Carnival of Mexican Life. Dictatorship 1936

Diego Rivera made this mural, Carnival of Mexican Life, at the Palacio de Bellas Artes, and looking at it, I can only imagine the many layers of underpainting, the building up of thin glazes, or maybe thicker applications here and there. There's this incredible range of characters here. He's got that huge figure looming over everyone, with a face like a mask and a whip to match. I wonder if Rivera felt like he was conducting a visual orchestra while he was painting this. I bet he wanted to convey so many different social types. That guy with the sombrero and the handlebar mustache looks like he's about to break into song, while the figures at the bottom look like they’re straight out of some kind of surrealist nightmare. There’s something really theatrical about the whole composition. The piece puts me in mind of Ensor, but Rivera gives it that uniquely Mexican twist. All these artists – we’re all just riffing off of each other, trying to make something new.