From the cave paintings at Lascaux Grotttoes in southern France to the street art murals of today, people have been leaving signs of their own existence in many places around the world. It is because of the earliest scratchings, carvings, etchings and paintings that we now have priceless knowledge of our history and predecessors, and these murals hold great significance for mankind, as they depicted life activities, everyday scenery and usually religious traditions of the time they were created in, giving us a priceless look of the diversity of our cultures during different periods.

Over the course of time, murals have covered the interiors and exteriors of many public buildings, such as palaces, temples, tombs, museums, libraries, churches and the houses of rich art patrons, spreading onto the streets and architectural elements more recently, all the while keeping their initial meaning and purpose: to paint a picture of society, created from stories

The word mural originates from the Latin word “murus”, meaning wall. Today, we can define mural art as any piece of artwork painted or applied directly onto a wall, ceiling or other larger permanent surfaces, flat, concave or convex, to be precise. A favorite technique of many artists, including masters like Leonardo Da Vinci and Michelangelo Buonarroti, the art of muralism flourished during the 1920s, after the Mexican revolution.

It is during Mexican Muralism that murals got a new dimension as a powerful visual communication tool, meant to promote the opinion of the people and to transmit social and political messages towards unity. Through the large paintings of “the great three”: Diego Rivera, José Clemente Orozco and David Alfaro Siqueiros, mural painting became the most important form of expression, often the subject of controversy and always a symbol of solidarity, freedom and hope. The Mexican mural art inspired the creation of many other similar movements around the world, the biggest being the Chicano art movement in the 1960s.