Diego Rivera's Childhood

Diego Rivera's childhood.

Diego Rivera was born on December 8, 1886, in Guanajuato in Mexico. His parents were Diego and Maria Barrientos Rivera. Being a family of rather modest means, they lived in Guanajuato until 1892, when they moved to Mexico City.

When Diego was 10 was doing well in school and, passionately fond of drawing from an early age, started taking evening painting classes at the San Carlos Academy. In 1898 he enrolled there as a full time student, and in 1906, at the annual show, he exhibited for the first time, with 26 works. At the age of 20, Diego was a known artist.

Diego's father was a municipal counselor in Guanajuato, and was a liberal and anticlerical man. Diego's two aunts, who lived with the family, was rather religious. Diego was interested in military issues and he was especially fascinated by the Russian army and the conflict it was facing; the Tsar and the Orthodox Church versus Marxist Revolutionaries.

In 1907 Diego got a travel grant, and went to Spain. There he traveled around, and he also went to France, Belgium, and England. In Brussels in he met Angelina Belhoff, a blond young Russian painter, and she became Diego's partner for the next twelve years.

They traveled together, mostly in Europe, and spent much time in Paris, where Diego Rivera participated in several exhibitions. During this time they had many friends, and several of these were Russians.

When The First World War began, he decided to return to Mexico because he felt like a revolutionary folk hero and with his paintings he can express what he was feeling about this conflict.

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