Flower Festival-: Feast of Santa Anita Flower
Festival
Dos Ninos
Muchacho Mexicano |
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Understanding a Masterpiece:
Feast of Santa Anita Flower Festival
Everywhere he looked, Diego Rivera saw potential
masterpieces. This is in accordance with what
the famed Mexican master of the fresco would
say after he returned from an extended European
stay.
Diego Rivera often spoke of his love and passion
for the common folk and his strong sense of
nationalism for his homeland, Mexico. The surging
crowds that would pack the marketplaces of his
youth, and the brightly-colored dresses of the
women and young girls carrying flowers, impressed
and inspired him. The obvious concern that Rivera
expressed for his fellow countrymen ran as deep
as the colors he used in his paintings. To understand
the artist is to understand his masterpiece
Flower Festival: Feast of Santa Anita.
Powerful Colors - Unified Message
Diego Rivera painted The Flower Festival: Feast
of Santa Anita in 1931 as a tribute to the Mexican
religious, traditional celebration of Santa
Anita Canal. The artist did not only depict
the religious aspect of the Catholic Feast Day,
but also included his subtle sentiment with
regard to the plight of the Mexican working
agricultural class. His beautiful rendition
of the many snow-white calla lilies being carried
by the priest, the huge bundles of red flowers
held by three figures, and the young women in
a kneeling position signify Rivera’s intense
religious belief in Catholicism and his compassion
for the laborers of his country.
A Unique Art Style
Throughout his artistic career, Rivera sought
to develop an art with a national identity,
one that would serve the Mexican people. The
figures and flowers in Flower Festival: Feast
of Santa Anita are tightly juxtapositioned and
take up the entire space on the canvas, suggesting
unity, a sense of endless bounty and an appreciation
for those who harvest such beauty. The stylized
facial features of the background figures reflect
Rivera’s fascination with pre-Columbian
sculpture, of which he was an avid collector.
The mural’s bold colors leap off the canvas
in fantastic, well-defined order, perhaps intended
to contrast with the political disorder of the
country at that time. Rivera often lamented
the stiffness and indifference of the upper-society
toward the common folk.
Mexican Nationalism
In Flower Festival: Feast of Santa Anita, Diego
Rivera celebrates his fondness for Mexican traditions
and agricultural life in a brilliant display
of not only color but also historical reference.
Not one to hide his views, personal or political,
Rivera combines his spirituality with the cultural
attitudes that shaped his life. The message
that reverberates from Flower Festival: Feast
of Santa Anita is one that proudly speaks of
Rivera’s passion for his Mexican Latino
heritage. Neither before, nor after, has there
been such a loud artistic voice for the plight
of the working class of Mexico. Despite his
struggles with regard to communistic issues,
and the Rockefeller controversial mural project
that lent a touch of infamy to his name, Diego
Rivera remained right up there with some of
the greatest artists of the modernistic era.
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