December 8, 1886 - Guanajuato, Mexico - Diego María de la Concepción Juan Nepomuceno Estanislao de la Rivera y Barrientos Acosta y Rodríguez and his twin brother Carlos are born
June 1(?), 1888 - Guanajuato - Twin brother Carlos dies, aged 18-months
January(?) 1(?), 1889 - Guanajuato - When not yet 3 years old, Diego begins drawing
January(?) 1(?), 1891 - Guanajuato - Sister Maria del Pilar is born
January(?) 1(?), 1892 - Mexico City - Rivera family moves to Mexico City
January(?) 1(?), 1894 - Mexico City - 8-year-old Rivera is sent to the Carpantier Catholic College
January(?) 1(?), 1895 - Mexico City - 9-year-old Rivera has his first sexual experience with a 18-year-old american teacher at the Protestant School
January(?) 1(?), 1894 - Mexico City - 8-year-old Rivera is sent to the Carpantier Catholic College
January(?) 1(?), 1895 - Mexico City - 9-year-old Rivera has his first sexual experience with a 18-year-old american teacher at the Protestant School
January(?) 1(?), 1898 - Mexico City - 11-year-old Rivera begins attending the Academy of San Carlos in Mexico City, the national Art School for Mexico
January(?) 1(?), 1900 - Mexico City - 13-year-old Rivera begins and affair with a married black woman
January(?) 1(?), 1902 - Mexico City - 16-year-old Rivera begins receiving 30 pesos a month as a scholarship from Teodoro A. Dehesa, Governor of the State of Veracruz
January(?) 1(?), 1900 - Mexico City - 13-year-old Rivera begins and affair with a married black woman
January(?) 1(?), 1902 - Mexico City - 16-year-old Rivera begins receiving 30 pesos a month as a scholarship from Teodoro A. Dehesa, Governor of the State of Veracruz
January(?) 1(?) , 1903 - Mexico City - Diego is expelled temporarily from the Academy for taking part in political demonstrations against the president of Mexico, Porfirio Diaz
January(?) 1(?), 1905 - Mexico City - Diego graduates from the Academy of San Carlos. He expresses to Governor Dehesa the desire of studying in Europe =(START)
January(?) 1(?), 1906 - Mexico City - The Annual San Carlos Academy Art Show exhibits one of Rivera's paintings, "La Era"
October(?) 1(?), 1906 - Veracruz - Rivera travels to Veracruz to visit Governor Dehesa. He is awarded a scholarship to study art in Europe
December 20(?), 1906 - Veracruz - Sails to Spain aboard the ship "Alfonso XIII"
January 6, 1907 - Santander, Spain - Diego Rivera arrives in Spain to continue his art training
January 8(?), 1907 - Madrid, Spain - Arrives in Madrid by train
March 1(?), 1909 - Paris, France - Rivera considers his training in Madrid completed and he moves to Paris
July(?) 1(?), 1909 - Bruges, Belgium - Meets jewish-russian émigré artist, Angelina Beloff
August(?), 1(?), 1909 - London, England - Reaches London on board a small freighter from Flanders, for a small visit
October 9, 1909 - Bruges, Belgium - Returns to Bruges. Dedicates a charcoal sketch entitled "Béguinage à Bruges" to Angelina Beloff
November 2, 1909 - Bruges - Departs to Paris
November 4(?), 1909 - Paris, France - Returns to Paris with Angelina Beloff
January(?) 1(?), 1910 - Paris - Exhibition at the Society of Independent Artists in Paris
February 1(?), 1910 - Paris - Visits an exhibition by Paul Cézanne, that causes a deep impression on him
June 1(?), 1909 - Brittany - Trip to Brittany
July(?) 1(?), 1910 - Madrid, Spain - Returns to Madrid, on his way back to Mexico, as his grant expired in August
September 1(?), 1910 - Santander(?) - Departs to Mexico to take part in the centenary celebration of the Mexican war of independence of 1810
October 2, 1910 - Veracruz, Mexico - Diego Rivera arrives in Veracruz
November 20, 1910 - Mexico City - San Carlos Academy Exhibition - Rivera exhibits 35 paintings, 8 drawings and 2 etchings
January(?) 1(?), 1911 - Paris, France - Returns to Paris
April 1(?), 1911 - Paris - Angelina Beloff returns from Russia. She marries Diego Rivera and both settle in the Montparnasse district
June 1(?), 1911 - Paris - Exhibits two large paintings of Iztaccihuatl in the Salon d'Automne
August(?) 1(?), 1911 - Normandy - Rivera and Beloff travel to Normandy in the Summer
December(?) 1(?), 1911 - Barcelona - Rivera and Beloff visit Barcelona in the Winter
January(?) 1(?), 1912 - Paris - Exhibition at the Societé des Artistes Independants
May(?) 1(?), 1912 - Toledo, Spain - Rivera and Beloff travel with Zárraga and Best Maugard to Toledo in the Spring, so he can study the work of "El Greco"
September 1(?), 1912 - Paris - Rivera and Beloff travel to Paris and establish themselves in a studio in Montparnasse
December(?) 1(?), 1912 - Toledo - Spends Winter in Toledo, continuing his study of "El Grego"
February 22, 1913 - While in Paris(?) - The government of Francisco Madero is overthrow by a military coup d'ét carried out by General Victoriano Huerta. Madero is murdered, ending Rivera's government subsidy
April 1(?), 1913 - Toledo - Arrives in Toledo in April
September 1(?), 1913 - Paris - Returns to Paris in September
October(?) 1(?), 1913 - Paris - Exhibition in "Salon d'Automne"
January(?) 1(?), 1914 - Paris - Rivera meets Pablo Picasso and both become friends
April 1(?), 1914 - Paris - Exhibition of 25 of his cubist works at the Galerie Berthe Weill
August 6, 1914 - Barcelona - Trip to Spain with Angelina Beloff, Jacques Lipchitz, Berthe Kristover and Maria Gutiérrez Blanchard. As they sail from Barcelona to Mallorca, war is declared between Austria-Hungary and Russia
August 8(?), 1914 - Mallorca - In Mallorca they are caught up in the outbreak of the First World War and have to stay in Mallorca longer than expected
September 1(?), 1914 - Barcelona - Rivera and Beloff arrive in Barcelona by boat. Take the train to Madrid
December(?) 1(?), 1914 - Madrid - Settles in Madrid in the end of the year, after the beginning of World War 1
August(?) 1(?), 1915 - Paris - Rivera returns to Paris alone, leaving Angelina in Madrid. While in Paris, he meets russian artist Marevna Vorobyov-Stebelska
September(?) 1(?), 1915 - Paris - His mother visits him in Paris
January(?) 1(?), 1916 - Paris - Rivera begins an affair with Marevna Vorobev-Stebelska. He returns to Angelina six months later
August 11, 1916 - Paris - Angeline Beloff gives birth to a child they name Diego Rivera Jr.
October 7(?), 1916 - While in Paris - In New York, Rivera's paintings are exhibited until October 21st at the Modern Gallery along with works by four of the top artists of the time; Picasso, Cézanne, van Gogh and Braque
January(?) 1(?), 1917 - Paris - Rivera and Picasso quarrel over the nature of Cubism. Rivera abandons cubism and starts to paint in the style of Cézanne. Meets physician and art historian Élie Faure (who sponsored a group exhibition titled "Les Contructeurs", which included Rivera
October 1(?), 1917 - Paris - Rivera's 14 month old son, Diego, dies
January(?) 1(?), 1918 - Paris - Rivera tries to end his affair with Marevna Vorobyov-Stebelska, pregnant with his child. Rivera and Angelina move away from Montparnasse to another less Bohemian district to Paris
July(?) 1(?), 1918 - Arcachon, SW of France - Summer at Arcachon with Cocteau, Adam and Elen Fisher
January(?) 1(?), 1919 - Paris - Rivera meets fellow muralist artist David Alfaro Siqueiros. They discuss plans to drastically change the traditional French and Spanish art of Mexico The Mexican government invites Rivera to participate in a national program of mural painting
November 13, 1919 - Paris - Marevna Vorobyov-Stebelska gives birth to Rivera's daughter Marika Rivera Vorobyova
January(?) 1(?), 1920 - Paris - Rivera cannot choose between Angelina and Marevna. He paints commissioned portraits to earn money to live on
February 21, 1920 - Paris - Visits the Galerie Blot
October 1(?), 1920 - While in Paris - Participates in the "Exposicion d'art Français d'avant-garde" at the Galerie Dalman, Barcelona
November 3, 1920 - Paris - Letter to Alfonso Reyes, thanking him for his efforts to obtain a government commission for Rivera, and urging him to get money sent so that he could fund a journey to Italy before returning to Mexico
December 1(?), 1920 - While in Paris - Participates in the Exhibition "Societé Anonyme" in New York
December 30(?), 1920 - Paris - Departs to Milan, Italy, by train (visits Ravenna, Florence, Siena, Arezzo, Perugia, Assisi, Romes, Naples, messina, Padua and Venice, until April 1921)
April 1(?), 1921 - Paris - Rivera returns to Paris from Italy in April
May 1(?), 1921 - Paris - Letter from Elie Fauré to a friend: "Rivera has returned from Italy, loaded with drawings, loaded with new sensations, loaded with ideas, boiling over with new myths, thin (yes!) and radiant. He says that he will soon be leaving for Mexico, but I don't believe a word of it"
July 6, 1921 - Paris - Visits Marevna to say goodbye: "He made passionate love to me for the last time...and begged me as a last favour not to come to the station the next day"
July 7, 1921 - Le Havre - Departs to Veracruz, Mexico. Angelina waves as the ship sails
July 22(?), 1921 - Veracruz, Mexico - Diego Rivera returns to Mexico
October 1(?), 1921 - Mexico City - The Minister of Education José Vasconcelos, commissions Rivera to paint a mural at the National Preparatory School of the University of Mexico
November 1(?), 1921 - Chichén Itzá | Uxmal, Yucatan - Visit to the archaeological sites of Chichén Itzá and Uxmal with other artists, an iniciative by the Minister of Education, Vasconcelos, to acquaint them with their own heritage, the art of Ancient Mexico
November 17, 1921 - Mexico City - His father Diego Rivera Acosta, dies
December 1(?), 1921 - Mexico City - Begins painting the mural "Creation" in the Simon Bolivar Amphitheatre of the National Preparatory School
January(?) 1(?), 1922 - Coyoacán, Mexico City - Frida Kahlo, still a student, sees Diego Rivera for the first time, as he works on a mural at the elite National Preparatory School. Rivera meets actress Guadalupe Marín
June(?) 1(?), 1922 - Mexico City - Rivera joins with other top artists of Mexico in forming the radical Union of Technical Workers, Painters and Sculptors
July(?) 1(?), 1922 - Tehuantepec, Oaxaca - Summer trip to the archaeological site of Tehuantepec with Guadalupe Marín
August(?) 1(?), 1922 - Guadalajara - Rivera marries Guadalupe Marín in Guadalajara
September 1(?), 1922 - Mexico City - The Mexican government commissions Rivera to create a series of mural at the Ministry of Education. He takes control of the project and destroys some works which had been created by other artists of the project
December 1(?), 1922 - Mexico City - Becomes a member of the Communist Party of Mexico
January(?) 1(?), 1923 - Mexico City - Rivera becomes a member of the Communist Party's Executive Committee with fellow muralist Siqueiros
March 23, 1923 - Mexico City - Rivera starts his first true fresco, in the forward patio of the Ministry of Education
December 15, 1923 - Mexico City - His mother, Maria del Pilar Barrientos Rivera, dies
June 23, 1924 - Chapingo - At the same time he works at the Ministry, he begins working at the National Agricultural School of Chapingo
July 27, 1924 - Mexico City - Secretary of Public Education, José Vasconcelos, resigns. The mural program is cancelled
October 23, 1924 - Mixcalco, Mexico City - Daughter Guadalupe Rivera-Marín is born
January(?) 1(?), 1925 - Mexico City - The Mural program is reinstated under the new Obregón government. Rivera is the only muralist who allowed to continue working
June(?) 1(?), 1925 - Mexico City - Rivera resigns from the Communist Party of Mexico
January(?) 1(?), 1926 - Chapingo - In Chapingo, Rivera hires photographer Tina Modotti as a model. Rivera and Tina begin an affair. Rivera is re-admitted to the Communist Party of Mexico
June 18, 1927 - Mexico City - Daughter Ruth Rivera-Marín is born. Rivera falls from a scaffold and is injured
August 1(?), 1927 - Mexico City | Chapingo - After many interruptions, Rivera finishes work on the fresco in the Ministry and in the National Agricultural School of Chapingo
September 1, 1927 - Mexico City - Diego Rivera departs to the Soviet Union, invited by the Commission of Public Education of the Soviet Union to attend the 10th anniversary of the Russian Revolution
September 25(?), 1927 - Berlin, Germany - Reaches Berlin on his way to Moscow. Visits museums, them takes the train to Moscow
November 7, 1927 - Moscow, Soviet Union - Rivera arrives in Moscow
November 24, 1927 - Moscow - Rivera signs a contract with Lunacharsky, Commissar of Education and Fine Arts, to do a fresco in the Red Army Club
June 1(?), 1928 - Moscow, Soviet Union - Rivera is asked to leave the Soviet Union because he was believed to have become involved in anti-Stalin politics. He departs to Mexico
July 1(?), 1928 - Berlin, Germany - Stays in Berlin for a month
August 1(?), 1928 - Mexico City - Diego Rivera returns to Mexico
September(?) 1(?), 1928 - Mexico City - Meets painter Frida Kahlo at one of Tina Modotti's parties
January(?) 1(?), 1929 - Mexico City - Rivera is appointed as director of the Academy of San Carlos. He tries to dissociate himself from the radical line of the Communist Party of Mexico. He is commissioned to create murals at the National Palace of Mexico.
January 10, 1929 - Mexico City - A Cuban Communist, Antonio Mella, is assassinated in Mexico City. Rivera's model and mistress, Tina Modotti, who was walking with Mella when he was shot, is framed for involvement in that assassination. Rivera uses his influence to prevent her from being held responsible for that crime.
May 1, 1929 - Mexico City - Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera and Tina Modotti join a demonstration of the Syndicate of Technical Workers, Painters and Sculptors
May 15(?), 1929 - Mexico City - Begins working on the National Palace frescoes
July 1(?), 1929 - Mexico City - Rivera is expelled from the Communist Party of Mexico
August 21, 1929 - Coyoacán, Mexico City - Marries Frida Kahlo
November(?) 1(?), 1929 - Mexico City - He is given a commission from the U.S. ambassador, Dwight Morrow, to create frescoes in the Palace of Cortés in Cuernavaca, in the state of Morelos, Mexico
December 1(?), 1929 - Cuernavaca, Morelos - Moves to Cuernavaca with Frida Kahlo, where he had been commissioned to paint murals for the Palace of Cortés
June 1(?), 1930 - Cuernavaca, Morelos - Frida Kahlo terminates a 3-month pregnancy, owing to the incorrect position of the fetus
November 7, 1930 - Cuernavaca, Morelos - Rivera is forced to resign from his directorship of the Academy of San Carlos. He finishes the murals at the Palace of Cortés in Cuernavaca. He receives commissions to create murals in San Francisco, U.S.A. and leaves Mexico with Frida Kahlo to go to San Francisco
November 13, 1930 - San Francisco, United States - Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo arrive in San Francisco, where Rivera was going to paint murals for the Luncheon Club of the San Francisco Stock Exchange and the California School of Fine Arts.
January 17, 1931 - San Francisco - Rivera starts painting a fresco in San Francisco Stock Exchange
February 17, 1931 - San Francisco - Finishes the fresco in San Francisco Stock Exchange
April 2, 1931 - Fresno, California - Rivera starts painting a fresco in the Stern Residence, Fresno
April 23, 1931 - Fresno - Finishes fresco in the Stern Residence, Fresno
April 24, 1931 - San Francisco - Rivera starts painting a fresco in the California School of Fine Arts, San Francisco
May 1, 1931 - San Francisco - Diego Rivera begins work on the mural "The Making of a Fresco Showing the Building of a City". Frida Kahlo meets photographer Nicholas Muray and begins an affair with him
May 31, 1931 - San Francisco - Diego Rivera finishes work on the mural "The Making of a Fresco Showing the Building of a City"
June 3, 1931 - San Francisco - Finishes the fresco in the California School of Fine Arts, San Francisco
June 8, 1931 - Mexico City - Kahlo and Rivera return to Mexico for 5 months. Rivera commissions the building of a new house and studio in San Angel, a suburb of Mexico City.
July(?) 1(?), 1931 - Mexico City - Rivera and Kahlo meet the Russian film maker Sergei Eisenstein, who is inspired by Rivera's works to produce a film entitled "Qué Viva México"
November 4, 1931 - While travelling to New York - Works by Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera are included in the 6th Annual Exhibition of the San Francisco Society of Women Artists in the Palace of the Legion of Honor (until December 3rd)
November 13, 1931 - New York - They arrive in New York for the opening of Rivera's retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art
December 23, 1931 - New York - Opening of Rivera's solo exhibition at the Museum of Modern Arts
April 21, 1932 - Detroit - Moves to Detroit with Frida Kahlo. Rivera, who had been commissioned to paint Murals for the Detroit Institute of Arts, creates a mural based upon the Ford Motor Company's Rouge River Automobile plant, the largest plant in the world at that time
May 25(?), 1932 - Detroit - Frida Kahlo discovers she is pregnant
July 4, 1932 - Detroit - Frida Kahlo suffers a miscarriage, which causes a serious hemorrhage. She is hospitalized for 2 weeks
February 2, 1933 - Detroit - Frida Kahlo's Interview with "Detroit News" - "Of course he [Rivera] does well for a little boy, but it is I who am the big artist"
March 1(?), 1933 - Detroit - The murals in Detroit are completed in March and viewed by a large number of people
March 5(?), 1933 - New York - Kahlo and Rivera return to New York, where Rivera had been commissioned to paint a mural for the Rockefeller Center
April(?) 1(?), 1933 - New York - Rivera has a brief affair with the American artist Louise Nevelson
May 1(?), 1933 - New York - By May the mural in the RCA Building is partially complete. The architects discover that the mural includes a portrait of Vladimir Lenin. They stop his work and remove his scaffolding
May 9, 1933 - New York - Rivera is fired from the Rockefeller Center and is instead hired to paint a mural for the New Workers School. General Motors withdraw the commission they had given Rivera to paint a mural at the World's Fair in Chicago
December 20, 1933 - New York - Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera depart to Vera Cruz (via Cuba) on board the "Oriente"
December 30(?), 1933 - San Ángel, Mexico City - Kahlo and Rivera return home after the mural's unveiling
February 2, 1934 - While in San Ángel, Mexico City - His mural "Man, controller of the Universe" for the Radio City of America building at Rockefeller Center is plastered-over and destroyed before it is finished, resulting in protests and boycotts from other artists
June(?) 1(?), 1934 - Mexico City - With a photograph of his mural for the Rockefeller Center before being destroyed, Rivera repaints the mural titled "Man, Controller of the Universe" at the Palace of Fine Arts in Mexico City
January(?) 1(?), 1935 - San Ángel, Mexico City - Frida Kahlo moves to an apartment in central Mexico City after discovering that Rivera was having an affair with her sister Cristina
July 23, 1935 - San Ángel, Mexico City - Letter from Frida Kahlo
October(?) 1(?), 1935 - San Ángel, Mexico City - Kahlo and Rivera reconcile. She moves back to San Ángel
January(?) 1(?), 1936 - San Ángel, Mexico City - Rivera joins the Fourth International, the international communist organization which Leon Trotsky created. Rivera persuades the President of Mexico, Lázaro Cárdenas, to grant Trotsky asylum (Trotsky was being hunted by the agents of Joseph Stalin)
June(?) 1(?), 1936 - Mexico City - Rivera is given a commission to create a mural for the Hotel Reforma. In it he directly attacks the mexican political personalities. The mural is taken out of the place and Rivera gets no more commissions for murals
September 1(?), 1936 - Mexico City - Joins the Mexican Section of the Trotskyite International Communist League
November 23, 1936 - Mexico City - Rivera and Kahlo participate in a Mexican Labor's anti-fascist demonstration
January 9, 1937 - San Ángel, Mexico City - Diego Rivera, stays ill at home while Frida Kahlo waits for Leon Trotsky's arrival at Tampico
January 15(?), 1937 - Coyoacán, Mexico City - Trotsky and Natalia Sedova are offered the "La Casa Azul" (Blue House) as a residence. Frida Kahlo begins an affair with him
April 1(?), 1937 - Coyoacán, Mexico City - Rivera and Trotsky set up a Joint Commission of Inquiry into the Moscow Trials. It is chaired by the american philosopher John Dewey. This Commission clears Trotsky of the accusation brought against him by Stalin
July 7, 1937 - Coyoacán, Mexico City - Trotsky and his party move to a hacienda 80 miles from Mexico City due to security concerns. End of the affair with Frida Kahlo
April 2, 1938 - While in Coyoacán, Mexico City - French surrealist poet and essayist André Breton and his wife, Jacqueline Lamba, depart to Mexico to visit the "Riveras"
April 18, 1938 - Veracruz, Mexico - André Breton and Jacqueline Lamba, arrive in Mexico. While Frida stays at Coyoacán, Diego Rivera meets them at the dock in Veracruz
May(?) 1(?), 1938 - Michoacán | Jalisco - Trip to Michoacán and Jalisco with André Breton, Natalia Sedova and Frida Kahlo
July 25, 1938 - Coyoacán, Mexico City - André Breton, Rivera and Trotsky tour Mexico and together write "A Manifesto for a Free Revolutionary Art" (signed by Breton and Rivera, but likely co-authored by Trotsky). Frida Kahlo travels to New York and Paris where some of her paintings were being exhibited for the first time
August 1, 1938 - While in Coyoacán, Mexico City - The Bretons depart to France
August 11, 1938 - While in Coyoacán, Mexico City - The Bretons arrive in France
October 1(?), 1938 - While in Coyoacán, Mexico City - Frida Kahlo travels alone to New York
November 1(?), 1938 - Coyoacán, Mexico City - Rivera protests against the government, calling for a demonstration against the "vandalism of the authorities" (his friend Juan O'Gorman had painted murals at the Mexican international airport, including caricatures of Hitler and Mussolini. Because of the Anglo-US boycott of Mexican oil, the government had been forced to sell to the Axis powers. General Mujica ordered that the murals be destroyed). Trotsky condemns Rivera's position
January(?) 1(?), 1939 - Coyoacán, Mexico City - Since Rivera is not getting any more commissions to create murals he reverts to painting portraits and scenes of Amerindians
January 7, 1939 - Coyoacán, Mexico City - Rivera resigns from Trotsky's Fourth International
April 1(?), 1939 - Coyoacán, Mexico City - Rivera quarrels with Trotsky after finding out about his affair with Frida Kahlo. Trotsky and Natalia Sedova leave the "La Casa Azul"
October(?) 1(?), 1939 - Coyoacán, Mexico City - Rivera requests a divorce from Frida Kahlo
November 6, 1939 - Coyoacán, Mexico City - Frida Kahlo and Rivera are granted a divorce, but they remain friendly
January 1(?), 1940 - Mexico City - Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera's works are exhibited in the "Exposicion Internacional del Surrealismo" at Ines Amor's Galeria de Arte Mexicano
April 15, 1940 - Mexico City - Letter to Timothy Pflueger, accepting to participate in the GGIE and paint a fresco in the Palace of Fine Arts
May 24, 1940 - Coyoacán, Mexico City - A gang from the Communist Party of Mexico attacks Trotsky's home. They machine gun Trotsky's bedroom but fail to hit him. That gang was led by the Mexican artist David Alfaro Siqueiros
June 5, 1940 - Los Angeles - Rivera returns to the United States, invited again by Pflueger, to paint a ten-panel mural for the Golden Gate International Exposition in San Francisco
November 29, 1940 - San Francisco - Rivera finishes work on his mural "Pan American Unity"
December 8, 1940 - San Francisco - Marries Frida Kahlo for the second time
February 1(?), 1941 - Coyoacán, Mexico City - Rivera and Kahlo return to Mexico. He tries to make peace with the Stalinist Communist Party and applies to rejoin the Communist Party of Mexico, but is turned down
January(?) 1(?), 1942 - Mexico City - Rivera resumes work on a series of fresco panels for the National Palace of Mexico. He commissions the construction of new house of monumental proportions inspired by an Aztec temple, an house he would call "Anahuacalli" (House of the Valley of Mexico", in nahuatl language)
January(?) 1(?), 1943 - Coyoacán, Mexico City - He accepts a teaching position at the Escuela Nacional de Pintura, Escultura y Grabado "La Esmeralda"
May 1(?), 1943 - Mexico City - The Colegio Nacional, an elite academy, is formed in May, made of Mexico's most prominent writers, artists, philosophers and scientists. Rivera is one of the founding members
January(?) 1(?), 1944 - Mexico City - The building of "Anahuacalli" begins
April 18, 1944 - Mexico City - Rivera completes the murals for the National Institute of Cardiology
June 1(?), 1945 - While in Mexico City - Frida Kahlo travels to New York for an operation which fuses a bone graft and a steel support to her spine to straighten it. The difficult operation is a failure. She also sabotages her recovery by not resting as required and by once physically re-opening her wounds in a fit of anger
January(?) 1(?), 1946 - Mexico City - Rivera arranges for Emma Hurtado to be his art dealer
October 1(?), 1946 - Coyoacán, Mexico City - Frida Kahlo returns to Mexico, confined to an iron corset for 8 months. Large doses of morphine are prescribed for her pain
January(?) 1(?), 1947 - Mexico City - Rivera gets a commission to create a mural for the Hotel del Prado. He turns it into the story of his life entitled "Dream of a Sunday Afternoon in the Alameda". He writes "God does not exist" in the Mural, sparking criticism and causing demonstrators to slash the fresco
March 1(?), 1947 - Mexico City - Hospitalized with bronchial pneumonia
October(?) 1(?), 1948 - Coyoacán, Mexico City - Rivera begins an affair with actress Maria Felix, that causes a public scandal
January(?) 1(?), 1949 - Coyoacán, Mexico City - Frida Kahlo is re-admitted to the Communist Party of Mexico, but Rivera's third application for re-admission is rejected
June 1(?), 1949 - Coyoacán, Mexico City - The affair between Diego Rivera and Maria Felix ends
January(?) 1(?), 1950 - Mexico City - Bone graft surgery on Frida Kahlo's spine. (The first of 7 during 1950). She spends most of the year in Hospital ABC in Mexico City. Rivera sleeps in a room next to hers
December(?) 9(?), 1950 - Mexico City - Rivera is awarded the National Art Prize of Mexico
January(?) 1(?), 1951 - Mexico City - Rivera completes another phase of his mural work at the National Palace. He has plans for further work there but it is never executed
January(?) 1(?), 1952 - Mexico City - Rivera is diagnosed with penile cancer. He is advised to amputate his penis and testicles to prevent the spread of the malignancy. Rivera objects: "I want everything to remain as it is. I will be completely responsible. I refuse to allow the amputation of those organs which have given me the finest pleasure I know". He undergoes x-ray treatment. Rivera's fourth application to rejoin the Communist Party of Mexico is rejected
March 31, 1952 - Mexico City - Rivera creates a mobile fresco entitled The Nightmare of War and the Dream of Peace. It contains images of Stalin and Mao shown in heroic pose. The Mexican government refuses to show it publically and there are violent demonstrations objecting to the government policy.
August 1(?), 1953 - Mexico City - The right leg of Frida Kahlo has to be amputated. Rivera produces a mural entitled "War and Peace" and sends it to China. It disappears and is never heard of again
December(?) 1(?), 1953 - Mexico City - Commissioned to do a mural on the outside wall of the new "Teatro de los Insurgentes"
July 2, 1954 - Mexico City - Frida Kahlo makes a public appearance, participating with Rivera in a demostration against the CIA invasion of Guatemala, however, it worsens her illness
July 12, 1954 - Coyoacán, Mexico City - Kahlo has high fevers and extreme pain. That evening she gives Rivera a wedding anniversary present, over a month in advance...
July 13, 1954 - Coyoacán, Mexico City - Frida Kahlo is found dead in the morning, aged 47, most likely having committed suicide by overdose (she took 11 painkillers instead of the maximum prescribed dose of 7). Her last written diary entry reads: "I hope the exit is joyful - and I hope never to return"
July 14, 1954 - Mexico City - Attends Frida Kahlo's funeral
April(?) 1(?), 1955 - Mexico City - Rivera's penile cancer recurs
July 29, 1955 - Mexico City - Diego Rivera marries Emma Hurtado, his art dealer since 1946
August 1(?), 1955 - Mexico City - Paperwork is signed constituting a fund for the administration of the Anahuacalli museum
September(?) 1(?), 1955 - Mexico City - Rivera and Emma Hurtado depart to Moscow after accepting an invitation from the Moscow Fine Arts Academy
October 1(?), 1955 - Moscow, Soviet Union - Rivera checks into a Moscow hospital from October to December to receive cobalt treatment
April 4, 1956 - Mexico City - Rivera returns to Mexico from Moscow with side visits to Budapest and East Berlin
April(?) 10(?), 1956 - Mexico City - He removes the line "God does not exist!" from the mural he created for Hotel del Prado and which he named Dream of a Sunday Afternoon in the Alameda. At the public opening for the viewing of that mural he announces, "I am a Catholic."
May(?) 1(?), 1956 - Acapulco, Mexico - Rivera is invited by his old friend Dolores Olmedo to do a 3D-mural at her property in Acapulco. He spends 18 months there until work is finished
December 8, 1956 - Mexico City - There is a national tribute to Rivera on his seventieth birthday
September 1(?), 1957 - San Ángel, Mexico City - Rivera suffers a stroke and looses the use of his right arm. Still, he continues painting
October 20, 1957 - San Ángel, Mexico City - Rivera, in poor health, issues a letter granting Dolores Olmedo the copyright of all his works, texts and documents in his possession
November 24, 1957 - San Ángel, Mexico City - Diego Rivera dies of heart failure, aged 70 =(END)
January(?) 1(?), 1906 - Mexico City - The Annual San Carlos Academy Art Show exhibits one of Rivera's paintings, "La Era"
October(?) 1(?), 1906 - Veracruz - Rivera travels to Veracruz to visit Governor Dehesa. He is awarded a scholarship to study art in Europe
December 20(?), 1906 - Veracruz - Sails to Spain aboard the ship "Alfonso XIII"
January 6, 1907 - Santander, Spain - Diego Rivera arrives in Spain to continue his art training
January 8(?), 1907 - Madrid, Spain - Arrives in Madrid by train
March 1(?), 1909 - Paris, France - Rivera considers his training in Madrid completed and he moves to Paris
July(?) 1(?), 1909 - Bruges, Belgium - Meets jewish-russian émigré artist, Angelina Beloff
August(?), 1(?), 1909 - London, England - Reaches London on board a small freighter from Flanders, for a small visit
October 9, 1909 - Bruges, Belgium - Returns to Bruges. Dedicates a charcoal sketch entitled "Béguinage à Bruges" to Angelina Beloff
November 2, 1909 - Bruges - Departs to Paris
November 4(?), 1909 - Paris, France - Returns to Paris with Angelina Beloff
January(?) 1(?), 1910 - Paris - Exhibition at the Society of Independent Artists in Paris
February 1(?), 1910 - Paris - Visits an exhibition by Paul Cézanne, that causes a deep impression on him
June 1(?), 1909 - Brittany - Trip to Brittany
July(?) 1(?), 1910 - Madrid, Spain - Returns to Madrid, on his way back to Mexico, as his grant expired in August
September 1(?), 1910 - Santander(?) - Departs to Mexico to take part in the centenary celebration of the Mexican war of independence of 1810
October 2, 1910 - Veracruz, Mexico - Diego Rivera arrives in Veracruz
November 20, 1910 - Mexico City - San Carlos Academy Exhibition - Rivera exhibits 35 paintings, 8 drawings and 2 etchings
January(?) 1(?), 1911 - Paris, France - Returns to Paris
April 1(?), 1911 - Paris - Angelina Beloff returns from Russia. She marries Diego Rivera and both settle in the Montparnasse district
June 1(?), 1911 - Paris - Exhibits two large paintings of Iztaccihuatl in the Salon d'Automne
August(?) 1(?), 1911 - Normandy - Rivera and Beloff travel to Normandy in the Summer
December(?) 1(?), 1911 - Barcelona - Rivera and Beloff visit Barcelona in the Winter
January(?) 1(?), 1912 - Paris - Exhibition at the Societé des Artistes Independants
May(?) 1(?), 1912 - Toledo, Spain - Rivera and Beloff travel with Zárraga and Best Maugard to Toledo in the Spring, so he can study the work of "El Greco"
September 1(?), 1912 - Paris - Rivera and Beloff travel to Paris and establish themselves in a studio in Montparnasse
December(?) 1(?), 1912 - Toledo - Spends Winter in Toledo, continuing his study of "El Grego"
February 22, 1913 - While in Paris(?) - The government of Francisco Madero is overthrow by a military coup d'ét carried out by General Victoriano Huerta. Madero is murdered, ending Rivera's government subsidy
April 1(?), 1913 - Toledo - Arrives in Toledo in April
September 1(?), 1913 - Paris - Returns to Paris in September
October(?) 1(?), 1913 - Paris - Exhibition in "Salon d'Automne"
January(?) 1(?), 1914 - Paris - Rivera meets Pablo Picasso and both become friends
April 1(?), 1914 - Paris - Exhibition of 25 of his cubist works at the Galerie Berthe Weill
August 6, 1914 - Barcelona - Trip to Spain with Angelina Beloff, Jacques Lipchitz, Berthe Kristover and Maria Gutiérrez Blanchard. As they sail from Barcelona to Mallorca, war is declared between Austria-Hungary and Russia
August 8(?), 1914 - Mallorca - In Mallorca they are caught up in the outbreak of the First World War and have to stay in Mallorca longer than expected
September 1(?), 1914 - Barcelona - Rivera and Beloff arrive in Barcelona by boat. Take the train to Madrid
December(?) 1(?), 1914 - Madrid - Settles in Madrid in the end of the year, after the beginning of World War 1
August(?) 1(?), 1915 - Paris - Rivera returns to Paris alone, leaving Angelina in Madrid. While in Paris, he meets russian artist Marevna Vorobyov-Stebelska
September(?) 1(?), 1915 - Paris - His mother visits him in Paris
January(?) 1(?), 1916 - Paris - Rivera begins an affair with Marevna Vorobev-Stebelska. He returns to Angelina six months later
August 11, 1916 - Paris - Angeline Beloff gives birth to a child they name Diego Rivera Jr.
October 7(?), 1916 - While in Paris - In New York, Rivera's paintings are exhibited until October 21st at the Modern Gallery along with works by four of the top artists of the time; Picasso, Cézanne, van Gogh and Braque
January(?) 1(?), 1917 - Paris - Rivera and Picasso quarrel over the nature of Cubism. Rivera abandons cubism and starts to paint in the style of Cézanne. Meets physician and art historian Élie Faure (who sponsored a group exhibition titled "Les Contructeurs", which included Rivera
October 1(?), 1917 - Paris - Rivera's 14 month old son, Diego, dies
January(?) 1(?), 1918 - Paris - Rivera tries to end his affair with Marevna Vorobyov-Stebelska, pregnant with his child. Rivera and Angelina move away from Montparnasse to another less Bohemian district to Paris
July(?) 1(?), 1918 - Arcachon, SW of France - Summer at Arcachon with Cocteau, Adam and Elen Fisher
January(?) 1(?), 1919 - Paris - Rivera meets fellow muralist artist David Alfaro Siqueiros. They discuss plans to drastically change the traditional French and Spanish art of Mexico The Mexican government invites Rivera to participate in a national program of mural painting
November 13, 1919 - Paris - Marevna Vorobyov-Stebelska gives birth to Rivera's daughter Marika Rivera Vorobyova
January(?) 1(?), 1920 - Paris - Rivera cannot choose between Angelina and Marevna. He paints commissioned portraits to earn money to live on
February 21, 1920 - Paris - Visits the Galerie Blot
October 1(?), 1920 - While in Paris - Participates in the "Exposicion d'art Français d'avant-garde" at the Galerie Dalman, Barcelona
November 3, 1920 - Paris - Letter to Alfonso Reyes, thanking him for his efforts to obtain a government commission for Rivera, and urging him to get money sent so that he could fund a journey to Italy before returning to Mexico
December 1(?), 1920 - While in Paris - Participates in the Exhibition "Societé Anonyme" in New York
December 30(?), 1920 - Paris - Departs to Milan, Italy, by train (visits Ravenna, Florence, Siena, Arezzo, Perugia, Assisi, Romes, Naples, messina, Padua and Venice, until April 1921)
April 1(?), 1921 - Paris - Rivera returns to Paris from Italy in April
May 1(?), 1921 - Paris - Letter from Elie Fauré to a friend: "Rivera has returned from Italy, loaded with drawings, loaded with new sensations, loaded with ideas, boiling over with new myths, thin (yes!) and radiant. He says that he will soon be leaving for Mexico, but I don't believe a word of it"
July 6, 1921 - Paris - Visits Marevna to say goodbye: "He made passionate love to me for the last time...and begged me as a last favour not to come to the station the next day"
July 7, 1921 - Le Havre - Departs to Veracruz, Mexico. Angelina waves as the ship sails
July 22(?), 1921 - Veracruz, Mexico - Diego Rivera returns to Mexico
October 1(?), 1921 - Mexico City - The Minister of Education José Vasconcelos, commissions Rivera to paint a mural at the National Preparatory School of the University of Mexico
November 1(?), 1921 - Chichén Itzá | Uxmal, Yucatan - Visit to the archaeological sites of Chichén Itzá and Uxmal with other artists, an iniciative by the Minister of Education, Vasconcelos, to acquaint them with their own heritage, the art of Ancient Mexico
November 17, 1921 - Mexico City - His father Diego Rivera Acosta, dies
December 1(?), 1921 - Mexico City - Begins painting the mural "Creation" in the Simon Bolivar Amphitheatre of the National Preparatory School
January(?) 1(?), 1922 - Coyoacán, Mexico City - Frida Kahlo, still a student, sees Diego Rivera for the first time, as he works on a mural at the elite National Preparatory School. Rivera meets actress Guadalupe Marín
June(?) 1(?), 1922 - Mexico City - Rivera joins with other top artists of Mexico in forming the radical Union of Technical Workers, Painters and Sculptors
July(?) 1(?), 1922 - Tehuantepec, Oaxaca - Summer trip to the archaeological site of Tehuantepec with Guadalupe Marín
August(?) 1(?), 1922 - Guadalajara - Rivera marries Guadalupe Marín in Guadalajara
September 1(?), 1922 - Mexico City - The Mexican government commissions Rivera to create a series of mural at the Ministry of Education. He takes control of the project and destroys some works which had been created by other artists of the project
December 1(?), 1922 - Mexico City - Becomes a member of the Communist Party of Mexico
January(?) 1(?), 1923 - Mexico City - Rivera becomes a member of the Communist Party's Executive Committee with fellow muralist Siqueiros
March 23, 1923 - Mexico City - Rivera starts his first true fresco, in the forward patio of the Ministry of Education
December 15, 1923 - Mexico City - His mother, Maria del Pilar Barrientos Rivera, dies
June 23, 1924 - Chapingo - At the same time he works at the Ministry, he begins working at the National Agricultural School of Chapingo
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| Feast of the Day of the Dead, 1924 |
October 23, 1924 - Mixcalco, Mexico City - Daughter Guadalupe Rivera-Marín is born
January(?) 1(?), 1925 - Mexico City - The Mural program is reinstated under the new Obregón government. Rivera is the only muralist who allowed to continue working
June(?) 1(?), 1925 - Mexico City - Rivera resigns from the Communist Party of Mexico
January(?) 1(?), 1926 - Chapingo - In Chapingo, Rivera hires photographer Tina Modotti as a model. Rivera and Tina begin an affair. Rivera is re-admitted to the Communist Party of Mexico
June 18, 1927 - Mexico City - Daughter Ruth Rivera-Marín is born. Rivera falls from a scaffold and is injured
August 1(?), 1927 - Mexico City | Chapingo - After many interruptions, Rivera finishes work on the fresco in the Ministry and in the National Agricultural School of Chapingo
September 1, 1927 - Mexico City - Diego Rivera departs to the Soviet Union, invited by the Commission of Public Education of the Soviet Union to attend the 10th anniversary of the Russian Revolution
September 25(?), 1927 - Berlin, Germany - Reaches Berlin on his way to Moscow. Visits museums, them takes the train to Moscow
November 7, 1927 - Moscow, Soviet Union - Rivera arrives in Moscow
November 24, 1927 - Moscow - Rivera signs a contract with Lunacharsky, Commissar of Education and Fine Arts, to do a fresco in the Red Army Club
June 1(?), 1928 - Moscow, Soviet Union - Rivera is asked to leave the Soviet Union because he was believed to have become involved in anti-Stalin politics. He departs to Mexico
July 1(?), 1928 - Berlin, Germany - Stays in Berlin for a month
August 1(?), 1928 - Mexico City - Diego Rivera returns to Mexico
September(?) 1(?), 1928 - Mexico City - Meets painter Frida Kahlo at one of Tina Modotti's parties
January(?) 1(?), 1929 - Mexico City - Rivera is appointed as director of the Academy of San Carlos. He tries to dissociate himself from the radical line of the Communist Party of Mexico. He is commissioned to create murals at the National Palace of Mexico.
January 10, 1929 - Mexico City - A Cuban Communist, Antonio Mella, is assassinated in Mexico City. Rivera's model and mistress, Tina Modotti, who was walking with Mella when he was shot, is framed for involvement in that assassination. Rivera uses his influence to prevent her from being held responsible for that crime.
May 1, 1929 - Mexico City - Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera and Tina Modotti join a demonstration of the Syndicate of Technical Workers, Painters and Sculptors
May 15(?), 1929 - Mexico City - Begins working on the National Palace frescoes
July 1(?), 1929 - Mexico City - Rivera is expelled from the Communist Party of Mexico
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| Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo |
November(?) 1(?), 1929 - Mexico City - He is given a commission from the U.S. ambassador, Dwight Morrow, to create frescoes in the Palace of Cortés in Cuernavaca, in the state of Morelos, Mexico
December 1(?), 1929 - Cuernavaca, Morelos - Moves to Cuernavaca with Frida Kahlo, where he had been commissioned to paint murals for the Palace of Cortés
June 1(?), 1930 - Cuernavaca, Morelos - Frida Kahlo terminates a 3-month pregnancy, owing to the incorrect position of the fetus
November 7, 1930 - Cuernavaca, Morelos - Rivera is forced to resign from his directorship of the Academy of San Carlos. He finishes the murals at the Palace of Cortés in Cuernavaca. He receives commissions to create murals in San Francisco, U.S.A. and leaves Mexico with Frida Kahlo to go to San Francisco
November 13, 1930 - San Francisco, United States - Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo arrive in San Francisco, where Rivera was going to paint murals for the Luncheon Club of the San Francisco Stock Exchange and the California School of Fine Arts.
January 17, 1931 - San Francisco - Rivera starts painting a fresco in San Francisco Stock Exchange
February 17, 1931 - San Francisco - Finishes the fresco in San Francisco Stock Exchange
April 2, 1931 - Fresno, California - Rivera starts painting a fresco in the Stern Residence, Fresno
April 23, 1931 - Fresno - Finishes fresco in the Stern Residence, Fresno
April 24, 1931 - San Francisco - Rivera starts painting a fresco in the California School of Fine Arts, San Francisco
May 1, 1931 - San Francisco - Diego Rivera begins work on the mural "The Making of a Fresco Showing the Building of a City". Frida Kahlo meets photographer Nicholas Muray and begins an affair with him
May 31, 1931 - San Francisco - Diego Rivera finishes work on the mural "The Making of a Fresco Showing the Building of a City"
June 3, 1931 - San Francisco - Finishes the fresco in the California School of Fine Arts, San Francisco
June 8, 1931 - Mexico City - Kahlo and Rivera return to Mexico for 5 months. Rivera commissions the building of a new house and studio in San Angel, a suburb of Mexico City.
July(?) 1(?), 1931 - Mexico City - Rivera and Kahlo meet the Russian film maker Sergei Eisenstein, who is inspired by Rivera's works to produce a film entitled "Qué Viva México"
November 4, 1931 - While travelling to New York - Works by Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera are included in the 6th Annual Exhibition of the San Francisco Society of Women Artists in the Palace of the Legion of Honor (until December 3rd)
November 13, 1931 - New York - They arrive in New York for the opening of Rivera's retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art
December 23, 1931 - New York - Opening of Rivera's solo exhibition at the Museum of Modern Arts
April 21, 1932 - Detroit - Moves to Detroit with Frida Kahlo. Rivera, who had been commissioned to paint Murals for the Detroit Institute of Arts, creates a mural based upon the Ford Motor Company's Rouge River Automobile plant, the largest plant in the world at that time
May 25(?), 1932 - Detroit - Frida Kahlo discovers she is pregnant
July 4, 1932 - Detroit - Frida Kahlo suffers a miscarriage, which causes a serious hemorrhage. She is hospitalized for 2 weeks
February 2, 1933 - Detroit - Frida Kahlo's Interview with "Detroit News" - "Of course he [Rivera] does well for a little boy, but it is I who am the big artist"
March 1(?), 1933 - Detroit - The murals in Detroit are completed in March and viewed by a large number of people
March 5(?), 1933 - New York - Kahlo and Rivera return to New York, where Rivera had been commissioned to paint a mural for the Rockefeller Center
April(?) 1(?), 1933 - New York - Rivera has a brief affair with the American artist Louise Nevelson
May 1(?), 1933 - New York - By May the mural in the RCA Building is partially complete. The architects discover that the mural includes a portrait of Vladimir Lenin. They stop his work and remove his scaffolding
May 9, 1933 - New York - Rivera is fired from the Rockefeller Center and is instead hired to paint a mural for the New Workers School. General Motors withdraw the commission they had given Rivera to paint a mural at the World's Fair in Chicago
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| "Man, controler of the Universe" (repainted in Mexico, 1934) |
December 30(?), 1933 - San Ángel, Mexico City - Kahlo and Rivera return home after the mural's unveiling
February 2, 1934 - While in San Ángel, Mexico City - His mural "Man, controller of the Universe" for the Radio City of America building at Rockefeller Center is plastered-over and destroyed before it is finished, resulting in protests and boycotts from other artists
June(?) 1(?), 1934 - Mexico City - With a photograph of his mural for the Rockefeller Center before being destroyed, Rivera repaints the mural titled "Man, Controller of the Universe" at the Palace of Fine Arts in Mexico City
January(?) 1(?), 1935 - San Ángel, Mexico City - Frida Kahlo moves to an apartment in central Mexico City after discovering that Rivera was having an affair with her sister Cristina
July 23, 1935 - San Ángel, Mexico City - Letter from Frida Kahlo
October(?) 1(?), 1935 - San Ángel, Mexico City - Kahlo and Rivera reconcile. She moves back to San Ángel
January(?) 1(?), 1936 - San Ángel, Mexico City - Rivera joins the Fourth International, the international communist organization which Leon Trotsky created. Rivera persuades the President of Mexico, Lázaro Cárdenas, to grant Trotsky asylum (Trotsky was being hunted by the agents of Joseph Stalin)
June(?) 1(?), 1936 - Mexico City - Rivera is given a commission to create a mural for the Hotel Reforma. In it he directly attacks the mexican political personalities. The mural is taken out of the place and Rivera gets no more commissions for murals
September 1(?), 1936 - Mexico City - Joins the Mexican Section of the Trotskyite International Communist League
November 23, 1936 - Mexico City - Rivera and Kahlo participate in a Mexican Labor's anti-fascist demonstration
January 9, 1937 - San Ángel, Mexico City - Diego Rivera, stays ill at home while Frida Kahlo waits for Leon Trotsky's arrival at Tampico
January 15(?), 1937 - Coyoacán, Mexico City - Trotsky and Natalia Sedova are offered the "La Casa Azul" (Blue House) as a residence. Frida Kahlo begins an affair with him
April 1(?), 1937 - Coyoacán, Mexico City - Rivera and Trotsky set up a Joint Commission of Inquiry into the Moscow Trials. It is chaired by the american philosopher John Dewey. This Commission clears Trotsky of the accusation brought against him by Stalin
July 7, 1937 - Coyoacán, Mexico City - Trotsky and his party move to a hacienda 80 miles from Mexico City due to security concerns. End of the affair with Frida Kahlo
April 2, 1938 - While in Coyoacán, Mexico City - French surrealist poet and essayist André Breton and his wife, Jacqueline Lamba, depart to Mexico to visit the "Riveras"
April 18, 1938 - Veracruz, Mexico - André Breton and Jacqueline Lamba, arrive in Mexico. While Frida stays at Coyoacán, Diego Rivera meets them at the dock in Veracruz
May(?) 1(?), 1938 - Michoacán | Jalisco - Trip to Michoacán and Jalisco with André Breton, Natalia Sedova and Frida Kahlo
July 25, 1938 - Coyoacán, Mexico City - André Breton, Rivera and Trotsky tour Mexico and together write "A Manifesto for a Free Revolutionary Art" (signed by Breton and Rivera, but likely co-authored by Trotsky). Frida Kahlo travels to New York and Paris where some of her paintings were being exhibited for the first time
August 1, 1938 - While in Coyoacán, Mexico City - The Bretons depart to France
August 11, 1938 - While in Coyoacán, Mexico City - The Bretons arrive in France
October 1(?), 1938 - While in Coyoacán, Mexico City - Frida Kahlo travels alone to New York
November 1(?), 1938 - Coyoacán, Mexico City - Rivera protests against the government, calling for a demonstration against the "vandalism of the authorities" (his friend Juan O'Gorman had painted murals at the Mexican international airport, including caricatures of Hitler and Mussolini. Because of the Anglo-US boycott of Mexican oil, the government had been forced to sell to the Axis powers. General Mujica ordered that the murals be destroyed). Trotsky condemns Rivera's position
January(?) 1(?), 1939 - Coyoacán, Mexico City - Since Rivera is not getting any more commissions to create murals he reverts to painting portraits and scenes of Amerindians
January 7, 1939 - Coyoacán, Mexico City - Rivera resigns from Trotsky's Fourth International
April 1(?), 1939 - Coyoacán, Mexico City - Rivera quarrels with Trotsky after finding out about his affair with Frida Kahlo. Trotsky and Natalia Sedova leave the "La Casa Azul"
October(?) 1(?), 1939 - Coyoacán, Mexico City - Rivera requests a divorce from Frida Kahlo
November 6, 1939 - Coyoacán, Mexico City - Frida Kahlo and Rivera are granted a divorce, but they remain friendly
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| Pan-American Unity, 1940 |
April 15, 1940 - Mexico City - Letter to Timothy Pflueger, accepting to participate in the GGIE and paint a fresco in the Palace of Fine Arts
May 24, 1940 - Coyoacán, Mexico City - A gang from the Communist Party of Mexico attacks Trotsky's home. They machine gun Trotsky's bedroom but fail to hit him. That gang was led by the Mexican artist David Alfaro Siqueiros
June 5, 1940 - Los Angeles - Rivera returns to the United States, invited again by Pflueger, to paint a ten-panel mural for the Golden Gate International Exposition in San Francisco
November 29, 1940 - San Francisco - Rivera finishes work on his mural "Pan American Unity"
December 8, 1940 - San Francisco - Marries Frida Kahlo for the second time
February 1(?), 1941 - Coyoacán, Mexico City - Rivera and Kahlo return to Mexico. He tries to make peace with the Stalinist Communist Party and applies to rejoin the Communist Party of Mexico, but is turned down
January(?) 1(?), 1942 - Mexico City - Rivera resumes work on a series of fresco panels for the National Palace of Mexico. He commissions the construction of new house of monumental proportions inspired by an Aztec temple, an house he would call "Anahuacalli" (House of the Valley of Mexico", in nahuatl language)
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| History of Cardiology, 1943-1944 |
May 1(?), 1943 - Mexico City - The Colegio Nacional, an elite academy, is formed in May, made of Mexico's most prominent writers, artists, philosophers and scientists. Rivera is one of the founding members
January(?) 1(?), 1944 - Mexico City - The building of "Anahuacalli" begins
April 18, 1944 - Mexico City - Rivera completes the murals for the National Institute of Cardiology
June 1(?), 1945 - While in Mexico City - Frida Kahlo travels to New York for an operation which fuses a bone graft and a steel support to her spine to straighten it. The difficult operation is a failure. She also sabotages her recovery by not resting as required and by once physically re-opening her wounds in a fit of anger
January(?) 1(?), 1946 - Mexico City - Rivera arranges for Emma Hurtado to be his art dealer
October 1(?), 1946 - Coyoacán, Mexico City - Frida Kahlo returns to Mexico, confined to an iron corset for 8 months. Large doses of morphine are prescribed for her pain
January(?) 1(?), 1947 - Mexico City - Rivera gets a commission to create a mural for the Hotel del Prado. He turns it into the story of his life entitled "Dream of a Sunday Afternoon in the Alameda". He writes "God does not exist" in the Mural, sparking criticism and causing demonstrators to slash the fresco
March 1(?), 1947 - Mexico City - Hospitalized with bronchial pneumonia
October(?) 1(?), 1948 - Coyoacán, Mexico City - Rivera begins an affair with actress Maria Felix, that causes a public scandal
January(?) 1(?), 1949 - Coyoacán, Mexico City - Frida Kahlo is re-admitted to the Communist Party of Mexico, but Rivera's third application for re-admission is rejected
June 1(?), 1949 - Coyoacán, Mexico City - The affair between Diego Rivera and Maria Felix ends
January(?) 1(?), 1950 - Mexico City - Bone graft surgery on Frida Kahlo's spine. (The first of 7 during 1950). She spends most of the year in Hospital ABC in Mexico City. Rivera sleeps in a room next to hers
December(?) 9(?), 1950 - Mexico City - Rivera is awarded the National Art Prize of Mexico
January(?) 1(?), 1951 - Mexico City - Rivera completes another phase of his mural work at the National Palace. He has plans for further work there but it is never executed
January(?) 1(?), 1952 - Mexico City - Rivera is diagnosed with penile cancer. He is advised to amputate his penis and testicles to prevent the spread of the malignancy. Rivera objects: "I want everything to remain as it is. I will be completely responsible. I refuse to allow the amputation of those organs which have given me the finest pleasure I know". He undergoes x-ray treatment. Rivera's fourth application to rejoin the Communist Party of Mexico is rejected
March 31, 1952 - Mexico City - Rivera creates a mobile fresco entitled The Nightmare of War and the Dream of Peace. It contains images of Stalin and Mao shown in heroic pose. The Mexican government refuses to show it publically and there are violent demonstrations objecting to the government policy.
August 1(?), 1953 - Mexico City - The right leg of Frida Kahlo has to be amputated. Rivera produces a mural entitled "War and Peace" and sends it to China. It disappears and is never heard of again
December(?) 1(?), 1953 - Mexico City - Commissioned to do a mural on the outside wall of the new "Teatro de los Insurgentes"
July 2, 1954 - Mexico City - Frida Kahlo makes a public appearance, participating with Rivera in a demostration against the CIA invasion of Guatemala, however, it worsens her illness
July 12, 1954 - Coyoacán, Mexico City - Kahlo has high fevers and extreme pain. That evening she gives Rivera a wedding anniversary present, over a month in advance...
July 13, 1954 - Coyoacán, Mexico City - Frida Kahlo is found dead in the morning, aged 47, most likely having committed suicide by overdose (she took 11 painkillers instead of the maximum prescribed dose of 7). Her last written diary entry reads: "I hope the exit is joyful - and I hope never to return"
July 14, 1954 - Mexico City - Attends Frida Kahlo's funeral
April(?) 1(?), 1955 - Mexico City - Rivera's penile cancer recurs
July 29, 1955 - Mexico City - Diego Rivera marries Emma Hurtado, his art dealer since 1946
August 1(?), 1955 - Mexico City - Paperwork is signed constituting a fund for the administration of the Anahuacalli museum
September(?) 1(?), 1955 - Mexico City - Rivera and Emma Hurtado depart to Moscow after accepting an invitation from the Moscow Fine Arts Academy
October 1(?), 1955 - Moscow, Soviet Union - Rivera checks into a Moscow hospital from October to December to receive cobalt treatment
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| Mosaics - Dolores Olmedo house Acapulco, 1956 |
April(?) 10(?), 1956 - Mexico City - He removes the line "God does not exist!" from the mural he created for Hotel del Prado and which he named Dream of a Sunday Afternoon in the Alameda. At the public opening for the viewing of that mural he announces, "I am a Catholic."
May(?) 1(?), 1956 - Acapulco, Mexico - Rivera is invited by his old friend Dolores Olmedo to do a 3D-mural at her property in Acapulco. He spends 18 months there until work is finished
December 8, 1956 - Mexico City - There is a national tribute to Rivera on his seventieth birthday
September 1(?), 1957 - San Ángel, Mexico City - Rivera suffers a stroke and looses the use of his right arm. Still, he continues painting
October 20, 1957 - San Ángel, Mexico City - Rivera, in poor health, issues a letter granting Dolores Olmedo the copyright of all his works, texts and documents in his possession
November 24, 1957 - San Ángel, Mexico City - Diego Rivera dies of heart failure, aged 70 =(END)
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