Diego Rivera's Detroit Industry, Detroit

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Diego Rivera fuses the stress of blue-collar workers and the beauty of colors to create a fresco piece that demonstrates America’s center of industry, Detroit. All of the details in the piece, Detroit Industry, have a purpose, down to the colors that are chosen. This artwork of his is admired by many and illustrates a strong message about the flow of the factories and the relationship between technology and manufacturing (Smith).
Rivera’s life started out in the year of 1886, in Guanajuato City, located in Central Mexico. His study of art began when he was only 10 years of age. Before returning to Mexico in 1921, he studied in Mexico City, Spain, France, and Italy. Through his travels, he was greatly influenced by cubism painting, post-impressionism …show more content…

After painting in California and New York, he painted the famous twenty-seven panel fresco mural titled Detroit Industry (Detroit Institute). This mural is still in the center court of the Detroit Institute of Arts today, to be admired and appreciated by all. The mural was meant to pay a tribute to the city’s manufacturing and labor force in the 1930’s. Because Rivera believed that all art belongs to the public, he wanted all of his storytelling murals to be out in the open for all to admire (Smith).
His mural in the Detroit Institute of Arts is titled Detroit Industry. It was created for the purpose of informing the public about the manufacturing empire in Detroit (Detroit Institute). Before creating the work of art, Rivera spent three months researching the industries in Detroit. He went to different plants and facilities, compiling hundreds of sketches and pictures so that every detail works captures exactly how life is in the factories (“Motion of the Workers”). The whole mural features 27 different panels surrounding the DIA’s central Rivera Court. The mural is a fresco, meaning that it is painted on wet lime plaster so the enormous mural will last and be remembered for many years to come (Detroit Institute). The