A true folk hero in Latin America and the most important artist in Mexico, Diego Rivera (1886–1957), along with his wife, painter Frida Kahlo, was passionately dedicated to art and communism. After a decade in Europe, where he came into contact with other artists and embraced the Cubist movement, he returned to Mexico and began painting the large-scale mosaics for which he is best known. In his murals, he addressed social and political issues concerning the working class, thus gaining a prophetic reputation among Mexico's peasants. He was invited to create works abroad, most notably in the United States, where he sparked controversy by depicting Lenin in his mural for the Rockefeller Center in New York (the mural was destroyed before completion). His most notable work is "Industrial Detroit" from 1932, a group of 27 fresco murals at the Detroit Institute of Art in Michigan.

This volume includes many large-scale details from the murals, allowing for close examination of their various elements and details. In addition to the murals, there is an extensive selection of paintings, old photographs, documents, and sketches from public and private collections worldwide, many of which were previously unknown to scholars and are included here due to the most intensive research conducted on Rivera's work since his death. The texts include an illustrated biography and essays by prominent art historians offering interpretations of each mural. One could not ask for a more comprehensive study of Rivera's work: finally, his work is the subject of the extensive retrospective study it deserves.