As an artist I have always tried to be faithful to my vision of life, and I have frequently been in conflict with those who wanted me to paint not what I saw but what they wished me to see. — Diego Rivera Copy Share Image
I did not know it then, but Frida had already become the most important fact in my life. And would continue to be, up… — Diego Rivera Copy Share Image
“As I rode back to Detroit, a vision of Henry Ford's industrial empire kept passing before my eyes. In my ears, I heard the wonderful symphony which came from his factories where metals were shaped into tools for men's service. It was a new music, waiting for the composer with genius enough to give it communicable form. I thought of… — Diego Rivera Copy Share
Looking back upon my work today, I think the best I have done grew out of things deeply felt, the worst from a pride… — Diego Rivera Copy Share Image
“In my previous murals, I had tried to achieve a harmony in my painting with the architecture of the building. But to attempt such a harmony in the garden of the Institute would have defeated my purposes. For the walls here were of an intricate Italian baroque style, with little windows, heads of satyrs, doorways, and sculpturesque mouldings. It was… — Diego Rivera Copy Share
“I spent the two and one-half months between my meeting with the Art Commission and the beginning of my actual mural work in soaking up impressions of the productive activities of the city. I studied industrial scenes by night as well as by day, making literally thousands of sketches of towering blast furnaces, serpentine conveyor belts, impressive scientific laboratories, busy… — Diego Rivera Copy Share
“From sunrise to sunset, I was in the forest, sometimes far from the house, with my goat who watched me as a mother does a child. All the animals in the forest became my friends, even dangerous and poisonous ones. Thanks to my goat-mother and my Indian nurse, I have always enjoyed the trust of animals--a precious gift. I still… — Diego Rivera Copy Share
July 13, 1954 was the most tragic day of my life. I had lost my beloved Frida forever. To late now I realized that… — Diego Rivera Copy Share Image
“While working in California, I met William Valentiner and Edgar Richardson of the Detroit Institute of Arts. I mentioned a desire which I had to paint a series of murals about the industries of the United States, a series that would constitute a new kind of plastic poem, depicting in color and form the story of each industry and its… — Diego Rivera Copy Share
The artist must try to raise the level of taste of the masses, not debase himself to the level of unformed and impoverished taste. — Diego Rivera Copy Share Image
