Subterranean Forces 1927

Diego Rivera made this mural, Subterranean Forces, at the Chapingo Autonomous University in Texcoco, Mexico. It’s painted in a warm palette of ochre, orange and browns. You can almost feel the artist's hand moving across the wall, layering these colors to build forms that both emerge and recede. Rivera was such a prolific muralist, wasn’t he? I imagine him standing on scaffolding, brush in hand, completely immersed in the act of storytelling. Look at the swirling forms, the way the figures intertwine and reach. There’s a sense of energy here, as though these figures are part of some subterranean life force, deeply connected to the earth. I wonder if he was thinking of his predecessors, like José Clemente Orozco, who also embraced the mural as a way to communicate with the masses? I am always so moved by the way artists inspire one another, building upon the ideas and techniques of those who came before them. Painting is really a form of embodied expression, isn’t it? Ambiguity and uncertainty can allow for multiple interpretations, and in this way meaning is never fixed.