Wheel 1939

Curator: Well, the initial impact is certainly dramatic! It feels heavy, oppressive, almost like a machine grinding bones. There’s this wheel looming over something, some kind of figures, bathed in infernal light... what's the story here? Editor: This powerful tempera mural, titled "Wheel", was completed in 1939 by Jose Clemente Orozco, as part of a series. He was, of course, one of the leading lights of the Mexican Muralism movement, using art to explore Mexican history and the impact of modernity. Curator: Mexican history and a giant wheel? A bit on the nose, isn’t it? A blunt instrument, symbolizing…industrialization crushing something precious? I am getting this burning sense of oppression. Editor: Symbolism is precisely where Orozco hits his stride! The wheel is not simply about industrial progress. Look closer. In Orozco’s visual vocabulary, the wheel embodies cycles, both creative and destructive. It represents the inevitable, and often brutal, turning of history. And look beneath— aren’t those broken pre-Columbian figures being literally crushed? Curator: Oh, I see, they are, trapped under it all. Ancient power obliterated by the onward march. It is such a grim picture, and there's a weird feeling, as though it isn't just Mexico's history; I am getting that deep time pull, a reminder of shattered cultures, even those unknown... that’s quite affecting, now that I study this "blunt instrument." The rays give it the illusion of moving relentlessly toward the viewer. Editor: The iconography blends both indigenous motifs and more universal symbols of power and destruction. Consider also how Orozco placed the wheel within this fiery halo. It could represent knowledge, enlightenment… but also, terrifyingly, uncontrolled technological advance. Is it progress or apocalypse? Curator: Right, a wheel isn't inherently evil, it’s how it’s used… by whom, to what ends… The real terror comes, maybe, from how seductive these big, shiny new toys are. They become like a runaway cart rolling down a slope… nobody is controlling. Editor: Precisely, it serves as a constant call to examine our actions and consider their echoes across generations. The wheel grinds on and on… Curator: Definitely leaves you with that echo, a metallic ringing of historical dread... a grim meditation on unintended consequences!