Rivera Biography: Painting Till the End

The remainder of Rivera's life was a drawn out length of sadness. Frida died at age forty-seven on July 13, 1954, in great pain, with one leg amputated. Life without Frida was no good for Diego. Six months later, he was diagnosed with cancer. He married his art dealer, Emma Hurtado, and went off on a long tour of Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union.

After returning to Mexico City, he went to the Hotel Del Prado to alter the famous mural he had painted there in 1947, Dream of a Sunday Afternoon in Alameda Park. The owners had to have a special drapery made to cover the mural and through the years it was only viewed by special request. On April 13, 1956, he finally painted over the words he had so often refused to change during the past ten years, "Dios no existe." On April 15, 1956, he called a press conference to announce to his Mexican people, "I am a Catholic." He was turning toward home.

Modern art had moved into abstract imagery, altogether devoid of identifiable form. Critics who had so acclaimed his art, now looked at his ideological paintings almost embarrassingly. Still, Diego painted to the end of his life. He died at the age of seventy-one, painting in his studio, on November 24, 1957.

The easel work done in the last part of his life is the most enduring of Diego's paintings. These are the pieces that are most recognizable and collected today. Many are still copied and reproduced today in book jackets, cards and poster art. His last paintings were of the indigenous people of Mexico. He portrayed them in the rhythmic movement of their everyday lives. They were the other most consistent love of his life, the true citizens of his Mexican landscape.

Diego Rivera was believed to be, by many of his contemporary artists and art critics, the finest artist of the 20th Century.

Next: Rivera Chronology