The History of Mexico (mural)

Government-sponsored murals were commissioned after the end of the Mexican Revolution, mainly in Mexico City and surrounding areas between 1923 and 1939 to celebrate the overthrow of the Porfirio Diaz dictatorship.

[1] The government commissioned various artists, most famously José Clemente Orozco, David Alfaro Siqueiros, and Rivera himself to paint scenes about Mexican history.

[3] The mural consists of three distinct sections across three walls, thematically divided in chronological order: ancient Mexico, the colonial past to the present, and the future.

Adjacent are scenes of Natives working as slaves for the Spaniards, making weapons, constructing walls and buildings (including the National Palace itself), and providing food.

The upper corners of the wall depict the Second French intervention in Mexico and the triumph of president Benito Juarez over emperor Maximilian, whose execution is shown.

[4] Art historian Leonard Folgarait notes that Rivera depicts the rich and foreigners who took over Mexico as evil, while the poor, peasants, Native American, farmers and workers are on the side of good and freedom.