The Arsenal - Diego Rivera
Archival giclée
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Description
A section of Diego Rivera's mural cycle in Mexico City, depicting the distribution of arms to workers during the post-revolutionary period.
The Arsenal is a section of the larger mural cycle located in the courtyard of the Secretariat of Public Education in Mexico City. Painted by Diego Rivera between 1923 and 1928, this work captures the ideological climate of post-revolutionary Mexico. The composition depicts a group of workers and soldiers engaged in the distribution of arms, reflecting the political objectives of the era.
At the centre of the scene, Frida Kahlo appears in a red shirt, handing out rifles to the workers. Her presence acts as a bridge between the artist and the revolutionary cause. The figures are rendered with the solid, sculptural forms characteristic of Rivera's mature style. He employs a clear, legible narrative structure, using the archway of the mural to frame the dense crowd. The palette consists of earthy tones, punctuated by the red of the banners and the clothing of key figures, which draws the eye across the busy scene.
Rivera incorporates text into the composition, with banners weaving through the upper portion of the frame. These inscriptions provide context for the imagery, linking the act of arming the proletariat to the broader goals of the Mexican Revolution. The inclusion of industrial machinery alongside traditional weaponry suggests a synthesis of labour and military action. This mural remains a primary example of the public art programme initiated by the Mexican government to educate the populace through visual storytelling. The work avoids excessive ornamentation, focusing instead on the clarity of the figures and their collective purpose. By placing the viewer at eye level with the participants, Rivera creates a sense of immediacy and shared participation in the historical moment.
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Each print is produced to order using 12-colour giclée printing on FSC-certified archival paper. Designed in Britain and printed at your nearest production hub to reduce waste and speed up delivery.
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Specific Features
Every Solis piece is made to order with archival, gallery-quality materials built to last.
- Museum-grade giclée printing for rich, fade-resistant colour
- Archival matte fine-art paper, FSC-certified
- Multiple sizes and framing options available
- Frames in black, natural wood, dark wood or white
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- Dust gently with a soft, dry cloth
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Materials & Sizing
Museum-grade giclée on FSC-certified archival matte paper, with framed and canvas options.
- Paper sizes: A4, A3, A2, A1, A0 and B2 (50×70 cm)
- Canvas: XS (20×30 cm) to Large (60×90 cm)
- Frames: black, natural wood, dark wood or white
The Arsenal - Diego Rivera
Artist Biography
Diego Rivera
He studied at the Academy of San Carlos in Mexico City and spent fourteen years in Europe (1907-1921), absorbing Cubism in Paris and working alongside Picasso, Modigliani, and Mondrian. He returned to Mexico and found his subject: the history, labour, and people of his country, painted in a style that combined Renaissance fresco technique with pre-Columbian imagery and Marxist ideology.
The Detroit Industry Murals at the Detroit Institute of Arts (1932-33) are twenty-seven panels depicting the Ford Motor Company's River Rouge plant. The workers are heroic. The machinery is beautiful. Henry Ford's son Edsel commissioned them. The business community wanted them destroyed. They survived.
He married Frida Kahlo in 1929. They divorced in 1939. They remarried in 1940. The relationship was mutually unfaithful, politically intense, and artistically productive for both of them. Rivera said Kahlo was the better painter. Whether he believed this or was performing generosity is an open question.
He accepted a commission from Nelson Rockefeller for a mural in Rockefeller Center in 1933 and included a portrait of Lenin. Rockefeller asked him to remove it. Rivera refused. The mural was destroyed. Rivera repainted it in Mexico City. He died in 1957, at seventy.
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