Witness an extraordinary moment in the history of modern art, one fueled by cultural and political revolution.
From the start of the Mexican Revolution in 1910 to the aftermath of World War II, artists in Mexico were at the center of a great debate about their country’s destiny. The exhibition tells the story of this exhilarating period through a remarkable range of images, from masterpieces by Diego Rivera, José Clemente Orozco, David Alfaro Siqueiros, Frida Kahlo, and Rufino Tamayo to transfixing works by their contemporaries Dr. Atl, María Izquierdo, Roberto Montenegro, Carlos Mérida, Manuel Álvarez Bravo, and many others.
Paint the Revolutionoffers a deep look at the forces that shaped modern art in Mexico, the progress of which was closely watched around the world. The exhibition takes its name from an impassioned essay by American novelist John Dos Passos, who saw Mexico’s revolutionary murals during a visit to Mexico City in 1926–27.
In addition to portable murals, easel paintings, photographs, prints, books, and broadsheets, visitors to the exhibition will have an unprecedented opportunity to experience in digital form three monumental murals by the tres grandes(Three Greats): Diego Rivera, José Clemente Orozco, and David Alfaro Siqueiros.
The Philadelphia Museum of Art presents this landmark exhibition in partnership with the Museo del Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City. Drawn from US and Mexican collections, it is the most comprehensive exhibition of Mexican modernism to be shown in the United States in more than seven decades.
