On this day: Diego Rivera dies

In Europe for the beginning of the Cubist movement, his art developed into a post-impressionist style, involving blocks of startling colour and stark outlines. By the 1920s his work became more overtly political, and in 1922 he joined the Mexican Communist Party, growing ever more radical throughout the decade.

He married the fiery painter Kahlo, daughter of a German Jew, in 1929. She was 20 years younger than him and their relationship was anything but conventional, involving a divorce and remarriage in 1940. The Russian revolutionary, Leon Trotsky, lived with the couple for months while he was in exile.

He painted work for buildings across Europe and America and his work is displayed all around the world. In 2002 he was immortalised by Alfred Molina in the film Frida.

What the JC said: There is evidence that Kahlo herself and Rivera, who was of Marrano ancestry, were interested in their Jewish background. When they were staying in a hotel that barred Jews, both declared themselves to have Jewish blood and threatened to leave unless the rules were changed.

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