The History of Mexico mural in the stairwell of the National Palace in Mexico City was executed between 1929 and 1935 by Diego Rivera. The subject of the mural is Mexico's history from ancient times to the present. They depict the many struggles of the common Mexican people to fight against the Spanish, the French, and the dictators that controlled the country at different points in its history.

Diego Rivera is one of Mexico's most famous artists. He was a Communist radical who criticized the Mexican government and foreign domination. Rivera was born to a rich Jewish family in Guanajuato, Mexico, although he became an atheist. Rivera studied in the San Carlos Academy, a prestigious art school in Mexico City. He was married to Frida Kahlo, another internationally famous Mexican artist. After studying at the San Carlos Academy Rivera went to Europe where he learned about Cubism and Renaissance frescoes. He returned to Mexico and applied his ideas about Cubism and other European and Mexican art traditions to the Mexican mural movement. The murals were supported by the Mexican government.

Even though Rivera’s painting was sponsored by the Mexican government he always rebelled against authority of any kind. His paintings were highly political and rejected capitalism and glorified the Indian cultures of Mexico including the Aztecs and the Zapotecs. His first important mural was Creation. It took a year to complete and covers 1000 square feet. Creation contains 20 foot high figures concerned with the history of religion. In addition to murals, Rivera was a prolific painter. The main subjects of his paintings were Cubist portraits of human figures, self-portraits, the traditions and culture of Mexican Indians, flowers and nature, landscapes, and scenes from everyday life.

Rivera was a leader in a government-sponsored mural project in the 1920s, soon after the official end of the Mexican Revolution. The project was intended to not only justify the revolution, but to promote the current government as the guarantor of the new life promised by the revolution. Murals were produced mainly in Mexico City and surrounding areas between 1923 and 1939.

In August 1929, Rivera began painting his huge mural in the large stairways and stairwells of the National Palace, the center of the Mexican government and nation. The National Palace is located on the Zocalo, the central plaza in Mexico City, the place where Moctezuma, the Aztec king ruled Mexico before the arrival of the Spanish. The Mexican government commissioned Rivera and other famous Mexican artists including Orozco and Siquieros to paint scenes about Mexican history. Rivera was hired by the government to portray Indians in a better light, and to criticize the Spaniards. They did this to celebrate the Mexican Revolution, the overthrow of the Porfirio Diaz dictatorship, and the new government. The History of Mexico mural consists of four main sections. The murals are huge, some as big as 70 meters by 9 meters.

This section of the mural displays the richness of the ancient Aztec culture including the people and their traditional costumes. It shows an image of the sun, which was the center of the world in the Aztec religion. Below the sun is a pyramid and an Aztec leader. The Aztecs believed that sacrifices must be done every 52 years to the Sun God in order to renew the world. They built the pyramids and temples to the sun. Rivera depicts these main motifs and the everyday life of the Aztecs, including the volcanoes around the Valley of Mexico, corn and other main crops, artisans weaving and making pottery, mothers carrying babies, art and artisan activities including painting on scrolls, and calligraphy. The section also illustrates the Aztecs’ religion, including worship of snakes and jaguars. Aztecs rituals are also shown in which men consume alcoholic beverages made from cacti and dance in honor of the Sun God.

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