From the beginning of the term, what I was most interested about learning in this class was my country. At first, I was mainly interested in learning about los Tres Grandes and the Muralist movement, but as we read more and more I realized that this class was about more than just art. We learned about Mexican history and read about the social and political environment in Mexico in the early 20th century. I knew most things that we were reading about, but one thing caught my attention, the fact that there had been a communist party in Mexico. In all my time learning about Mexican history growing up, I had never even heard of communism being a thing in Mexico. I wanted to learn more about the movement, so I decided that my paper would focus on the influence of communism in the Muralist movement.

 

The communist movement had a deep impact on both Rivera and Siqueiros, which is why I decided to focus my paper on both of these artists. My initial proposal focused on whether the communist ideals had conflicted with the ideas of the Muralist movement, and if they had attempted to promote communist ideals throughout their art. Overall, I wanted to learn if the muralist movement became, at least partially, a platform for communist ideals to be spread across the country.  As I started doing more research, the focus of my paper shifted slightly. I decided to instead focus on how the political environment in Mexico prevented communism from ever gaining significant influence despite the artists’ attempts to promote its ideals through their art. I still have to do more research on el PRI, but I’m liking where this paper is heading.