"The Flower Carrier" by Diego Rivera
This is a beautiful painting and is quite typical of Rivera’s work and style. He often features peasants toiling under a heavy burden. You know, factory workers, farmers, slaves, or artists – those sorts of toils. Here a crisply dressed peasant struggles to hoist a large basket of flowers, but I don’t buy it. I mean how much could this basket weigh? They are only flowers after all. My x-ray analysis of this painting reveals that the basket originally contained coal and was later painted over with flowers. Composition trumps theme as a lesser burden leads to a greater painting.
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