Mexico’s Cause

According to the Mexican art historians, through most of the twentieth century, Mexican art has been studied from the perspective of a nationalist philosophy counterfeited in he 1920s and colored by a single-minded vision of both the country and its cultural production.

In the wake of the Mexican Revolution of 1910-1917, came the supposed need by intellectuals and government officials to forge a national Mexican culture that would restore order and unity.

The great majority of Mexican artists who have decided to live and work in Mexic feel more connected to the country than native artists.  Native Mexicans apparently don’t identify with the Mexican world that much.

Artistic creation in Mexico is the product of decades of institutional and personal relationships with contemporary political, cultural, and artistic movements in countries such as Europe, Latin America, and the United States. In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Mexican artists were drawn to Europe, and especially Paris.

In the wake of the October Revolution in Russia, the Mexican avant-garde embraced the Soviet and communism.  This process reached its most pronounced level in the 1930s, at the same time being shaped by the political movements and esthetic polarizations of radical elements in the United States.

One of the most famous and world-recognized artists, in the last century, was Frida Kahlo, who was perhaps the most revolutionary and representative of this movement.  Her husband, Diego Rivera, also followed the same cause as Kahlo.