Diego Rivera (1886-1957)

Before the Wall.
We know Diego Rivera as the titan of Muralism, the husband of Frida, the painter of politics on a monumental scale. But before the manifestos, there was 1906.

Scène de Village captures a twenty-year-old artist finding his voice. Executed in wash and India ink, this tiny work (barely 15 cm wide) reveals a classical training and a deep sensitivity to the rhythm of rural life. It is quiet, precise, and intimate—the antithesis of his later bombast, yet the foundation upon which it was built.

Why it matters: A rare, early work on paper that predates Rivera’s legendary status. It allows a collector to own the genesis of a master. To hold this piece is to hold the seed of Mexican Modernism.