History of Mexico
Artist: Diego Rivera
Location: Palacio Nacional, Mexico City, Mexico
Date: 1929-1935
One of los tres grandes of twentieth-century Mexican muralism, Diego Rivera painted multiple state-sponsored murals as a part of the Mexican government’s search for a national aesthetic in the wake of a tumultuous revolution. His work often includes ideas of indigenismo* , communism, and an idealized notion of class unity. Here, Diego Rivera has presented the viewer with his condensed view of Mexican history. The mural wraps around the viewer as they climb the staircase of the Palacio Nacional in Mexico City, allowing them to walk through the telling of Mexico’s history, which has been divided into three sections.
Detail: Quetzalcoatl emerging as a plumed serpent on the left. On the right, Quetzalcoatl is expelled from Mexico
The North wall, entitled The Aztec Indian World, firmly places Mexico’s history in the ancient past of central Mexico. As often seen with Rivera, the wall is a pastiche of different scenes and moments. Rivera’s compression of time and space is most obvious in the three different appearances of the mythological figure, Quetzalcoatl, the plumed serpent. He first appears on the left, emerging from a volcano as a feathered serpent.
Quetzalcoatl appears once again in the center, where his depiction deviates from traditional iconography. Rather than one of his pre-Columbian representations, such as a feathered serpent or masked figure, he is shown as a bearded white man with blond hair and blue eyes. This Europeanized Quetzalcoatl is also on the right, his boat referencing his expulsion from Mexico. Narratives of Cortés being received by Mocteczuma as Quetzalcoatl derive from the colonial period. Although its exact origin is unknown, it was recorded as early as the latter half of the sixteenth century, where it appears in Book 12 of the General History of the Things of New Spain, also known as the Florentine Codex. Created by Indigenous artists under the supervision of Bernardino de Sahagún in 1575–77, The Florentine Codex details an event from decades ago, as Cortés and Mocteczuma met in 1519. It’s likely that Rivera’s portrayal of Quetzalcoatl was influenced by this myth of mistaken identity, which persisted beyond the colonial period. In this depiction of “The Aztec World,” Quetzalcoatl’s stark European features resemble those of Cortés more than the Plumed Serpent, creating a scene that could also be read as one of contact.
The mural moves forward to the large stretch of the West wall, titled From Conquest to the Future. Figures are chaotically piled on top of one another, leaving little to no negative space. While at first glance a chaotic assemblage, the West wall is divided horizontally into three registers. The lower band depicts the violence of the conquest, as horses trample over and are attacked by Aztec warriors. From the violence of the conquest rises scenes of colonial rule, oppression, and evangelization. At the top, Rivera depicts scenes and figures of revolution.
Detail: Aztec warriors fight against the Spanish and other Indigenous warriors**
Image from
Detail: the evangelization of Mexico
Detail: Scenes of Revolution
Lastly, the mural concludes with the South wall, The World of Today and Tomorrow. Karl Marx stands at the very top, behind a world on fire as he points to his dream of a new society. Slightly below Marx, a worker in blue riles his companions below a communist flag. Below, scenes of people from different classes are scattered throughout between scenes of corruption and violence. The face of his wife, Frida Kahlo, is one of the women pictured in the lower center.
In his panoramic history, Rivera asserts Mexico’s identity as one rooted in its pre-Columbian and colonial history. He extends the past into the present, culminating in the idealized spirit driving his modern hopes of social unification.
Detail: a worker inspires his companions below a communist flag
Detail: Marx points to a new society
Detail: Scenes of corruption
*indigenismo is an ideology that emphasizes the relationship between the modern state and the indigenous past as well as contemporary indigenous communities.
**The invasion of Tenochtitlan was comprised of Spanish soldiers and their Indigenous allies. It's estimated that roughly 90% of the invading army was Indigenous.