On December 8, 1886, in the silver mining town of Guanajuato, Mexico, twin boys named Diego and Carlos were born. Sadly, Carlos died as a baby, but Diego grew up doodling on every wall of the family house. His parents finally gave up trying to stop him and built him a special room with chalkboard walls where he could draw to his heart's content. By age 10, Diego was studying at the famous San Carlos art academy in Mexico City.
As a young man, Diego sailed to Europe and studied painting in Paris alongside Pablo Picasso. But when he returned to Mexico in 1921, he found his true calling. After the Mexican Revolution, the government wanted bold new art for the people, so Diego climbed scaffolds and began painting enormous murals on the walls of public buildings. He painted Aztec markets, factory workers, farmers in white shirts, and revolutionary heroes on horseback. His murals were so huge that visitors had to crane their necks to see them all.
Diego married another legendary painter, Frida Kahlo, and the two became the most famous art couple in the world. He even painted a giant mural at Rockefeller Center in New York City, though it got destroyed when he refused to remove a portrait of Lenin. Today, Diego's murals still cover walls all over Mexico City, telling the country's story in waves of color and crowds of faces. A boy with chalkboard walls grew up to turn an entire nation into his canvas.
