Calla Lily and Sunflower History Lesson

"Favorite Flowers of Mexico"
9X12

This is my most recent painting. I have mentioned in the past my love for Mexican Folk Art and being inspired by it in choosing subject matter in paintings.  I also mentioned researching why the calla lily and sunflowers are featured in so many Mexican Paintings.  I finally found the answer today and rather then trying to type out what I found I copied and pasted it below.  Much easier doing it that way.  I thought the answer is very interesting in that I wondered why Diego Rivera featured calla lilies in much of his work.  While this doesn't have the exact answer as to why it does answer the question of why you see the calla lily in Mexican folk art.  It is BECAUSE Rivera painted them!  Hope you enjoy the history lesson.
 

Alcatraz (Zantedeschia aethiopica)    (Calla Lily)

Calla lilies became a very popular flower in Mexico thanks to Diego Rivera's paintings which portrayed indigenous people carrying alcatraces.

Nobody knows for sure why he chose these flowers, some historians say it was President Lazaro Cardenas who asked Rivera to do the paintings, and others say Frida Kahlo, his wife, loved calla lilies. Whichever it was the reason the Alcatraz became an icon in Mexican culture.

Girasol (Helianthus annuus)   (Sunflower)

Although it was believed sunflowers were domesticated in the Mississippi River Valley and brought to Mexico by the Spaniards, studies led by paleoethnobotanist David Lentz have revealed the sunflower plant was domesticated in the northern part of Mexico around 4000 years ago.

The Aztecs called it chimalácatl and its significance was related to the sun and the war. The plant was used for curative, aphrodisiacal and ritual purposes. Nowadays in many communities around Mexico sunflowers are still used in healing practices.

Natural and paper sunflowers are widely used as decorative flowers to add warmth and joy and have inspired many artists around the world including Dutch post-Impressionist painter Vincent Van Gogh.