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| 1886
-December 13: Born José Diego (twin brother José Carlos)
Rivera Barrientos, in Guanajuato, Mexico. |
| 1888
-José Carlos dies at age one and a half. |
| 1891- Sister, María del Pilar Rivera, born. |
| 1892
- The family move to Mexico City. |
| 1896
- Enters evening art course at the Academy of San Carlos. |
| 1899
- At his father's insistence enrolls in a military college,
but after two weeks, repealed by the prospect of regimented
training, he is permitted to enroll in regular classes
at San Carlos. His teachers at the academy include Félix
Parra, José María Velasco, and Santiago Rebull. |
| 1904
- Paints both figures studies and landscapes in the
manner of Velasco, including La era and La castañeda. |
| 1905
- Wins a government pension |
| 1906
- Included in an exhibition at San Carlos. Exhibits
some landscapes.Participates in an exhibition organized
for Savia Moderna. |
| 1907
- January 6: Rivera arrives in Spain. He receives a
modest four year scholarship for European study from
Governor Teodoro Dehesa. Gerardo Murillo has provided
a letter of introduction to the fashionable Spanish
realist Eduardo Chicharro, who takes Rivera on as a
student. |
| 1908
- Forms friendship with leading members of the Spanish
avant-garde, including Ramón del Valle-Inclán and the
painter María Gutiérrez B. |
| 1909
- Arrives in Paris. In summer visits Bruges, and through
María Gutiérrez meets a young Russian artist, Angeline
Beloff, who will later become his common-law wife.In
november returns to Paris. |
| 1910
- Studies with the academic painter Victor-Octave Guillonet.
Exhibits several painting in the exhibition of the Societé
des Artistes Independants. Rivera arrives back in Mexico. |
| 1911
- Rivera returns to Paris. Exhibits landscapes in the
Salon d' Automne. He travels to Catalonia. |
| 1912
- He returns to Paris and set up residence at 26, rue
de Depart. Exhibits Catalonian landscapes in the Societé
des Artistes Independants. Spring: travels with Beloff
to Toledo. |
| 1913
- This year mark Rivera's transition to Cubism. Exhibits
painting in the Groupe Libre exhibition at the Gallerie
Bernheim-Jeune.Remains in Paris studio preparing for
spring exhibition of the Societé des Artistes Independants.Early
in the year returns to Toledo and completes his Adoration
of the Virgin and child, the first work to successfully
incorporate the Cubism elements. Late summer exhibits
at the Salon d' Automne. |
| 1914
- Exhibits in the Societé des Artistes Indépendants.
Meets Juan Gris and adopts some of his language. Meets
Picasso, Picasso express admiration for Rivera's recent
painting, and they talk for several hour about Cubism.
April: Rivera's only one person exhibition in Paris
at the Gallery of Berthe Weill. Beginning of World War
I. Rivera, Beloff, Jacques Lipchitz, and María Gutiérrez
undertake a walking and sketching tour of Spain. At
the outbreak of the war, they are camped on the island
of Majorca. Rivera's group moves to Madrid. |
| 1915 - Exhibits his Spanish work in "los pintores integros", an exhibition
organized by Gómez de la Serna, which introduces Cubism
in Madrid. Rivera and Beloff return to Paris. Meets
Marevna Vorobieva. |
| 1916 - Included in two group shows of post-impressionist and cubist at
Marius de Zaya's Modern Gallery in New York. Invents
an instrument he calls "la chose"-possibly to assist
him in plotting planar refractions on his canvases.
Beloff gives birth to Rivera's son Diego. |
| 1917
- Pierre Revendy, in Apollinaire's wartime absence the
most prominent critic in Paris, denounces Rivera and
Lhote by implication in his essay "Sur le cubisme".
At a subsequent dinner given by Leonce Rosenberg- a
collaborator of Revendy-Rivera and Revendy engage in
an argument that leads to actual physical violence.
As a result of what would later be termed "l'affaire
Rivera" by the critic André Salmon, the artist breaks
with Rosenberg. Begins executing Ingres-drawing and
continues to study Cezanne. Meets Elie Faure; this marks
the beginning of his lifelong friendship. |
| 1918
- Rivera continues his pencil studies and again paints
under the influence of Cezanne. At the invitation of
Jean Cocteau and Andre Lhote, Rivera, Beloff , Adam
Fisher and his wife travel to the seaside village of
Le piquey in southwest France. |
1919 - Participates in an exhibition in Paris.Continues to paint Cezannesque
manner. David Alfaro Siqueiros after a stay in Spain,
visits Rivera. Rivera stays with Faure in the Dordogne
in southern France.
Birth of Marika, daughter of Marevna and Rivera. |
| 1920
- Becomes entranced with sensuous quality of Renoir.
Rivera goes to Italy to study Renaissance art . |
| 1921
- Rivera leaves Paris and Beloff. Arrives in Mexico.
Vasconcelos's mural program begins with the decoration
of the former Jesuits Church and the convent of Saints
Peter and Paul, Mexico City. Rivera appointed to art-related
government position by Vasconcelos. At the invitation
of Vasconcelos, travels to Yucatán to view the preconquest
sites of Chichén Itza and Uxmal. Meets Lupe Marín. |
| 1922
- Early in the year begins the mural Creation in the
Anfiteatro Bolívar of the Escuela Nacional Preparatoria,
for which he draws heavily on his italian studies. Marries
Guadalupe Marín of Guadalajara and moves to a charming
old house on the calle Mixcalco. Vasconcelos funds Rivera's
trip to Tehuantepec, whose people and physical beauty
greatly impress the artist. |
| 1923
- Begins work on the wall of the east patio of the Secretaría
de Educación Pública.The first panels Rivera paints
at the Secretaría treat Tehuantepec subjects, as a token
of appreciation to Vasconcelos, who is a native of the
region.Siqueiros, Rivera, de la Cueva, with the support
of José Clemente Orozco, form the Union of technical
Workers, painters, and sculptors. |
| 1924
- Vasconcelos, increasingly dissatisfied with Obregon's
policies, offers his resignation. The press attacks
the Preparatoria murals.At the instigation of conservative
political group, student of the school riot in protest
against the murals. They present a petition to Vasconcelos
demanding that the work be discontinued, and they deface
the murals of Orozco and Siqueiros. All mural decoration
at the school stops.Daughter Lupe born. Rivera establishes
a congenial relationship with the new minister of education,
J.M.Puig Casauranc. Rivera begins murals in the administration
building at the Escuela Nacional de Agricultura in Chapingo. |
| 1925
- Finishes all the murals in the court of fiestas, continues
to paint at Chapingo, and begins the second and third
floor murals at the Secretaría. Rivera's painting flower
day is included in the Pan American exhibition at the
Los Angeles Museum and wins the purchase prize. |
| 1926 - Rivera begins his mural program in the chapel at Chapingo. Continues
to work on Secretaría murals. Daughter Ruth born. |
| 1927 - Completes the Chapingo murals four days before leaving for a visit
to the Soviet Union. Rivera visit the Soviet Union to
participate in the celebration of tenth anniversary
of the October revolution. |
| 1928
- June: Returns to Mexico. The definitive break Rivera's
tumultuous marriage with Lupe Marín. Rivera meets Frida
Kahlo at one of Tina Modotti's weekly party. Finishes
the Secretaría series. |
| 1929 - Rivera appointed director of the Academy of San Carlos. He propose
sweeping changes in the curriculum. Rivera's hugely
ambitious program draw much criticism, especially from
conservative administration. Begins work on his comprehensive
history of the Mexican nation on the main stairway of
the Palacio Nacional. Rivera paints six large nudes,
symbolizing purity,strength, knowledge, life, continence,
and health in the conference room of the Secretaría
de Salubridad y Asistencia. He also design four stained-glass
windows on the theme of the element August: marries
Frida Kahlo in Coyoacán. Expelled from the Mexican communist
party for disobedience to its policies. U.S. ambassador
Dwight W. Morrow commissions Rivera to paint a mural
for the loggia of the Palacio de Cortés in Cuernavaca.
December: Begins to paint at Cuernavaca. |
| 1930 - Continues working on the Cuernavaca murals. Rivera forces to resign
as director of San Carlos. November: Rivera finishes
murals at Cuernavaca. Mid-November: arrives in San Francisco.
A large Rivera retrospective exhibition at the California
Palace of the Legion of honor. December: Begins work
on Allegory of California for |
| 1931
- February: finishes Allegory of California.Paints "the
making of a fresco" in the Gallery of the California
School of arts. December: Rivera's retrospective at
the Museum of Modern Art of New York. |
| 1932
- The Art commission of the City of Detroit approves
Valentiner's proposal that Rivera be commissioned to
paint murals for the garden Court of the Detroit Institute
of Art. Contract signed between the founders Society
of the Detroit institute of arts and Rivera for the
extended fresco project, Detroit industry (funded by
Edsel ford). Rivera, Frank Brangwyn, and José María
Sert are commissioned to create nine murals in the main
corridor of the lobby of the RCA building in New York. |
1933 - March: Detroit murals completed. Late March: arrives in New York
to begin work on the RCA mural, entitled " Man at crossroads
looking with hope and high vision to the choosing of
a new and better future".
Abby A. Rockefeller visits the mural site and praises
the section depicting the Soviet May Day demonstrations.
Nelson Rockefeller asks Rivera to replace the face of
Lenin with that of an anonymous individual. Rivera offers
to substitute Abraham Lincoln and the other 19 th century
North American figures for a group opposite Lenin. The
RCA dismisses Rivera. The RCA mural is covered with
canvas painted to match the adjoining blank wall. July
: Rivera begins painting at the New Workers School.
December: Public showing of the New Workers School panels
and nightly lectures by Rivera. Rivera and Kahlo sail
for Mexico and on arrival move into their newly finished
residence in San Angel. |
| 1934 - February: RCA murals are destroyed. June: Rivera signs a contract
to reproduce the RCA murals on a wall at the Palacio
de Bellas Artes in Mexico City. November: Rivera begins
his smaller version of the RCA mural. |
| 1935
- Continues working on the stairway at the Palacio Nacional,
which he completes on november 20. Siqueiros and Rivera
brandishing pistols, attack each other with inflammatory
rhetoric. |
| 1936 - Alberto Pani, the politician and financier who had previously befriended
Rivera in Europe, commissions murals on the theme of
Mexican festivals for his new Hotel Reforma in Mexico
City. Receives a cable from writer Anita Brenner asking
him to ascertain if Mexico would permit Trotsky immediate
political asylum. Rivera seek out President Lázaro Cárdenas,
who agrees to give Trotsky refuge. |
| 1937 - January 9: León and Natalia Trotsky arrives at Tampico. They will
live in the Rivera's Coyoacán home. |
| 1938 - André and Jacqueline Bretón arrive in Mexico. They first stay with
Guadalupe Marín, then with Riveras at San Angel. The
Riveras, the Bretons and the Trotsky socialize and travel
together. Personal and political conflicts develop between
Rivera and Trotsky. |
| 1939 - Trotsky announces he no longer feels "moral solidarity" with Rivera's
anarchistic ideas. The Mexican section of the IV international
denounces Rivera for abandoning the rask of socialism
and support the conservative presidential candidate
Juan Andrew Almazán. |
| 1940 - Rivera and Kahlo separate and are divorced. Timothy Pflueger travels
to Mexico to invite Rivera to participate in the forth-coming
Art in action program of the 1940 Golden Gate international
exposition. Siqueiros leads an assassination attempt
on Trotsky in his Coyoacán house. Jun: Rivera arrives
in San Francisco. August: Trotsky assassinated by Spanish
Ramón Mercader. Kahlo comes to San Francisco and is
reconciled with Rivera; they remarry on December 8. |
| 1943 - Rivera undertakes one mural project in Mexico City, devoted to
the history of cardiology at the instituto Nacional
de Cardiología. Teaches composition and painting at
the Escuela Nacional de Pintura y Escultura (La Esmeralda). |
| 1944 - Rivera begins the mosaic decoration of Anahuacalli with pre-conquest
motifs. Returns to the Palacio Nacional and paints The
Great City of Tenochtitlán. |
| 1945 - Continues painting in Palacio Nacional. |
| 1947 - Begins a mural commission, "Dream of a Sunday afternoon in the
Alameda", for the newly constructed Hotel del Prado.
With Orozco and Siqueiros, forms the Commission of Mural
Painting, an arm of the Instituto Nacional de Bellas
artes (INBA). |
| 1948 - Completes the Hotel del Prado mural. His inclusion of the slogan
"God does not exist" creates a scandal, with the result
that the mural is kept from public view for nine year.
Return to Chapingo to paint doorway panels with portraits
of presidents Manuel Avila Camacho and Alvaro Obregón. |
| 1949
- Rivera present his plan for additional murals on the
second floor of the Palacio Nacional. |
| 1950 - Siqueiros and Rivera illustrate Pablo Neruda's Canto General. Rivera's
painting, along with those of Orozco, Siqueiros, and
Rufino Tamayo, exhibited in the Mexican pavilion at
the Venice biennale. Designs the scenery for José Revuelta's
play the Quarter of solitude, presented in May at the
Arbeu Theater, Mexico City. |
| 1951 - Paints murals (which are intended to be submerged underwater) at
the Lerma Waterworks, Mexico city, in an experimental
medium combining BKS-92 polystyrene and liquid rubber.
Rivera create a vast mosaic, which depicts the rain
God Tláloc. |
| 1952 - Paints "The night mare of war and the dream of peace" in which
appears Stalin, accompanied by Mao Tsetung. The Director
of INBA, Carlos Chávez, refuses to exhibit the work.
INBA officials remove the painting from Palacio Nacional
de Bellas Artes. |
| 1953
- José María Dávila commissions Rivera to create a mural
for the facade of the new Teatro Insurgentes. Paints
two large oils for the Cuernavaca home of Santiago Reachi.
Rivera begins the mural The people's Demand for better
health for the Hospital de la Raza. Send "The nightmare
of war and the dream of peace" to the people's Republic
of China. |
| 1954
- Kahlo's last public appearance as she and Rivera participate in
a demonstration protesting C.I.A. involvement in the
ouster of Guatemalan president Jacobo Arbenz Guzmán.July:
Frida Kahlo dies. |
1955 - July: Marries Emma Hurtado, his dealer since 1946.August: Sets
up a trust fund through the Banco de Mexico to administer
for the public the structure and collection of Anahuacalli
and Kahlo's Coyoacán home as museumsAt the invitations
of the Moscow Fine Arts Academy, leaves for Moscow with
Hurtado.
October-December: following an operation, undergoes
cobalt treatments. Makes numerous drawing and notes
during his hospital stay. |
| 1955 - April: Returns
to Mexico. Recuperates at the Acapulco home of his friend
Dolores Olmedo. December: national homage on the occasion
of Rivera's seventieth birthday. |
|
1957 - Dies of heart failure in his San Angel studio.He is buried in the
Rotonda de los Hombres Ilustres at the pantheon of Dolores,
Mexico City. |
