Discover Diego Rivera’s first exhibition in Italy at Villa Caffarelli, featuring over 140 works exploring modern Mexican art and its 20th-century legacy.

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From June 9 to December 13, 2026, the ’ Villa Caffarelli hosts Diego Rivera and the Construction of Modern Art in Mexico City in the 20th Century, the first exhibition in Italy dedicated to Diego Rivera, one of Mexico’s most celebrated painters and muralists.

The exhibition brings together more than 140 works, including 30 by Rivera, alongside masterpieces by some of the most important Mexican artists of the 19th and 20th centuries, such as Frida Kahlo, José María Velasco, José Clemente Orozco, David Alfaro Siqueiros, María Izquierdo, Rufino Tamayo, Roberto Montenegro, Dr. Atl and Saturnino Herrán.

Through paintings, photographs and videos, the show explores the development of modern Mexican art and the creation of a visual language that combined tradition, avant-garde experimentation and a strong sense of national identity. Rivera’s work is placed at the centre of a broader artistic movement that helped define Mexico’s image in the 20th century.

INSPIRATION

Rather than focusing only on Rivera’s famous murals, the exhibition also highlights his cubist, modernist and more experimental phases. Among the most notable works on display are his cubist pieces View of Toledo and Sailor at Breakfast, as well as The Painter’s Studio. His role in the Mexican muralist movement is explored throughout the exhibition, although there are no actual murals by Rivera on display.

The other artists featured in the show reflect the richness and diversity of modern Mexican art. Their works range from modernism, cubism and abstraction to surrealism, post-impressionism and realism. Some paintings depict landscapes of Mexico and Europe, others focus on still lifes, indigenous women at the market, social themes and symbolic visions. Together, they reveal a country in transformation, where art became a way to reflect on identity, history, social change and modern life.

The exhibition also includes two still lifes by Frida Kahlo, a life-sized portrait of Rivera by Alexandre Zinoviev, and Juan O’Gorman’s surreal Project for the Monument of the Birth of Venus. Photographs, including images of Rivera taken by Tina Modotti, and video material further enrich the visitor experience.

Structured around four thematic sections, the exhibition traces Rivera’s academic training, his dialogue with the European avant-garde, the Mexican cultural renaissance after the Revolution, and the legacy of Mexican modern art beyond social realism.

Diego Rivera and the Construction of Modern Art in Mexico City in the 20th Century is a must-see for art lovers in Rome. It offers a rare opportunity to discover the colours, tensions and creative force of modern Mexico through the work of Rivera and the artists who helped shape one of the most powerful artistic traditions of the 20th century.

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