The New Orleans Hispanic Heritage Foundation and the Mexican Cultural Institute were pleased to present the Art talk “Muralist Movement in the Americas, Crossing Borders Through Cultural Collaboration” by Belinda Flores Shinshillas, B.F.A., M.A.

Flores Shinshillas discussed how Art once again crossed America’s borders after the Mexican Revolution. Through the vision of José Vasconcelos, Mexico’s Minister of Education in the early 1920s, the state-sponsored muralism movement was launched to promote national identity, literacy, and post-revolutionary ideals, but the movement didn’t stay only in Mexico. Mexican muralism flourished in the USA during the 1930s, driven by "Los Tres Grandes"—Diego Rivera, José Clemente Orozco, and David Alfaro Siqueiros, influencing artists like Jackson Pollock. She will also talk about the movement going south to the Continent, promoting indigenous, nationalist, and anti-colonial themes, influencing art throughout the continent. The presentation showed the muralism movement as one of the most important art movements of modern Mexico, with a legacy that goes beyond its original intent. It was a movement intended to recreate a national identity, but later influenced modern art movements in the entire continent.