Touring the Palacio de Belles Artes

Inside the Palacio de Belles Artes. With Diego Rivera murals.

Mexico City, to its credit, is lousy with the murals of Diego Rivera. I'm an extreme amateur in the field of art history, but I don't believe there's a single artist more completely woven into the artistic fabric of a major city as Diego Rivera and Mexico City. And don't say Mozart and Vienna! I'm talking the visual arts here. Botero and Medellin is probably the only other candidate that comes to mind, but feel free to correct me as it is very likely I don't know what I'm talking about.

And one of the best places in Mexico City to see Diego Rivera murals is the Palacio de Bellas Artes.

But before we go inside, one look at the very non-Beethoven-looking Beethoven statue I mentioned the other day:

Again, what's so Beethoven about that Beethoven statue?

It's right beside the Palacio de Bellas Artes, which is why I brought it up. And speaking of the Palacio de Bellas Artes, the price of admission on Sundays is free. Gratis. My favorite price! The downside. It is packed elbow to elbow.

But it almost as packed with Diego Rivera murals as it is onlookers.

The murals are great. The architecture of the building is awesome.

But ... all those columns in front of the murals! It was not purpose-built for displaying the murals. 

The crowds don't help either.

But why did I expect on the free day?

Not everything is Diego Rivera, of course.  This work is titled "La piedad en el desierto," "Pieta in the Desert," by Manuel Rodriguez Lozano.

I liked it. Placing the pieta in a desert really adds to the sense of isolation.

Here is another mural:

And nearby was the sketch upon which the mural was based.

I wish there were more of those.

I assume this one is a reference to enslavement:

It's got to be,

This is one I struggled to get the right view:

This is titled "El tormento de Cuauhtémoc." The torture of Cuauhtémoc.

It's not a Diego Rivera, although it is his style, such as I understand that to be. This is by the artist David Alfaro Siqueiros, from 1950-51.

This, however, is real Diego Rivera.

"Carnaval de la vida mexicana." Carnival of Mexican Life. From 1936. It's a tetraptych! This is the fourth panel:

New word for the day. A "tetraptych" is a four-section work of art. A diptych is two panels. Triptych is three panels. You knew those. But a tetraptych consists of four panels. Such as "Carnaval de la vida mexicana." 

A view of the interior of the dome:

My mouth and tongue got itchy just looking at this one.

(I recently discovered I'm allergic to pineapple. Very recently.)

And here is another view of "El tormento de Cuauhtémoc," this time looking down from the floor above to minimize the problems of (a) the concrete columns and (b) not being able to back up enough on the narrow walkways to get the whole Siqueiros mural in a single undistorted frame.

I really thought it was one of the more interesting works inside. Definitely the most interesting non-Diego Rivera work.

Taking in all of the floors of the interior:

This one caught my eye.

There was something about it that I thought was interesting. Then I looked and saw the name of the artist: Piet Mondrian. I knew Mondrian for his abstract expressionist paintings of lines with boxes painted yellow or red or blue. Turns out Mondrian can paint actual objects.

There were other galleries inside, such as an impressionist gallery. But no major works or major artists save for the murals on the interior walls. A great day at the museum. And an even better price of admission.