Murals have been used for centuries in Mexico to tell stories of religion, culture and history so that illiterate people could understand. In the twentieth century, mural painting grew into an important art movement representing the prevalent socialist thinking.
Church Decoration
Up until the late nineteenth century, murals in Mexico were used to decorate churches and to tell religious stories.
Education and Political Thought
Secular murals began to appear in schools and state buildings representing new positivist thought. (Positivism suggests that knowledge should be based on natural phenomena.)
Mexican Revolution
After the Mexican Revolution (1910 through 1920), the Mexican Secretary of State for Education Jose Vasconcelos allocated funds for artists to paint murals in public buildings. Diego Rivera and David Alfaro Siqueiros were two artists who benefited from this plan.
Nationalist Themes
Rivera, Siqueiros and others formed an artists' syndicate (Sindicato de Obreros Tecnicos, Pintores y Escultores) that produced a manifesto in 1922. This manifesto stated that mural painting must illustrate socialist ideals. Murals championed the working classes and were more militant in nature.
Decorative Murals
During the 1940s, the trend for Mexican murals changed back to a more decorative folk style because commissions for artists were coming from private institutions and the government.
Los Tres Grandes
Diego Rivera, David Alfaro Siqueiros and Jose Clemente Orozco are known as "The Three Great Ones" (Los Tres Grandes) of Mexican muralists. Although they are usually grouped together, their styles are different and their creative lives did not exactly parallel. All three worked in the United States as well as Mexico.
