The Day of the Dead 1924

Diego Rivera made The Day of the Dead, a fresco, probably a long time ago, sometime before 1957. Check out how the painting is a collision of warm and cool colors. See the orange-yellow hues of the skeletal musicians juxtaposed against the cooler blues and grays in the crowd? It’s like Rivera's palette is mimicking the Day of the Dead itself, where life and death waltz together in a sort of macabre tango. And look at the surface, at the rough texture of the fresco, where you can almost feel the grit of the plaster. It’s as though Rivera wanted us to engage with the physicality of this world, reminding us of our own mortal existence. My eye is drawn to the band of skeletons playing their guitars— the gesture is really prominent and it’s like these figures are inviting us to a celebration of life, in the face of death. You can see hints of José Guadalupe Posada in his prints of skeletons doing everyday things, a precursor to Rivera’s monumental, socially conscious murals. Ultimately, Rivera invites us to contemplate life’s fleeting nature with humor and acceptance.