Mexican modern art captivates U.S.

Over 100,000 people visited the largest collection ever of Mexican modern art in the U.S., “Paint the Revolution: Mexican Modernism, 1910–1950.” Not only that, but it's gone on to become one of the most successful exhibits in the Philadelphia Museum of Art's history.

Visitors waited hours in long lines outside of museum, as well as inside, to catch a glimpse of the collection during its final days, which wraps up this weekend and was made possible thanks to a joint effort with the National Museum of Fine Arts in Mexico.

The exhibit brought to the Philadelphia's Museum of Art the biggest collection of Modern Mexican art in over seven decades since its 1943 exhibit called “Mexican Art Today.”

As of last Sunday, 100,100 people had visited the exhibit, and museum officials expect thousands more to visit before it comes to an end on January 8.

“Paint the Revolution: Mexican Modernism, 1910–1950” included paintings by Mexico's Big Three Muralists, Diego Rivera, José Clemente Orozco and David Alfaro Siqueiros, in addition to paintings by Rufino Tamayo, Frida Kahlo, Juan O'Gorman and many more.

The collection covers four decades of art immediately following the Mexican Revolution, and not only included works by renowned Mexican artists from the era, but also foreign artists who spent considerable time in the country during that time, such as the Italian photographer Tina Modotti.

The name of the exhibit was inspired by the essay “Paint the Revolution” by U.S. novelist John Dos Passos, after visiting Mexico in 1926, where he witnessed Diego Rivera firsthand painting several of his murals.

The exhibits curators included Matthew Affron, Mark A. Castro, Dafne Cruz Porchini and Renato González Mell.