It is ironic that Frida lived in the shadow of her husband during her life, while now, he stands in her shadow thanks to her grand romantic and tragic biography. I reality, Rivera is quite often grossly underrated. Diego was close with many of the great European Modernists, including Picasso and Modigliani. During a stay in Italy, he was profoundly inspired by the great frescoes of the Renaissance artists. He felt they provided a great visual narrative bedrock of the culture and desired to create something similar for Mexican culture. Not only did he achieve this with his great frescoes, but his examples became a source of inspiration for American artists as well. Artists like Thomas Hart Benton, Philip Guston, George Tooker, Paul Cadmus, Stuart Davis, Jacob Lawrence, etc... were all inspired by his example, while the grand scale of his work would fuel the grand aspirations of the Abstract Expressionists.