He served in the United States Army Air Corps in World War II, and at the Training Aids Development Center.

[4][5] Black, yellow, red was also featured in Henry-Russell Hitchcock's accompanying book Painting toward architecture (1948), with foreword by Alfred Barr of the Museum of Modern Art, New York.

[6] The artwork was also the basis for the cover of a Miller Company heater design catalogue, thematically called "A spiralating heat wave".

[7] In 2002–03, the Valerie Carberry Gallery in Chicago exhibited Jose de Rivera: Abstract Sculpture, Painting and Works on Paper.

[8] On March 12, 1984, at the age of 80, de Rivera died at Lenox Hill Hospital, New York City, five weeks after suffering a stroke.