Portrait of Dr. Otto Ruhle

Diego Rivera

1940

Oil on canvas

Dallas Museum of Art

Born in Germany, Otto Ruhle (1874-1942) was a schoolteacher who believed education was the leading means of achieving social reform. Deeply involved with leftist politics in Germany, he nonetheless spent much of his turbulent career in opposition to the prevailing agenda of the newly emergent Communist Workers Party. In 1936 Ruhle immigrated to Mexico, becoming an advisor on education to Mexico's socialist government. Diego Rivera's portrayal of Ruhle accentuates the doctor's intellectual prowess through a broad forehead and brooding, thoughtful expression. Yet Dr. Ruhle's informal slouch in his chair and the bright, cheerful palett