David Alfaro Siqueiros

(b Chihuahua, Mexico 1896; d Cuernavaca 1974) Mexican painter. David Alfaro Siqueiros is known as one of the three most important and influential Mexican muralists alongside Diego Rivera and Jose Clemente Orozco. Siquerios studied at the Escuela de Bellas Artes in Mexico and from 1919 until 1922 studied art in France and Italy. He was heavily involved in politics and his radical political ideals marginalized him in Mexico; eventually leading to a period of imprisonment from 1960 to 1964. Siqueiros’s murals often take on the subject matter of political injustice, isolation, and suffering and were influenced by the time that he spent in prison. One example is his painting Proletarian Victim which symbolizes oppression by the upper classes and is a prime example of how his Communist ideology formed his artwork. His work, found in Mexico City and the United States, is inextricably tied in with the history of Mexico and is considered national treasure by Mexico today.