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Diego Rivera
The Flower Carrier, 1935

Artwork Info

Artwork title
The Flower Carrier
Artist name
Diego Rivera
Date created
1935
Classification
painting
Medium
oil and tempera on masonite
Dimensions
48 in. × 47 3/4 in. (121.92 cm × 121.29 cm)
Date acquired
1935
Credit
Collection SFMOMA
SFMOMA, Albert M. Bender Collection, gift of Albert M. Bender in memory of Caroline Walter
Copyright
© Banco de Mexico Diego Rivera & Frida Kahlo Museums Trust, Mexico, D.F. / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Permanent URL
https://www.sfmoma.org/artwork/35.4516
Artwork status
On view on floor 2 as part of Open Ended: SFMOMA's Collection, 1900 to Now

Audio Stories

Two artists discuss Rivera’s campesinos

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transcripts

SFX: agricultural soundscape: soft wind in leaves and grass, the clipping of flowers 

 

RUPERT GARCIA:  

I mean, this is kind of an idealized rendition of something Mexican. 

 

NARRATOR:  

Artist Rupert Garcia —  

 

GARCIA: It’s based upon life of Mexico, but it’s been romanticized by Diego Rivera…The light, how it resonates off of the flowers and straw hats and these earth tones.  

 
SFX: Strumming of guitar, sentimental 

 

NARRATOR:  

Diego Rivera was defined by his love of Mexico. Even though he was a world-famous artist, he identified most with common workers and peasant farmers, like this bent-over campesino. Most days he could be found in a pair of overalls and a beaten-up hat. 

 

AMALIA MESA-BAINS:  

So he would go out in the truck in the morning  

 

NARRATOR:  

Artist Amalia Mesa-Bains– 

 

MESA-BAINS:

and he would do tons of these sketches of the people in the fields working or the flower vendors,  

 

NARRATOR:  

You know how we can’t see the faces of these two characters very well? That was kind of the point. Rivera wasn’t painting a specific person, he was celebrating a way of life.  

 

GARCIA:  

I think it’s about the dignity of being a flower carrier, or a flower vendor. 

 

SFX: Guitar fades 

 

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