Meaning of La Catrina by José Guadalupe Posada

What does La Catrina by José Guadalupe Posada mean:

The Catrina, a metal engraving published in 1873, is an original illustration by the Mexican engraver and cartoonist Jose Guadalupe Posada (1852-1913), in which the image of a skull dressed in a feathered hat in the European fashion of that time is represented. Later it was renamed "Catrina" by the famous muralist Diego Rivera.

History of The Catrina

The original name of the engraving was Garbancera skull. It was so called because in this way they designated the people who sold garbanzo, and who, despite having indigenous blood, pretended to be Europeans, denying their race and cultural heritage. About this type of person, Posada affirmed: "In the bones, but with a French hat with ostrich feathers."

Hence, the illustration had, at the time, the intention of constituting a criticism, as well as a satire, of some characters in society Mexican of the moment, especially those enriched during the time of Porfirio Díaz, who liked to pretend a lifestyle that did not corresponded.

Its author, José Guadalupe Posada, was a satirical chronicler of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, who, at that time, during the governments of Benito Juárez, Sebastián Lerdo de Tejada and Porfirio Díaz, cultivated a genre that had become popular known as “calavera literary ”.

The skulls were texts written in verse with a mocking tone, they used to be published on the eve of the Day of the Dead to make fun of both the living and the deceased.

They were published in combat newspapers, that is, of a critical line towards the government, and were usually accompanied by illustrations of skulls or skeletons in everyday situations: drinking, riding a horse, walking down the street, dancing at a party, etc.

The objective of the skulls, in short, was to portray the misery and hypocrisy of society, highlighting the conflicts of inequality and injustice that existed in the country. It is therefore significant that the illustration of the Catrina , which represents in an image the contradictions and essential problems of Mexican society, appears with a skull.

La Catrina by Diego Rivera

The renowned muralist Diego Rivera would later take the figure of the Garbancera skull to turn her into a catrina. But what is a catrina? A catrina, in the Mexican dialect, is an elegant and well-dressed person, typical of the 19th century aristocracy.

Rivera, in his mural entitled Dream of a Sunday afternoon in Alameda Central, made in 1947, puts the skull together with other relevant characters in Mexican history such as Hernán Cortés, Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, Benito Juárez, Frida Kahlo and a children's version of his own painter.

With this gesture, Rivera recognizes the representativeness of La Catrina as a symbol of the contradictions of society 19th century Mexican, and pays tribute to its creator, José Guadalupe Posada, and his influence on Mexican art later.

Today, the Catrina is part of the popular culture of Mexico and has become the quintessential symbol of the celebration of the Day of the Dead.