Interview

Interviewer: Maestro Siqueiros, thank you for joining us from across time. Let's begin with your roots. What inspired your path into political art?
Siqueiros: From a young age, I witnessed the cruelty of inequality. I was 15 when I joined the student strike at the Academy of San Carlos. Revolution wasn’t just an event—it was the air we breathed. Art, for me, became a weapon. A mural is not decoration—it is a wall that speaks to the people.

Interviewer: Your murals are known for their dynamic forms and social messages. What’s the philosophy behind your technique?
Siqueiros: I believed in nuevo realismo—a revolutionary realism. Art must be public, collective, and political. I used modern tools—spray guns, scaffolding, and photography—to make art for the masses, not for salons. I painted on public buildings because the walls belong to the people.

Interviewer: You were also deeply involved in international politics. How did your activism shape your art?
Siqueiros: I fought in the Spanish Civil War, stood with workers, and clashed with fascists. My murals are battles on walls—Echo of a Scream, Death to the Invader—they cry out against oppression. I was jailed, exiled, even accused of attempting to assassinate Trotsky. But still, I painted.

Interviewer: What’s your relationship with Rivera and Orozco, your fellow muralists?
Siqueiros: Ah! Los tres grandes... Rivera had grandeur, Orozco had soul. We argued, sometimes fiercely, but we shared a dream: that Mexican art could be revolutionary. Where Rivera painted the feast of revolution, I painted its fury. Where Orozco showed tragedy, I showed action.

Interviewer: If you could speak to today’s young artists, what would you tell them?
Siqueiros: Don’t paint what sells. Paint what shakes. Make your brush a rifle, your canvas a battlefield. Our world needs artists who confront, not conform. Be dangerous—be truthful.

Interviewer: And finally, how would you like to be remembered?
Siqueiros: Not as a painter. Not as a soldier. But as a man who believed that walls should speak, shout, and sing for justice.

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