Diego Rivera was a famous Mexican artist who style was influenced by the cultures around him. Diego Rivera was not one to shy away from painting his real thoughts, which led to much controversy from big families such as the Rockefellers. Diego Rivera led a very full life and created a lot of beautiful murals and paintings that are still admired today. Diego Rivera was born on December 8th 1886 with a fraternal twin brother named Carlos who died two years after they were born. Rivera’s parents María del Pilar Barrientos and Diego Rivera Acosta who lived in Guanajuato, a small Mexican town. Both Rivera’s mother and father were teachers and his mother was a faithful catholic mestiza, which means part European, part Indian. Diego’s father was a liberal criollo meaning he was a Mexican of European descent. Rivera began drawing a year after his brother’s death; his parents found him drawing on the walls and instead of scolding him they saw his talent and put up chalkboards and canvas on the walls of a room for him where he painted some of his first murals. At six years old the family moved because of problems from Diego’s father being a co-editor of the opposition newspaper “El Democrata” but this was an opportunity for young Rivera. When the family got to Mexico City his mother decided that Diego would attend the Carpainter Catholic College. At ten Diego decided he wanted to go to art school and at twelve he was enrolled in the San Carlos Academy of Fine Arts. With one of his teachers help he was awarded a travel grant to Europe in 1906. Rivera went to Spain where he studied under El Greco, Velazquez, Goya, and some Flemish masters that he saw in a museum. Rivera traveled to Paris and Belgium in 1909 with Valle-Inclan where he met Angelina Beloff who he would later marry. There was an emergence of Cubism in paintings from famous painters such as Pablo Picasso, Georges Braque and Juan Gris. 1913-1917 Rivera loved and enjoyed