The brushes of seven mural restorers move slowly these days on the roof of the Chapingo Autonomous University (UACh), located in the State of Mexico. The university authorities have agreed with the National Institute of Fine Arts and Literature (INBAL) to restore a mural that the Mexican painter Diego Rivera created between 1924 and 1927 on the university campus and that is considered by art experts as one of his fundamental works of the author, which recreates, as in most of his work, the struggle of the Mexican proletariat for its emancipation and the right to work without exploitation. The works began in November and those in charge expect them to be completed in the middle of next March. “It is a fundamental piece in Maestro Rivera’s work, because it captures the ideas that initially led to the Mexican revolution and the effort that the people of Mexico had to make to recover the land,” explains Jacobo García Cruz, head of the workshop. murals from the National Center for Conservation and Registration of Movable Artistic Heritage (Cencropam).
Rivera’s work suffered, like many historic buildings in Mexico, damage in the 2023 earthquake. Although the earthquake was not nearly catastrophic (the terrifying images of the deadly 1985 shock and the 2017 earthquake remain alive in Chilanga memory ), the building where the mural is located suffered cracks and other fissures due to the passage of time, so the university and INBAL authorities decided to subject it to restoration. The seven experts working on the project are specialists in mural painting, says García Cruz in a telephone interview. These experts have done intense research work before starting the works, which has included diving into the archives of state institutions to trace the origins and development of this emblematic Rivera project. They have studied the famous painter’s technique, the materials he used and the way painting has changed over time, explains García Cruz.
Diego Rivera painted the chapel between 1924 and 1927 inspired by the ideals of the Mexican Revolution. The University of Chapingo, formerly known as the National School of Agriculture, focuses its work on agronomy research and field development. For Rivera, it was important to reflect the work of agronomists in the agricultural development of a country that was growing in population and whose leaders dreamed of economic greatness that would translate into improvements for the population. “Rivera immortalizes the peasant struggle, the agrarian distribution and the unbreakable connection between humanity and the earth through 24 frescoes,” INBAL reported in a statement. The restoration work began on November 13 and includes cleaning, consolidation, patching and chromatic reintegration with materials compatible with the original, explains the institution.
Rivera reaffirms his revolutionary vocation with an allegory to the supposed moral or ethical character of that movement, highlighting the power of nature, how life re-emerges in a fertile country like Mexico, but bled dry by a war that sought to impose a system based on justice. social. Ideals that may now seem betrayed to many, but that inspired the career of the famous Mexican painter. The so-called Riveriana Chapel also reflects the indignation of the peasants, fed up with being subjected to the yoke of the landowners or the vagaries of power. What Rivera did, INBAL explains, was to convert a space intended for religious events into a secular property “that pays tribute to the land and its guardians.”
The fresh paint recovers the colors of the chapel, a secular chapel, yes, made by and for the revolution. “Chapingo’s work represents the work of transforming the earth by man, the maxim that Maestro Rivera has is that the goal is not to exploit the earth, but the work of man. “It represents and symbolizes the struggles that society has had for the recovery of the land and the liberation of life from the revolutionary movement,” says Jacobo García Cruz, the head of muralists who supervises the work to recover a memorable work by Diego Rivera. .