Celebrated Mexican muralist José Clemente Orozco was born in Ciudad Guzmán in central Mexico 134 years ago today.

After his family moved to Mexico City, the young Orozco would often cross paths with satirical caricaturist José Guadalupe Posada on his way to school. These meetings awakened in the young boy a keen political consciousness and a deep love for art, a powerful medium in the aftermath of the Mexican Revolution. Orozco would later document the social and political change of the era as one of Los Tres Grandes (The Three Greats) of Mexican mural art.

His sprawling, emotive frescos were initially often commissioned by the government. Dissatisfied with the condition of ordinary Mexicans however, he started to contradict his own sponsors - sometimes subtly (Maternidad (Maternity), 1924) and sometimes visibly (La Trinchera (The Trench), 1926). This paradoxical relationship caused him to leave the country for seven long years, living in the US and earning international renown for works such as Prometeo (Prometheus) (1930) and The Epic of American Civilization (1934). When he returned to Mexico, Orozco began work on the frescos of Hospicio Cabañas, murals sketching the span of Mexican history from indigenous civilizations to the Revolution.

Today’s Doodle—by Mexico City-based artist Santiago Solis—depicts Orozco in front of the jaguar featured in Las Riquezas Nacionales (The National Riches), his mural at La Suprema Corte de Justicia de la Nación in downtown Mexico City.

Feliz cumpleaños, Señor Orozco!

Early concepts of the Doodle below