Leal said that the imagery of the indigenous persons with realistic detail, done in European painting techniques, fit Vasconcelos’ needs.

Leal was recruited by Vasconcelos along with a number of other artists such as Diego Rivera, Xavier Guerrero, Amado de la Cueva, Jean Charlot, David Alfaro Siqueiros and others to paint for the post-Revolutionary government, to create a “new sense of Mexican identity.”[5] The first mural he painted was Los danzantes de Chalma at the Escuela Nacional Preparatoria, today the San Ildefonso College.

The encaustic mural shows a ritual performed in the sanctuary town of Chalma, with its fusion of Catholic and indigenous rites.

[1] Opposite this mural is La conquista de Tenochtitlán (Conquest of Tenochtitlan) by Jean Charlot, who was invited to paint by Leal.

The bottom shows the violence of the struggle for liberty, and features indigenous people who appear as Muses or inspiration for the hero.

[4] Also destroyed was a mural for the Instituto Nacional de Panamá, with the title of Neptuno encandenado (Neptune chained), a criticism of imperialism.

The old way, by foot and horse/donkey, shows robbery and other violent scenes, while the train is shown as traversing great distances.

[1] He taught painting at the Academy of San Carlos, and in 1927 was appointed director of the Centro Popular de Pintura in Nonoalco.

[4] His murals usually used encaustic painting producing rich transparent colors, subtly graduated and free from heavy chiaroscuro .

[1][2] His work features a synthesis of shapes in the styles of Saturnino Herrán, avoiding allegory, trademarks of the Mexican realist school of paintings.