Portrait of Mrs Elisa Saldivar de Gutierrez Roldan 1946

Diego Rivera's ‘Portrait of Mrs Elisa Saldivar de Gutierrez Roldan’ is a very interesting painting! Look at the way the light falls on the ruffles of her dress, it's almost like a spotlight. It makes me wonder if Rivera was thinking about theatre when he was painting this. Elisa is backstage, waiting for the curtain to rise, or maybe she's just finished a performance. There’s a rose on the floor next to some discarded papers, perhaps fan mail, or love letters? The way Rivera has painted her skin is really striking. It’s so smooth and porcelain-like, which gives her a kind of otherworldly quality. I can't help but think of other artists and paintings he might have been thinking about, perhaps the Italian Renaissance painters, or even Frida Kahlo? I feel he has a lot of reverence for the way his peers and predecessors worked with paint. Painting is an ongoing conversation, right? We all respond to each other's marks, and Rivera is no exception.