#OpenHouse | Día de Muertos Month of Chihuahua In The U.S.

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 29
10:00 AM to 4:00PM | #OpenHouse Opening of the Traditional Day of the Dead Altar, pan de muerto and hot chocolate (while supplies last), mariachi, folkloric dance by Corazón Folklórico DC, and four short films, every hour on the hour: Ramona, No estás soñando conmigo, Los pedazos del tiempo and Funeral de Paz. *Films are PG-13 rated.

Mariachi starts at 12:00 PM
Lotería Chihuahua throughout the day.

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 2
10:00 AM to 6:00 PM | #OpenHouse Traditional Day of the Dead Altar.

The altar will be open from October 29 until just before Thanksgiving. Visiting hours are Monday through Friday from 10:00 AM to 6:00PM. Saturdays, 12:00PM to 4:00PM. (October 31 is closed).

ABOUT THE ALTAR:

This year will be dedicated to Mexican muralist David Alfaro Siqueiros and was beautifully designed and built by our guest state Chihuahua.

José de Jesús Alfaro Siqueiros, popularly known as David Alfaro Siqueiros, was a Mexican painter and muralist with a penchant for social realism. He adopted the name David after his first wife called him that name in reference to Michelangelo's classic sculpture. David Alfaro Siqueiros was born on December 29, 1896 in Camargo, Chihuahua.

Siqueiros was the second of three brothers, all sons of Cipriano Alfaro and Teresa Siqueiros. When Siqueiros was four years old, his father sent him and his siblings to live with his paternal grandparents. His grandfather, a man nicknamed Siete Filos, was a great influence on Siqueiros during his childhood. When he was just a child, he demonstrated his interest and talent for painting by painting a replica of Raphael's Virgin of the Chair in 1907. Four years later, in 1911, he began studying architecture at the National Preparatory School, while taking night classes at the San Carlos Academy (National School of Fine Arts).

He took part in the renaissance of fresco painting carried out under government sponsorship of mural decorations in public buildings. He was one of the three greats of Mexican muralism along with Jose Clemente Orozco and Diego Rivera. He lived in Paris, Barcelona and the United States. In 1921 he published in Barcelona a single issue of the magazine Vida Americana, which contained his Manifesto for the artists of America, in which he set out his ideas on muralism. Upon his return, he organized the union of revolutionary painters, sculptors and engravers.

The government commissioned him to paint the first large murals, the first of which he was unable to finish due to a student strike. He was a member of the Mexican Communist Party until his death and founded the newspaper El Machete. He was imprisoned seven times and exiled seven times because of his Marxist-Stalinist ideology. Between 1936-37, he worked in New York forming a school called "Siqueiros' Experimental Studio".

His political activism was represented in the frescoes he painted with themes of revolutionary dynamics. His paintings represent a very particular synthesis of futurist, expressionist and abstract styles. His most outstanding works are: March of Humanity (1971), which decorates the walls of the Hotel de Mexico and occupies an area of 4,600 m2 of articulated panels, and From Porfirism to Revolution, 4,500 m2, at the National History Museum in Mexico City.