“Retrato de María Félix,” an oil painting created in 1948 by Diego Rivera in Mexico, exemplifies the Figurative Expressionism art movement. The artwork, a portrait, masterfully captures the essence and grandeur of its subject.
The artwork depicts a poised woman with flowing, voluminous dark hair that frames her face in undulating waves. She gazes directly ahead with an assertive yet elegant expression. Her arched eyebrows and red lips add a distinctive vibrancy to her features, further emphasized by her golden hoop earrings. The subject’s skin is rendered with a smooth, luminous quality, indicating Rivera’s skillful manipulation of light and shadow. She is adorned in a draped garment of rich, deep purple with white accents, partially revealing her shoulders and chest, adding to the regal and sensuous aura that the painting exudes. The background, an amalgamation of dark and muted colors with varying textures, subtly highlights the figure, making her the focal point of the composition. The artist’s signature and the date “1948” are inscribed in the upper left corner, marking the completion of this striking and evocative portrait.