Behind The Scenes Of Diego Rivera's Colossal Mural Move To SFMOMA

Diego Rivera's colossal mural makes a dramatic move to the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.

The “Pan American Unity” mural by Diego Rivera

When Diego Rivera made a triumphant return to San Francisco in June 1940 to headline the Golden Gate International Exposition on Treasure Island, he surely had the artistic equivalent of swagger.

The artist holds plans for the mural in 1940, part of the Golden Gate International Exposition.

How could he not? The Mexican artist had completed much-lauded murals in Mexico City, Chapingo and Cuernavaca, Mexico, and, in 1931, New York’s Museum of Modern Art hosted a retrospective of his work.

Conservator Anne Rosenthal applies cyclododecane as a protective measure to the edges of a “Pan American Unity” panel.

Rivera was a superstar, and during his return to San Francisco, he worked on a scaffold in an airplane hanger and painted before a live audience—the art-world equivalent of watching Alicia Keys write a song in real time.

A large panel of “Pan American Unity” is moved delicately over electrical wires on Howard Street in San Francisco en route to installation at SFMOMA.

During this period, Rivera feverishly worked on “The Marriage of the Artistic Expression of the North and of the South on This Continent,” which is also known as “Pan American Unity.” It would be the last mural the artist painted in the United States. In brilliant and colorful detail—showing the past, present and future promise across North America—the fresco is still relevant today, as it calls for cultural solidarity and the exchange of ideas during a time of global conflict.

“Pan American Unity” is examined with ultraviolet photography.

Scientists and photographers discuss a surface anomaly on “Pan American Unity” discovered using high-magnification photography.

Rivera tapped into the support of local artists and assistants as the mural slowly came to life. The Bay Area also is the backdrop for the work, as Rivera celebrated the creative and innovative spirit of artists, architects and inventors portrayed throughout the work. After the fair, the mural was moved to the City College of San Francisco.

Don Ross records the surface of “Pan American Unity” using high-magnification photography.

Workers remove a large upper panel of “Pan American Unity” from the wall in the Diego Rivera Theater

This move was made possible because there was one, among many, interesting twists in the artist’s work on “Pan American Unity”: Rivera didn’t paint on a wall, but instead on 10 steel-framed cement panels, measuring 22 feet by 74 feet and weighing more than 60,000 pounds.

Miguel Michel of National Autonomous University of Mexico attaches vibration sensors to a “Pan American Unity” panel image.

In theory, it meant that the colossus was mobile and could roam. Which is exactly what happened this summer, after an international team of experts spent years planning another move—this one to the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, where it will be on view until 2023 (it will make the trek back to its original home of City College of San Francisco and its new performing arts center after this long showcase).

Diego Rivera and an assistant work on the “Pan American Unity” mural, Treasure Island, 1940.

The team from SFMOMA was kind enough to share with us the behind-the-scenes images of the big move. 151 Third St., 415.357.4000