Diego Rivera

(Guanajuato, 1886 – Mexico City, 1957)

Seated Woman with Flowers

1944

oil on canvas

121 x 152 cm

Inv. no. CCB062

BBVA Collection Mexico



Throughout the twentieth century, portraiture encompassed a number of values that would leave a deep mark on the sensibility of the Mexican public. A sensuousness seasoned with a pinch of excessiveness acted as a catalyst for the qualities expected from the representation of beauty, transcending any given hierarchy of class, habits or ethnic group. Led by Diego Rivera, artists emphasised the organic fusion of individuals with their blood, land and, sometimes, cosmic energy. It is in those mirror plays which idealise the relationship with the other where the vicissitudes of seduction take place, under the hugely sophisticated gaze of Rivera.

Diego Rivera painted this portrait in his late-fifties. In this image with curvilinear contours, the somewhat haughty vitality of the model—seated on a cushion, her crossed legs resting on the floor on the bottom corner—the frilled neckline, slipping down her shoulder, the emerald-toned skirts, the exuberant bouquet functioning as a counterpoint, are representative of the lyricism Rivera tends to bestow in his female portraits. A woman at the peak of her youth cannot but be accompanied by clay vases endorsing the revitalizing function of handcrafts, whose volumes compensate the still adolescent body of the model. The flowers bring a note of fragrance, fecundity and living sap. They also abide by the conventions of the genre: the fresh petals we know will soon wither.