego Rivera was a key
figure in producing another dimension of modernism in art that crossed the U.S. and Mexico border. With a foot in multiple countries,
Rivera brought together many art forms just like Lam. He paired indigenismo with the old European fresco style to create a hybrid art
form. He also became a promoter of hemispheric modernism, a style that was not anchored to one country, Mexico, but that criss- crossed many borders to create a style suitable for, well, the entire hemisphere. Indigenismo was a popular movement for artists and
intellectuals in Mexico City during the first half of the 20th century. Many movements at this time in Latin America sought non-Euro- pean aesthetics because Europe came to represent the ills of colonialism. While he experimented widely in many different movements,
Rivera eventually popularized indigenismo in Mexico after the Mexican Revolution of 1910
Artistic Decisions
Rivera was one of the “tres grandes,” or three greats, of Mexican muralism in the first half of the 20th century. He was a proponent
of indigenismo (indigenism), a movement that derived influence from a pre-Columbian aesthetic and preferred not to depict art in a
European art style. Elements of Rivera’s indigenismo can be seen in the molding of the stout forms and stylized clothing of Dream of
a Sunday Afternoon. Indigenismo was a popular movement for artists and intellectuals in Mexico City during the first half of the 20th
century. Many movements at this time in Latin America sought non-European aesthetics because Europe came to represent the ills of
colonialism. While he experimented widely in many different movements, Rivera eventually popularized indigenismo in Mexico after
the Mexican Revolution of 1910
Interpretation
Stepping away from the center, if one reads the mural like a text, a chronology emerges: the left side of the composition highlights
the conquest and colonization of Mexico, the fight for independence and the revolution occupy the majority of the central space, and
modern achievements fill the right. The artist reminds the viewer that the struggles and glory of four centuries of Mexican history are
due to the participation of Mexicans from all strata of society.
Details
After the 1985 earthquake that destabilized the hotel it was moved to Alameda Park built on the grounds of an Aztec marketplace.
