Diego Rivera Anahuacalli Museum

On my first full day in laCiudad de México (México City), I managed to visit both La Casa Azul (blog post here) and El Museo Diego Rivera Anahuacalli.

Diego Rivera was born on December 8, 1886 in Guanajuato, México. He had a twin brother named Carlos, who died two years after they were born. Rivera began to draw at the age of three, a year after his twin brother's death. His parents encouraged Diego's artistic talent by enrolling him into San Carlos Academy of Fine Arts at the age of 12.

In 1907, Rivera received a government sponsorship to study in Europe to further his art studies. During that time, he studied with Realist painter Eduardo Chicharro Aguera, among others and befriended many artists such as Pablo Picasso.Painter and muralist Diego Rivera was known to make art that reflected the lives of the working class and native peoples of Mexico. Many of his murals can be found in San Francisco and México City.

Throughout Diego Rivera's life, he collected pre-hispanic figures, which he called "el idolaje". He had this idea of building a livable artistic environment to hold these pieces. In 1941, after coming back from a trip to San Francisco, Rivera undertook the construction of the museum. His vision was to create a combination of modern art and pre-Columbian aesthetics.

Rivera chose the lands of Pedregal de San Ángel, which previously surrounded the Xitle volcano. He bought the lands with Frida Kahlo, with the original purpose of building a farm. The Anahuacalli is built out of black volcanic stone which was obtained from the terrain when the volcano erupted in 400 AC.

Outside of the Anahuacalli Museum

In
each corner of the building, the four elements are represented by their divinities:the goddess of corn, Chicomecóatl, for the land;
Ehécatl, god of the wind, for the air; Huehuetéotl, god of fire, and Tláloc, god of rain, for water.I was astonished when I found out that the museum holds nearly 50,000 pre-Hispanic pieces. Like the Frida Kahlo Museum, I also opted out of taking photographs inside the museum. With that many artifacts, I knew I wasn't going to be able to photograph every single thing. I decided to take in the experience without the camera interfering. If you're ever in México City, I highly recommend the Frida bus tour if available that takes you to the Diego Rivera Anahuacalli Museum from the Frida Kahlo Museum (for more info).

I have lots of pictures from my February trip to México. Comment below and let me know if you'd like to see more from this trip or if you'd like to see other type of blog posts! 🙂