DIEGO RIVERA (December 8, 1886-November 24,1957) was a Mexican painter and muralist born in Guanajuato, Mexico. Diego is perhaps best known by the public world for his 1933 mural, "Man at the Crossroads," in the lobby of t... more »he RCA Building at Rockefeller Center. When his patron Nelson Rockefeller discovered that the mural included a portrait of Lenin and other communist imagery, he fired Rivera, and the unfinished work was eventually destroyed by Rockefeller's staff. The film CRADLE WILL ROCK includes a dramatization of the controversy. Diego Rivera was born to a Converso family (descended from Jews who converted to Roman Catholicism) Rivera was sponsored to study art in Europe by the governor of the State of Veracruz. On his arrival in Europe in 1907 Rivera initially went to study with Eduardo Chicharro in Madrid, Spain, and from there proceeded to Paris, France, to live and work with the great gathering of artists in Montparnasse, especially at La Ruche, where his friend Amedeo Modigliani painted his portrait in 1914. In 1956 he made his second trip to Russia (his first was in 1927-1928). He died in Mexico City on Nov. 25, 1957. DAVID ALFARO SIQUEIROS (December 29, 1896 in Camargo, Chihuahua, Mexico- January 6, 1974 in Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico) was a painter and muralist known for his social realism work. His notable projects include his collaborative mural at the Mexican Electricians' Union (1939-40), From Porfiriato to the Revolution at the Museum of National History (1957-55), March of Humanity and the Polyforum Cultural Siqueiros on Avenida Insurgentes (1965-71), and his role in procuring mural commissions for artists on the University City campus of the National Autonomous University 1950s Mexico City. Siqueiros was one of several well-known Mexican muralists working at the time, including Diego Rivera, Jose Clemente Orozco and Rufino Tamayo. His art directly reflected the time period in which he flourished as an artist. His art was deeply rooted in the Mexican Revolution, a violent and chaotic period in Mexican history in which various social and political factions fought for recognition and power.« less