RESIDE SPRING 2021
THE INTERSECTION OF ART AND TRAVEL ountless art lovers are captivated by the visionary artists Diego Rivera, Augusta Savage, and Camille Pissarro. To cut C through the mystery and gain an appreciation and understanding of these masters, one must visit the cities that facilitated their talents. Each is a joy to visit in its own right; add in these stops and you’ll come away with a newfound artistic education covering some of the art world’s biggest names.
DIEGO RIVERA’S MEXICO CITY
The Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City, a world-renowned performance venue, features murals by Diego Rivera. The artist is best known for large works of art depicting everyday life, often filled with political messages.
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Art lovers who visit Mexico’s capital revel in the chance to see sites where the larger-than-life Diego Rivera (18861957) lived and worked, some of which overlapped with his wife, Frida Kahlo. Begin in the leafy, enchanting neighborhood of Coyoacán, home to the Museo Diego Rivera-Anahuacalli and Museo Frida Kahlo. The latter, popularly known as La Casa Azul, is a striking blue house where Rivera and Kahlo lived together. The rooms were left untouched, so be sure to visit Rivera’s bedroom, where his hat, jacket, and work clothes still hang from a wall rack. The artist built the Museo Diego Rivera-Anahuacalli both as his studio and a museum to hold his collection of pre-Columbian art. The imposing neo-Aztec building sits in a parklike environment that doubles as one of the few wildlife refuges in Mexico City. Take a guided tour, or check out the small gallery which hosts art, music, dance lessons, lectures, and concerts.
In the artsy, upscale neighborhood of San Ángel, the Museo Casa Estudio Diego Rivera y Frida Kahlo is housed in Kahlo and Rivera’s first marital home. The museum lets visitors explore key sites such as Rivera’s studio, where he made many of his most famous paintings surrounded by floor-to-ceiling windows and huge papier-mâché Judas sculptures. Rivera is best known for his large frescoes and murals. A communist, he frequently inserted contentious political themes such as workers’ rights into his works. Rivera’s most ardent fans make a scavenger hunt out of a visit to Mexico City’s Centro Historico, or historic center, where four locations, all within a healthy stroll of one another, hold some of the artist’s most famous works. Check out the Secretaria de Educacion Publica building to see a famous Rivera mural in which Kahlo is depicted handing out rifles to revolutionaries, or scan the exterior of the imposing Palacio Nacional—on the eastern edge of the Zócalo, the city’s vast main square—to marvel at awe-inspiring Rivera murals. The Museo Mural Diego Rivera is a small museum built primarily to house one of the artist’s most renowned murals, Dream of a Sunday Afternoon in Alameda Central Park (1947). And the Palacio de Bellas Artes, a world-famous performance venue best known for ballet folklorico dance performances, houses a museum that displays Rivera murals. Finish with a stop at the Museo Nacional de Arte (MUNAL), which contains a large collection of the artist’s paintings, including pieces he painted in Paris while on a scholarship to Europe.
From left: Getty Images; Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, Carl Van Vechten Collection, [LC-USZ62-42516]
DIEGO RIVERA’S MEXICO CITY, AUGUSTA SAVAGE’S HARLEM, CAMILLE PISSARRO’S PARIS
