The Laborer by diego rivera
Diego Rivera’s artwork is very unique and is still very popular today. Diego Rivera, who is arguably one of the most important 20th Century Latin American artists, who was only eighteen years old at the time, painted “El Albanil” in 1904. This painting is only one of three or four known paintings to exist from that early period of the artist’s career. It shows his talent for a muralist style and like most well known for representing. The oil on canvas painting is signed by the artist and dated 1904. To me, this painting stood out to me because it was one of the only paintings in the exhibit where it had only one person in the painting. In my opinion, it looks like “El Albanil” which in English, means the laborer, is about to go start working. Either that, or he is taking a break from work, but he definitely looks like he is in the middle of something. This painting looks like the man is upset about something. Maybe he believes that his heritage is being treated unfairly. After all, it is clearly obvious that this man is Mexican-American. Maybe he feels that he should be appreciated more rather than being looked at how people see him. Maybe he wants to do more with his life than just work for people. Or perhaps he is proud of the work that he does and is showing off by the stance he is in. The way Rivera made the oil on canvas look is just so magnificent. He makes it look like it’s sunny outside without anyone being able to see the sun. He does this by making the floor a bunch of different colors and by making the shovel and bucket have a shadow. It looks like its really bright on the floor and as it gets more and more to the left the colors start to change into a darker shade because the sun is not hitting that part inside. Also another thing that stood out to me was the wall. How it is dark and then becomes lighter. The way he made it look was as if the sun wasn’t hitting the inside wall but the wall that goes straight back is getting all the sun. There are