Diego Rivera

DIEGO RIVERA (Mexico, 1886- 1957).
"Market scene", 1949.
Pencil on paper.
Signed and dated in the lower margin.
Certificate of authenticity attached.
Measurements: 24 x 32 cm; 45 x 53 cm (frame).

This is a highly representative work by Diego Rivera, a fundamental pillar of Mexican muralism. In 1949, the artist was already an internationally acclaimed figure, but his interest never strayed from what he called "the deep life of Mexico": the markets, the workers and the indigenous roots.

In this composition, Rivera places the viewer in a popular market, an essential space of economic and social exchange. The female figure seated in the foreground, wearing a wide-brimmed hat, acts as the structural axis of the scene. Around her are other figures -sellers and buyers- organized with architectural clarity, suggesting depth through superimposed planes and vertical elements that delimit the space.

The drawing, executed in pencil, reveals a firm and sure stroke. Rivera does not pursue anecdotal detail, but rather the solid construction of volume and human presence. Even in an intimate and monochrome format, his ability to confer monumentality to everyday scenes is perceived, elevating the popular to a historical and symbolic category.

The theme of the market was recurrent in his iconography as an emblem of cultural identity and ancestral continuity. Signed and dated 1949, this drawing is a direct testimony to his mastery of drawing and his constant commitment to the dignified representation of the Mexican people.

Diego Rivera began his decisive muralist period with the cycles of the Secretaría de Educación Pública and, later, with La epopeya del pueblo mexicano en el Palacio Nacional, fundamental works for the construction of a post-revolutionary visual identity. Since 1930 he expanded his international projection with commissions such as the famous Detroit Industry Murals at the Detroit Institute of Arts and the mural for Rockefeller Center in New York (later destroyed and recreated in Mexico as El hombre controlador del universo).