Infant In The Bulb Of A Plant

Here is the central portion of the east wall of Diego Rivera’s Detroit Industry frescoes in the Detroit Institute of Arts. Rivera’s wife, Frida Kahlo, had a miscarriage during their time in Detroit and the infant in the image is a tribute to that loss.

Rivera, a communist, was invited to paint the frescoes by Edsel Ford, of the Ford motor company. He painted four walls of a great hall in 1932-1933, celebrating industrial and medical progress while also portraying its deadly uses, and mixing Aztec, Mexican and Christian imagery. The east wall is the first in viewing order, just as in church liturgies.

Below is an (unaccredited) image of Rivera painting the outline (the “cartoon”) for this section of the wall, in 1932.