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Art Analysis: La Malinche

682 Words3 Pages

Logan Tanaka
5/10/23
World History
La Malinche Art Analysis

Malinali, commonly known as “La Malinche” was a slave girl of South American indigenous blood who served as a translator/bridge between the old world Spaniards and new world Aztecas. She was originally given to the leader of the conquistadors, Hernan Cortez, as an enslaved concubine. She would take advantage of her heavy influence on both the Aztecs and Spaniards due to her being the literal connection between both worlds thanks to her knowledge of Spanish and Nahuatl, the language of the ancient Aztecs. She was able to forge diplomatic relationships and explain customs new to the Spanish explorers. Despite helping the two sides diplomatically and making things go a lot smoother …show more content…

This painting depicts Malinali doing her job of interpretation and overall seems to paint her as more of a literal bridge between the two cultures. Examples of this are seen commonly throughout the painting. One such example is the constant placement of her always in between the two powerful leaders who are presumably Spanish leader Hernan Cortez and Aztec Emperor, Moctezuma II. Telles seems to depict her in a positive light and does not mention anything about her betrayal or the violence that took …show more content…

In the background, it seems as if persecution of the indigenous population by conquistadors is occurring as we see a member of the Church holding up a crucifix to what can be presumed is a native being hung on a tree. Deeper analysis into this painting invokes a message of almost beauty and death coexisting. While the focal point, Malinali, introduces a message of beauty in life, Barazza intentionally has her looking down to the horrors of the Spanish explorers behind her. She might have done this to act on that traitor part of Malinali and depict her turning her back to her own people in favor of a new world in Mexico, a world with European influence and that baby represents the birth of a preexisting culture into the

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