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Free course

Art and the Mexican Revolution

Free statement of participation on completion
Art and the Mexican Revolution
In this free course, Art and the Mexican Revolution, you will explore one of Diego Rivera’s key murals which was commissioned by the Mexican government in the period after the Mexican Revolution of 1910-1920. These monumental public artworks, designed to win over the Mexican peasantry and working-class to the new post-revolutionary state, brought Mexican mural artists international acclaim and Rivera was subsequently awarded important commissions in the United States. Yet, due to his commitment to a figurative form of propaganda, Rivera’s reputation suffered during the Cold War period and these Mexican murals are now largely left out of dominant accounts of twentieth-century United States art.

Course learning outcomes

After studying this course, you should be able to:

  • situate a key example of Mexican muralism within the post-revolutionary context in which it was made
  • explore recent debates around the interpretation of Mexican muralism
  • examine the concepts of 'realism' and 'modernism' in relation to Mexican muralism
  • address the relevance of social and cultural contexts for interpreting works of art
  • analyse works of art in terms of different ideas and approaches.

First Published: 10/05/2017

Updated: 06/03/2019

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