David Alfaro Siqueiros was a fascinating personality and painter. Bigger than life in many ways, the date and place of his birth, and even his name, have been hard to pin down. Over time, however, researchers have established that he was born December 29, 1896 in Mexico City and that he was baptized Jose de Jesus Alfaro Siqueiros, but adopted the name ‘David‘ because his first wife called him that, comparing him to Michelangelo’s famous statue of the same name.

Siqueiros was a member of the Mexican Communist Party, very devoted to the struggles of the Mexican people and the proletariat in general. He was jailed and exiled several times for his political activity. He fought in the Spanish Civil war against Franco. He even participated in a failed assassination attempt on Leon Trotsky in 1940 and fled to Chile in the aftermath, with the help of the great Chilean poet, Pablo Neruda.