Un Pintor En Reposo, literally, "A Painter in Repose (or at rest)," is a 1916 work by the renowned Mexican artist, Diego Rivera. Known for many things, including his famously tumultuous relationships with both the Communist Party and equally legendary painter, Frida Kahlo (whom he married twice), Rivera — of African and Indigenous, as well as Portuguese Jewish and Spanish ancestry — is perhaps best remembered artistically for his politically-charged murals. Yet, throughout his career, Rivera displayed a remarkably versatile talent that was equally comfortable in the genres of Realism, Pointillism, Post-Impressionism and Cubism, as well as his unparalleled Muralism. Un Pintor En Reposo comes from a very early moment in the artist's journey during which he lived and studied across Europe. The work is one of many that he produced between 1912 and 1917, a period in which he embraced Cubism, inspired by meetings with both Pablo Picasso and Paul Cézanne, the latter himself remembered as the great bridge between his own Post-Impressionist movement and that of the Cubists. Exploring Cézanne's theory that any physical object can be represented in art through reference to the cylinder, sphere or cube — whether singly or in combination — the painting represents the simple subject of a seated painter as a complex and evocative mix of shapes, colors and impressions. Printed on 5.57 oz smooth matte fine art paper, this work is available framed and unframed, reproduced by archivists in the United Kingdom using museum quality paper and ink, resulting in a piece that is faithful to the original.
