Significance

• According to a Veranda Magazine article by Dr. Michael E. Smith, who has written six books on Aztec culture, "the Aztecs did not have a concept of art for art's sake, and most objects had clear uses in utilitarian, ritual or social realms." Aztec murals typically served to worship Gods, record events, and provide protection. Aztec murals might show strong warriors in a demonstration of political power, or depict mighty Aztec deities such as Quetzalcoatl, Tlaloc and Coatlicue.
  
  

Symbols

• Aztec artists incorporated pictographs -- small symbolic images -- into their murals to tell stories and record events. Pictographs were a form of written language, representing sounds, individual objects, ideas and a sophisticated number system. The Aztec calendar used pictographs to represent numbers, days and months. Aztec artists abstracted images of deities and animals such as the jaguar, snake and eagle and reused them symbolically.
  
  

Blending Cultures

• After the Spanish conquest in 1521, Aztec artists blended Christian symbolism into their murals. One mural dated to the year 1530 depicts colorful Aztec figures and deities as well as black and white Christian crosses. The Spanish forced Aztec artists to paint images in the European style, altering physical features, use of color and subject matter. Murals from the 1530s represented a brief period of tolerance. A few years later, the Spanish began destroying all Aztec artwork.
  
  

Murals Revisited

• In the late 1800s, Mexico won independence from the Spanish and mural artwork regained popularity. In the 1920s, Mexico's education minister asked Aztec artists Diego Rivera, José Clemente Orozco, and David Alfaro Siqueiros to paint murals on public buildings. While these murals focused on the Spanish revolution, the artists incorporated Aztec styles and symbols, revisiting their cultural roots.