The Flower Sellers

The Flower Sellers (Las vendedoras de flores) entered the Minneapolis Institute of Art through the bequest of Putnam Dana McMillan, a prominent Minneapolis collector. Ramos Martínez painted it in Los Angeles, where he had lived since 1929 after being ousted as director of Mexico's National Academy of Fine Arts. Unable to afford canvas, he worked extensively on newsprint and heavy cardboard, a practical constraint that became a defining feature of his mature style. He is widely considered the father of Mexican Modernism and mentored Diego Rivera and David Alfaro Siqueiros during his tenure as academy director. The flower vendor subject, drawn from the Xochimilco floating gardens of Mexico City, was one of his most recurring motifs throughout the 1930s and 40s.